April 27th, 2009
What Makes an Effective Developer?
We’ve often heard about the two fold (or five fold or ten fold) productivity increase between the top developer and the average developer. I’m sure we’ve often (ok, always) wished for a team full of these folks, but somehow we rarely get that. We tell ourselves that they’re hard to find, they’re one-in-a-million, or that it takes luck to hire them. That may all be true, but there are certain characteristics these folks share.
First of all, and most obviously, they are among the most technically competent on your team. The have a wealth of tools in their toolbox, and the ability to use the right one for the right job. Both the breadth and the depth of their expertise are usually built over time.
In addition to skills and experience, these people often have great natural ability. Their brains just work in a way that makes designing programs easy. This has enabled them to build up their toolbox by allowing them to learn tools and techniques easily, and determine which ones are valuable and which are not.
A third characteristic is attention to detail. Whether it is in the requirements, design, coding, or testing phase, attention to detail will help ensure the work product is high quality. In their own personal growth attention to detail is also important as it helps them develop new techniques and avoid old mistakes.
Fourth is the desire for continuous learning. These people are always “sharpening the saw”. They are learning new languages, processes, tools, or just simple techniques to build more good code faster. They are always up on the latest trends and eager to work with new technologies.
A final characteristic that is found in many of the most effective developers is teamwork. In most companies these days, this is a necessary skill. Most developers are not people oriented to start with, and those that can develop this necessary skill have a huge benefit over those that do not.
All top developers may not have all of these qualities, but be assured that they have most. Screening for, interviewing for, selecting, and nurturing these qualities will go a long way towards improving the effectiveness of any team.