5 Key Things I'm Looking for When Hiring a Software Developer

Only people who actually have emotional intelligence can test for it in others. A growing body of research indicates that this type of intelligence—which includes self-awareness, the understanding of motivating factors, regulating one’s own emotions, and empathy for others—is highly influential in individual and team success.

You may need to learn more about emotional intelligence yourself, so that you can identify it in your team. As with technical ability, this quality will be noticed and judged by your interview candidates.

Just like you, they want to work with people who understand and care about them, and will be helpful allies as they confront difficult challenges.

5 Key Things I'm Looking When Hiring a Software Developer

1. The candidate has something to teach me, such as new skills, techniques, or conventions. I will learn and grow in my own work by virtue of this person being on my team.

2. The candidate loves programming and technology. They share my enthusiasm for creating great software and building a product.

3. The candidate is pleasant to be around. They take feedback well, collaborate with others, know when to ask for help, are open to learning new things and ways to work, and have multiple interests.

4. The candidate takes pride in their work. They have an attention to detail, aim to make a great product, and emphasize code readability and reuse.

5. The candidate thinks entrepreneurially. They think about how to improve all aspects of a product and company, and are proactive about problem solving.

Questions to ask

• Is this person capable of learning?
• Is this person interested in learning?
• Is this person smart?
• Do they match our requirements?
• How does this person make us better?
• Is this person teachable?
• Will they learn something the first time, or will we have to keep reminding them?
• Will they be able to extrapolate new skills and ideas into problems they haven’t seen before?
• Are they open-minded about how to do things?
• Do they fit in with the culture?
• What skills do they have that we don’t?
• What can they do better than anyone here?
• What can they teach us?

Final thoughts

A mediocre engineer does what is asked.
A good engineer does what is asked, and does it well.
A great engineer does what is asked, looks for possible problems, edge cases, and overlooked issues, and solves those as well.
An outstanding engineer does all of the above, but also tells you about problems you didn’t even know existed, and plans for situations you never envisioned.

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