Masterful? Or Mediocre? Here’s how developers trick you.

Here’s what I’ve learned after hiring hundreds of developers:

• A mediocre developer costs you time, energy, and a ton of money.

• A masterful developer gives you leverage.

The good ones don’t just write clean code — they unblock others, spot edge cases before they become bugs, and push the entire team forward.

I was chatting with Dmytro, one of our senior technical interviewers at Lemon.io, and he said something that really stuck with me:

That one hit hard. 

Because I’ve hired both kinds — the paycheck chasers, and the real builders.

The paycheck chasers look good on paper. They know just enough to pass a test. If you give them impeccably clear directions, they’ll follow them. They’ll probably never crash the system, but they won’t solve your problems, either.

The masterful ones are different. 

They’ll question your directions, poke holes in your plan, and then solve those problems for you. They care. They go deep. They make the people around them better.

So how do you tell which one you’re talking to?

They communicate like humans

According to Dmytro, good communication is the first thing that separates a masterful engineer from a mediocre one.

• Can they explain a complex system to a non-technical stakeholder?

• Can they break down technical decisions in plain English?

• Can they navigate disagreements on a team without blowing things up?

One of the questions Dmytro likes to ask is: “Explain it like I’m five.”

The point isn’t to dumb things down — it’s to check if someone actually understands what they’re doing. Because if they can’t explain it simply, they probably don’t understand it deeply.

But there’s another reason communication matters, and it’s more relevant now than ever:

People are cheating in interviews. A lot.

Dmytro told me about a candidate who gave answers that were suspiciously perfect. 

Turns out, he was feeding the questions into ChatGPT in real time. You could tell by the pauses, the eye movements, and the way he repeated the question back before answering — stalling while the AI generated a reply.

High-quality engineers don’t just spit out memorized facts. They engage, ask questions, and bring opinions to the conversation.

Skills matter — but not in the way most people think

One of the biggest red flags in an interview is when someone talks about tools and frameworks, but can’t explain why they used them.

The strongest developers don’t just know how to use a technology — they know when and why to use it.

Dmytro gave this example:

“If I ask why they used a certain tech, and the answer is ‘because it’s popular,’ I know they’re not thinking like an engineer. I want to hear about tradeoffs. I want to know they’ve made hard choices.”

He also looks for architecture-level thinking. 

Not just “I used Laravel” or “I used React,” but:

• “Here's how we structured the system”

• “Here’s why we did it that way”

• “Here’s what I’d do differently now”

If someone can only answer questions in terms of the specific language or framework they used, that’s a problem.

But if they can talk about problems and patterns — how to scale, how to debug, how to handle failure — that’s someone who gets it.

Curiosity is the hidden multiplier.

This one’s the hardest to measure — and the easiest to fake.

Everyone says they “love to learn,” but how can you tell if they’re just spouting BS?

Dmytro told me what he looks for:

• Engineers who have personal side projects.

• Engineers who explore new technologies outside of work.

• And the most important signal — Engineers who teach.

Dmytro loves to see candidates who’ve written blog posts, recorded screencasts, or spoken at meetups. It shows they’ve thought deeply about their work, and care enough to share it.

Why does it matter?

Because the job isn’t just about writing code — it’s about solving problems. And great engineers are obsessed with that, even when it’s not their job.

They go down rabbit holes, try new things just to see if they work, and truly care about the product.

Guys — you can’t afford to get this wrong.

So stop optimizing for resumes, and start optimizing for how people think, how they communicate, and how much they care.

That’s how you find the masterful engineers who will 10x your product.

–Aleksandr

P.S. — And if you need help with this, reach out. I’ve got hundreds of well-vetted masterful developers who are open to work.

Catch you next Sunday!