Hiring for Personality Over Skillset in Engineering Teams, TechGig

Adam Wachtel, Chief Technology Officer at Click Boarding, shared insights on constructing effective engineering teams by focusing on personality and problem-solving capabilities rather than solely on technical skillsets. This strategy, discussed in a podcast with Shane Hastie, is crucial for turning around distressed platforms and adapting to the evolving landscape shaped by AI.

Building and Retaining Teams

Wachtel emphasised that in small, agile teams, engineers are expected to analyse challenges, utilise available tools, and devise solutions within defined parameters. This cultivates a problem-solving mentality that is more valuable than rigid technical proficiency. For career progression, new hires are often mentored and work in ‘tiger team’ groups, preparing them for future management roles by guiding others without dictating.

Retaining engineers in a high-turnover industry involves fostering a sense of product ownership and an engaging team environment. Wachtel noted that his team members often stay for three to four years, an ‘eternity’ in IT, due to the creative freedom and collaborative culture. While compensation is vital, the team-oriented approach significantly contributes to retention.

Crisis Management and AI’s Impact

Wachtel recounted turning around a struggling platform at Click Boarding by stack-ranking the biggest problems, such as a multi-tenant SQL database bottleneck, and systematically addressing them. This included a major shift to a single-tenant database architecture. Keeping engineers engaged through such demanding periods requires hiring individuals who thrive on challenges and can see the progress being made.On the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on team composition, Wachtel believes AI tools can shrink the total number of required people and accelerate output, but the core makeup of product, testing, DevOps, and engineering roles remains intact.

He countered the notion of junior engineer roles disappearing, stating that new talent is still needed for learning and to maintain a deep understanding of the code base, especially when diagnosing problems in AI-generated code.

Challenges for New Leaders and SaaS Future

New team leads, often strong technologists, face the challenge of delegation and building trust within their teams. Wachtel advises a gradual approach, starting with delegating small tasks and establishing oversight processes to ensure timely and effective work. This helps managers transition from individual contributors to leaders while staying connected to the technical ground.

Addressing the ‘death of SaaS‘ debate, Wachtel considers it overblown. While consolidation and cost-consciousness are evident, he highlighted the rising consumption-based costs of AI tokens, which will make organisations more mindful of their AI usage.

He questioned whether companies not primarily focused on software development would sustain the long-term maintenance and security updates required for custom AI-built applications, suggesting a potential return to SaaS solutions.