>>>>Just to balance all the negativity, I'd like to hear your opinions on what is the most important thing that makes a developer a great developer.
>>>>
>>>>Is it whether has
>>>>- Excellent analytical skills?
>>>>- Highly proficient with the used tools?
>>>>- Fast?
>>>>- Ability to write clear code?
>>>>- Good communication skills
>>>>
>>>>Or perhaps something else?
>>>
>>>I think trustworthiness should be in the mix.
>>
>>Would loyal be a better description? That would include developers who do not leave when they get a better offer elsewhere ?
>
>Trustworthiness and loyalty are different things. A poor developer can be very loyal.

eh. I'm confused. A trustworthiness and loyalty are synonyms aren't they (as you know english is not my native tongue, so correct me if I'm wrong). So why do you think a trustworthy developer is a great developer?

>If a great developer gets what they carefully consider to be a better offer elsewhere, why would they not take it?
I agree. However from a business perspective it then might not be a great developer.

Let me explain. This is a discussion I had with my business partner. You can hire the best developer in the world, but if it takes 9 months to get up to speed (yes, this what we are looking at) and jumps ship after 12 months, he / she is not a great developer from our perspective.

>To some extent self-interest is important for markets to operate as we expect. How did you hire that great developer in the first place, and how do you expect to retain their services?

Good point, but it takes two to tango. We have had/have very loyal developers that worked for us for many years, but we've had also developers that jumped ship after 12 months without any notice and time to hand over the project to another. From my perspective, when I'm hiring a new developer I'd like to know whether this is the kind of guy/girl that will jump ship very easily or one that is looking for a more permanent position.

We have made some big mistakes to hire young .NET developers fresh from university only interested to fly away after a couple of months when they found something else and can put our company as a reference for experience. That was a huge waste of money.