The best developers are built not bought

It's no wonder that there's a focus on the best developers given that it's generally accepted that the level of performance for developers with similar experience can differ by a factor of ten or more. A great deal of development is still done in what is called "hero mode" development, where a developer or a small group of developers essentially will the software into existence through their dedication and tenacity.

So while the evidence is overwhelming that you need good developers, the question remains, where do you get them?

I've been involved with recruiting processes for more than a dozen years and I'll tell you without a doubt that finding the best developers is possible--but it's not probable. It's a difficult process and even after reading through a thousand resumes you may find only one or two developers who are truly the best.

But when you get right down to it, the best way to acquire the most talented developers for your project is to build them not buy them.

What makes the best developer?
Certainly what makes the best developer is subjective. Both agile and traditional development techniques need something slightly different from the developer. However, to boil what a developer practicing either technique should have down into a word--Thinking.

At the very bottom of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives for cognitive skills is knowledge. That is recall (or recognition) of data or information. Applied to development terms this means recognizing the C# syntax or recalling the correct syntax to execute a loop.

At the top of the cognitive taxonomy is synthesis and evaluation. Synthesis is to be able to bring together diverse elements to form a new whole solution. Evaluation is the ability to make judgments about the value of ideas, approaches, or materials. Developers need to consistently apply these higher levels of cognitive ability to effectively perform their work.

Most people find the idea expressed as thinking more natural than describing the difference as cognitive process. In general, the more thinking that is being done about higher level ideas, such as how to integrate pieces to form a solution, the better the developer