He could write code just fine (he passed the interview) but he couldn't seem to grasp engineering. He couldn't look at a mock or a system diagram and figure out

He could write code just fine (he passed the interview) but he couldn't seem to grasp engineering. He couldn't look at a mock or a system diagram and figure out how to translate that into code. Given multiple approaches a problem, he wasn't ever able to formulate the advantages and disadvantages to each (and would inevitably pick some crazy, obfuscated approach). Maybe it was just lack of experience, and he'll eventually come into his own -- but he definitely wasted an unacceptable amount of resources for a small company.