Have you ever regretted a hire even though they looked like the perfect candidate on paper?
Their CV was impressive, and their GitHub showcased solid projects. They had the right programming languages, relevant experience and seemingly everything you were looking for in a software developer.
Then they joined the team, and you discovered that, despite their strong technical skills, they weren’t the right fit for your organisation. They struggled to communicate and collaborate with the rest of the team, and they needed more support than expected to solve problems independently.
This is why hiring a software developer cannot stop at reviewing their CV, GitHub profile, or technical skills. You also need to understand how they think, how they work, and how they will contribute to the team.
Here are some of the qualities to look for when hiring software developers beyond their technical skills.
Table of Contents
Problem-solving skills
Problem-solving sits at the heart of software development. A developer may be able to write clean code, but what happens when that code doesn’t work as expected? Can they identify the cause of a problem, consider different solutions, and choose an approach that makes sense for the project?
This matters because developers deal with more than coding tasks. They may need to fix bugs, improve performance, work around technical limitations, or find a better way to meet a product requirement.
When assessing candidates, give them practical problems or scenarios that require them to explain their thinking. You want to understand not only whether they arrive at the right answer, but how they approach the problem along the way.
A candidate who can break down a difficult problem, weigh their options, and clearly explain their reasoning may demonstrate stronger problem-solving skills than someone who simply produces the expected answer.
Communication skills
Software development is collaborative work. Developers need to explain technical decisions, raise concerns, ask questions and communicate with people who may not have a technical background. They also need to be able to make their point clearly when discussing requirements, timelines or potential problems.
Poor communication can create misunderstandings, delay projects and make collaboration harder. Strong communication helps everyone understand what needs to be done and why.
This is something you can start assessing during the interview itself.
Ask candidates to explain a previous project or technical concept as though they were speaking to someone without a technical background. Pay attention to whether they can make their explanation clear without relying heavily on technical language.
You can also listen to how they describe challenges. Do they explain the problem clearly? Do they ask useful questions when they need more information? Can they communicate a concern without simply pointing out what is wrong?
These interactions can give you an early sense of how effectively a candidate communicates.
Ability to work with others
The idea of the developer working entirely alone is difficult to sustain in most modern software teams.
A developer may need to work with designers, product managers, quality assurance teams, clients and business stakeholders, each with different priorities and ways of approaching a problem.
The question is not simply whether a candidate has worked on a team before. Most candidates will be able to say that they have. What matters is how they function within one.
Do they listen to other perspectives? Can they disagree without making collaboration difficult? Are they open to feedback? Can they adjust their approach when another team member raises a valid concern?
You can explore this by asking candidates about a project where they had to work closely with others. Ask about a disagreement they had with a colleague, how they handled it and what happened afterwards.
The aim is not to find someone who has never disagreed with a colleague. It is to understand whether they can navigate differences, contribute to a shared goal and keep the work moving.
Willingness to learn
Technology changes quickly, and the skills a developer needs today may not be exactly the skills they need a year from now.
New tools, frameworks and approaches continue to emerge. You do not necessarily need someone who knows every new technology, but you do need someone who can learn when the role requires it.
A candidate who can show how they have taught themselves a new skill or adapted to an unfamiliar technology may be better prepared for a role that will evolve.
Instead of simply asking candidates to list the technologies they know, ask about something they had to learn recently. What prompted them to learn it? How did they go about learning it? Did they use the new skill in a project?
Their answers can give you a better sense of their curiosity, initiative and ability to learn than a list of technologies on a CV.
Attention to detail
Overlooking small details can have big consequences in software development.
An overlooked requirement, missed error, or poorly tested change can affect a product’s performance and create more work for the team.
Attention to detail therefore goes beyond writing error-free code. It can show up in how a developer interprets requirements, reviews their work, tests solutions, and documents decisions.
Practical exercises can help you see this in action. For example, you could give a candidate an existing piece of code, a set of requirements, or a simple scenario and ask them to identify potential issues. This gives you an opportunity to see how carefully they examine a problem rather than relying on a CV that describes them as “detail-oriented.”
Focus and prioritisation
Developers can have several things competing for their attention. They may be fixing an urgent bug while working on a new feature and responding to requests from other teams.
Being able to prioritise helps ensure that important work gets done without losing sight of wider project goals.
The strongest candidate is not necessarily the person who says yes to everything. It is someone who can determine what needs attention first and explain why.
One way to assess this is to give candidates a hypothetical list of competing tasks and ask them to prioritise them. The reasoning behind their choices is just as important as the order they choose.
A candidate who considers urgency, impact, dependencies, and deadlines is demonstrating a more thoughtful approach than someone who simply chooses the task they find easiest or most interesting.
Ownership
A strong developer does more than complete assigned tasks. They understand the purpose of their work, take responsibility for their deliverables and speak up when they encounter a problem. They do not wait until a deadline has passed before raising an issue.
Ownership becomes particularly important in teams where developers are expected to work independently and make decisions.
To understand how a candidate approaches ownership, ask about a project that did not go according to plan. What went wrong? What part did they play? What did they do once they realised there was a problem?
Pay attention to how they describe the situation. Do they take responsibility for their part in the outcome? Do they talk about what they learnt? Do they focus only on what others did wrong?
These responses can give you useful insight into how they are likely to handle responsibility when things do not go as planned.
The Right Hire Takes More Than a CV
The strongest software developer on paper may not necessarily be the strongest fit for your team.
Before you start assessing candidates, think about what the person will actually need to do in the role. What problems will they need to solve? Who will they work with? How much independence will they have? How often might priorities change? What technical and behavioural skills will help them succeed? Your hiring process should reflect those requirements.
Technical assessments, structured interviews and practical exercises each provide different insights into a candidate’s capabilities. Together, they give you a clearer understanding of not only what a candidate knows, but also how they think, solve problems and apply their skills to the work.
With our tailored assessments, you can evaluate the skills that matter most for each role, including technical knowledge, cognitive abilities and problem-solving. This gives you more evidence to make informed hiring decisions.
