The Art of Spotting Highly Effective Developers in the Wild

A field guide into a common set of traits

Photo by Spencer Imbrock on Unsplash

Finding the right developer for your team can often be a hard task. Sure, they might show signs of technical chops and pass all the psychometric tests — but how effective are they really as developers?

The effectiveness of a developer in a team and their ability to deliver robust code can’t be judged based on their number of years working alone. This is because someone with five years’ experience may not have gone through the same intensity of developmental pressures and output as someone with two years of experience. A particular senior back end developer may actually have the equivalent of a junior’s front end skills.

So, how can you tell the difference between highly effective developers and those who are just developers? Code knowledge can be upgraded, but the speed of this upgrade is often determined by a set of common traits, regardless of a developer’s current specialization or skill level.