Building a great tech team starts long before the first line of code is written.
It begins with finding the right people. Developers who bring more to the table than just technical skills. They meet the minimum bar of being good at their craft. And they raise the bar with certain other traits.
Having hired and worked with thousands of developers, we have identified 5 traits that signal a “great hire”.
#1 - The devil's in the details
Details matter in development. A developer who grasps the nuances of their work can prevent major issues before they arise. They understand the how and why behind their code.
This trait is easily confused with perfectionism, but it’s not the same. Perfectionism is an obsession with getting it right all the time. Attention to detail is a commitment to understanding what went wrong and how to prevent it.
In interviews, ask candidates to walk you through a complex problem they've solved.
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Those who can simplify the issue, and articulate their thought process, and rationale. |
Vague answers or an inability to explain technical decisions in simple terms. |
#2 - Own it like a boss
In smaller teams, you have to wear multiple hats. Developers are no exception. A good team member is someone who owns their thing end-to-end. But ownership without accountability is just empty talk.
You want someone who takes responsibility for the entire lifecycle of a feature or project. It's about seeing things through from concept to deployment, and even beyond into maintenance. This means better quality code, more thoughtful solutions, and fewer "not my problem" scenarios.
During interviews, ask about a time when a project went sideways.
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Acknowledgment of error and steps taken to rectify it. |
Blaming others or minimizing the impact of mistakes. |
“When we've had bad hires, the primary issue has generally been a lack of ownership. They don't take initiative or responsibility in the way exceptional engineers do. This lack of ownership is usually the clearest sign that an engineer isn't meeting the bar we're looking for.”
- Prateek Agarwal, Founder - Alle
#3 - Seeing the big picture
Code serves the business, not the other way around. And exceptional developers know this.
They can trace back every feature, every optimization, and every line of code to user needs. It's the difference between a developer who optimizes a database query because it's slow, and one who does it because they know it's causing cart abandonment.
This mindset shifts their focus from just building things to building the right things. It helps them make better technical decisions. And they usually are great collaborators with non-technical team members.
In interviews, always have one “impact” question. No matter what role you are hiring for. Nudge candidates to think of their past projects in light of the user and project goals.
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Ability to connect technical work to business outcomes. |
Purely technical answers without business considerations. |
#4 - Learning on an auto-pilot
Great developers stay curious. They don't just learn when required for a job; they make learning a habit. And they do this out of love for building.
They explore new tools, dive deeper into familiar ones, and keep an eye on industry trends. They have side projects, contribute to open-source initiatives, or attend workshops and conferences in their free time. You need this trait to future-proof your tech stack.
But do not take certifications or degrees as the only signal. Ask them about any learning they had/used in the past 3-6 months. Or anything they want to learn in the next 3-6 months.
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Clear evidence of recent learning or an overall learning mindset. |
No recent learning experiences or only job-required training. |
“Exceptional engineers have good development practices that have become second nature. They commit code to the repository daily and chase reviews for their pull requests. They always look for elegant solutions and add items to the backlog for future improvements when time constraints prevent immediate perfection.”
- Srinath Venkataramani, VP of Engineering -TOTM Technologies
#5 - They turntables
Exceptional candidates view the interview process as a two-way street. They interview you as much as you interview them.
When you ask, "Any questions for me?", they're ready with a thoughtful list. They are interested in their role, the product, and the big picture. They want to know about your development processes, and how you handle technical debt.
To encourage this thoughtfulness in all your candidates, try mentioning this in the JD itself. Something like “We encourage you to take 15-20 minutes out to think about your role and team, and ask us at least 2 questions”.
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Thoughtful questions about team dynamics and technical practices. |
No questions or only inquiries about benefits and time off. |
Hire for today, but also for tomorrow
Bringing in people with few or all of these traits is just one side. The other is where the real magic happens - a culture that nurtures these within your team.
As you build your team, look for ways these traits can complement each other. How can you pair developers to balance strengths and weaknesses? What projects would benefit from a mix of these qualities?
After all, it takes a village to make an exceptional developer. Be that village to your team.