The Most Valuable Engineering Team Members May Not Be Who You Think They Are
.
As I have grown in my career from hands-on developer to engineering leadership, I have had to completely reframe how I evaluate talent. The surprising truth? The engineers who help me scale most effectively are rarely the ones with the most impressive technical credentials.
The real stars are those who excel at a different skill set entirely - one that revolves around reliability, ownership, and collaboration.
The Delegation Test
The most important characteristics I look for in my engineering team members are simple:
- Can I rely on them to get things done?
- What kind and how complex a problem can I delegate to them?
- How much and what kind of support will they need?
In a scaling organization, the ability to distribute responsibility effectively becomes the critical path to success. My most valuable team members are those who make that path smoother.
Beyond Technical Excellence
Do not misunderstand - technical depth remains important. The engineers who truly accelerate our progress, however, are not those with the most impressive GitHub contributions or deepest algorithm knowledge.
Instead, they are the ones who:
- Communicate proactively and with clarity
- Take initiative to identify questions and find answers independently
- Grasp new concepts and requirements quickly
- Take genuine ownership of outcomes, not just tasks
- Take responsibility beyond themselves to organize and work with others
These are the people who approach challenges with “I understand; let me take that away from you; I will work with the team to get it done” rather than waiting for detailed instructions or requiring constant oversight.
Force Multipliers
What makes these team members so valuable is that they are force multipliers. They do not just complete their own work. They enable entire teams to function more effectively.
By shouldering responsibility and collaborating seamlessly with others, they expand an organization’s capacity to execute far beyond what individual technical brilliance could achieve alone.
Building This Culture
As engineering leaders, we need to actively cultivate these qualities by:
- Rewarding ownership and initiative, not just technical achievements
- Creating psychological safety for people to step up and take risks
- Celebrating those who make others better
The engineers who help us scale are not just coding - they are building organizational capability through their reliability, initiative, and collaborative spirit.
What qualities do you value most in your engineering teams?