We Hire the Best, Just Like Everyone Else
Also: Give the &quot;not-the-best&quot; people a chance to develop.<p>The CEO of one of my past clients, a consulting company, always said: &quot;You can teach everyone to be a great programmer&quot;. And he put his money where his mouth was: He hired people with no programming experience (even with no university education) and personally trained them for <i>several months</i>. Also, senior people in the company were encouraged to also help them and guid them.<p>He had to fire some of those people later, mostly because they were not a good fit for the company. But some of them became great programmers and software consultants.<p>&quot;Hire only the best&quot; is really only half of the battle. Give people an environment where learning is encouraged and failure is expected. And help them wherever you can. Most will learn and enjoy it.