Some technical people are probably worse at identifying good programmers than non-technical ones. But overall, I'd say that the very best people at identifying

Some technical people are probably worse at identifying good programmers than non-technical ones. But overall, I'd say that the very best people at identifying good programmers have a strong technical background. However, would agree that the situation is hardly hopeless for non-technical folks. After all, as far as I know, Jason Fried didn't have a strong programming background, and he ended up with DHH. I also agree with your top post. While it would be nice to have 10 years of software experience or the technical background to evaluate programming talent, you can still succeed by identifying and partnering with talented people.