In the first anecdote the author recounted, I suspect the reason that opening up the codebase to Adam was so effective is that Adam had a mathematical backgroun

In the first anecdote the author recounted, I suspect the reason that opening up the codebase to Adam was so effective is that Adam had a mathematical background. It's not true that anyone who has studied mathematics at a high level is effective in tech, but the ones who make it into tech (in whatever role, not just as programmers) tend to have this same characteristic. They are thinking in terms of problems to solve, and if a problem needs automation, they will figure out automation. I am always willing to give people with mathematical backgrounds a chance, regardless of experience or current skills. I think similar principles might apply to the lawyer who started reading/writing unit tests and maybe to the other cases as well.