Discussion on:

Assembling a coding dream team

I tend to think you also need a "dreamer," someone who seems to always be out in left field, always wants to write perfect, aesthetically pleasing code, and usually asks questions along the lines of "why can't" and "why not." Take a fighter pilot and remove the ego and you've got a dreamer.

You've also got to have what I call a "stick-in-the-mud." This is usually an older, senior guy who's been around and would probably rather you called him "a realist." A stick-in-the-mud is set in his ways, sort of opposed to new, fancy ways of doing things, and for whom "it does what it's supposed to" is high praise. Helps keep the fighter pilots and dreamers on the staff down to earth.

matt..i wish that i had your dream team when I needed it..now all i seem to have is a medic..
a guy/gal that just 'fixes' things after they've been in the field and been busted..

My list starts and ends with team players without ego hang ups.

I would avoid "The Fighter Pilots" who "other developers love to hate" and who "think very highly of their abilities." I want people who are not afraid to admit they do not know something and ask for help and people that others are willing to ask for help.

I would also avoid "The Firefighter" who "isn’t afraid of ruffling feathers..." I have more important things to do than playing mediator between developers who can't get along.

I find it curious that the closest description you have to team players is "Bench Players" who are only junior level programmers. Where is it written that experienced programmers need to have personality disorders?

Give me the solid experienced programmer who gets the job done. The guy who keeps his head when others are running around in a panic. The guy is is confident enough in his own ability that he is not afraid to ask for help and is thick skinned enough that insults just fall off of his back. Give me 10 programmers like that, and we will take over the world.

I guess I'd like one Experienced "Assistant Coach" that would share a lot of the same methods and practices that I have (rigid naming, clear coding, clear objects), and the rest would be the rookies.

Rookies would be new ones that have not had enough time to get set to strongly in some bad coding practices. (Although, I think some of the university CS departments wait a bit long to each these coding practices.)

Give me a team of firefighters led by a hands-on field general every time. You'd be amazed at what such a team can accomplish. And many of them will develop the skills of a fighter pilot without the damned ego.

Hmmm ... interesting ego-stroking article. An expert in any field could be considered a "Fighter Pilot", but why does that seem to automatically mean he's an egomaniac just because he's an expert in the Computer Field. We all have our gifts.

All should strive for excellence and maintain a healthy measure of humility too.

I would hire a "Fighter Pilot" without the ego, and it's foolish to automatically assume that they all do.

Ooops, this should have had a question mark in it...

Hmmm ... interesting ego-stroking article. An expert in any field could be considered a "Fighter Pilot", but why does that seem to automatically mean he's an egomaniac just because he's an expert in the Computer Field?

I did suggest that one follows the other. my experience has been every team seems to have a talented but difficult to work with developer

I did not suggest that one follows the other my experience has been every team seems to have a talented but difficult to work with developer