How to Recognize a Good Programmer

KDan writes to share an article he has written about what some of the key factors in recognizing a good programmer. "It's not as easy as it sounds. CV experience is only of limited use here, because great programmers don't always have the 'official' experience to demonstrate that they're great. In fact, a lot of that CV experience can be misleading. Yet there are a number of subtle cues that you can get, even from the CV, to figure out whether someone's a great programmer."

Comments

Re:it's easier than you think:

[cheater512]

It all depends on the type of work.

I'm a "all I do is code" type and I've written some truely amazing code which works quickly, efficiently and is used on hundreds of different high traffic websites.
I have yet to find someone who can understand what it does and how it does it. Its voodoo to everyone.

Its a 20 line snippet which never needs to be touched. Thats why its perfectly acceptable.
If someone else needed to change it then they would more than likely throw it away and do it the conventional (slow and bloated) way.

If your working in a team which doesnt understand each other's styles fluently then you'll be wanting someone with many interests.
However get a couple of really great guys who understand each other then you will get superior code in a fraction of the time.