The best hire I ever made had half the experience of the other finalists.

What stood out was how she talked about a side project she'd abandoned. Most people either skip failed projects or apologize for them. She walked me through every decision — what she learned, what she'd change, what she'd keep. That kind of reflection is rare and hard to teach.

I've stopped weighting years of experience heavily. What I'm looking for is evidence that someone has thought carefully about their work. That they've made mistakes and extracted something from them. That they care about getting it right, not just getting it done.

The technical bar still matters. But craft is about more than syntax.