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> Attitude is a lot harder to change than skill. Disagree. _Both_ are hard to change. Don't hire a B expecting that practice and mentoring will make him a pro

• jacquesm 17y ago
  So what if he's not going to be a prodigy ? There is very little application level code that requires prodigy level coders. I've also been a boss, hiring both 'A's and 'B's. The 'B's worked out fine over time, all the 'A's caused more trouble than their skills ever made up for. Maybe I was unlucky, who knows. Managing programmers has been compared to herding cats, for continuity reasons it is usually a very safe bet to get people on board that are not in the 'artiste' class because your company is a multi-year project and prima donnas have a very bad record when it comes to staying the course. They also absolutely loathe to maintain their own code. Unless your project is something one guy can do, is something that you don't plan to maintain long term get a steady performer.