Let’s be clear from the outset: I do not write code any more. I can read it in the same way you might squint at ancient runes and vaguely guess at the meaning—“Ah yes, this glyph surely summons a coffee.” I have written the occasional line, but only under duress or in defence of a blog. Yet here I am, leading a team of developers so frighteningly clever they make ChatGPT look like a Speak & Spell.

And still, I’m asked: “What do you look for in a great developer?”

Now, I could lie. I could say things like:

  • “Deep knowledge of TypeScript, including obscure edge cases.”
  • “A clean Git history.”
  • “An irrational enthusiasm for unit testing.”

But frankly, no one ever got promoted around here for a well-named function. No, the developers who stand out—who make this team tick—are often the ones doing the weird things. The human things. The stuff you can’t cram into a LinkedIn endorsement.

Allow me to illustrate.

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1. They Ask Questions That Cause Existential Crisis

A great dev will not simply nod at the brief and scurry off to build the thing. Oh no. They will tilt their head, narrow their eyes, and say: “Why are we building this at all?”

Suddenly, the project manager is weeping into a spreadsheet, and Commercial is pretending they never suggested it in the first place.

Beautiful. Never trust a dev who never pushes back.

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2. They Write Slack Messages That Don’t Cause Cardiac Events

There’s an art to this. Too brief and it sounds like a nuclear incident (“It’s live.” WHAT’S LIVE? WHAT DID YOU DO?). Too long and we’re all asleep by the third emoji.

The good ones?
Clear. Human. Slightly apologetic when needed.
Never send a link with no context. Never begin with “Quick one…”

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3. They Have a Healthy Disregard for Sacred Cows

Every team has a few sacred cows. That one bit of code “we don’t touch.” That process no one questions. The Great Jira Workflow of 2019, handed down from the ancients.

A great dev says:
“Why are we doing it this way?”
And then, disturbingly, offers a better way. Sometimes they even write a Notion doc.

Reckless. Heroic. Probably dangerous.

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4. They Are Calm in the Face of Ridiculousness

The staging server is on fire. Prod’s down. The designer has uploaded an SVG that crashes Chrome. The client wants to “pivot to blockchain.”

The great developer stirs their tea, sighs, and says, “Right then.”

Not because they don’t care—but because they do. And panic is terribly inefficient.

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5. They Are Weirdly Invested in Helping Other People Succeed

They review PRs with kindness.
They share links to good talks.
They explain recursion without condescension.
They say “we” instead of “you messed up the deploy.”

Honestly, these people are the real reason everything still works. I suspect they’re powered by biscuits and caffeine-fuelled altruism.

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Final Thought

If you’re ever hiring, or promoting, or simply wondering who to buy the nice biscuits for—don’t just look at the code. Look at the chaos around the code. The questions. The diplomacy. The patience. The devil-may-care attitude toward the Jira board.

Because technical skill gets you a website.
But it’s people skills that stop it being awful.

And if you’ve read this far: no, I still don’t understand regex. But I do know which of you to ask.