it also depends on the industry your going into. there are B to B products where ID doesn’t matter.
I worked in one such industry and displaced an ME who was really pissed until he saw what the difference was, it took awhile to bring him around but that’s another story. The products sold to a captive market both B-B and B-C, so ID had little overall influence.
I can’t imagine an area where CADJockies call the shots instead of ID, unless the ID’rs are the most superficial of stylists.
So ask yourself what type of product you want to design, are they consumer products (go into ID for sure) are they business products (then ID would still be a good bet) or are they industrial/manufacturing products (ME absolutely)