What makes elite software delivery teams stand out?

However, there are still talented teams that are able to deliver high-quality software at an incredible pace without breaking a sweat. When you look closely, you see that there is one common factor - the programmers on these teams inherently put learning above all else and are able to quickly adapt to project needs by moving from one technology to another. These programmers have spent time working on several technologies across multiple projects, and instead of being rigid about the technologies they wish to work on, they prefer to prioritize problem-solving and hence create immense value for the end consumer.

We call them - Omnistack developers. Honestly, they aren’t superhuman geniuses, they are just taking the right approach to building depth in their field, and that’s what makes them special.

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What makes ‘Omnistack developers’ unique:

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• Bias for learning: Instead of limiting themselves to a couple of programming languages, omnistack devs are likely to be highly open to learning new technologies depending on what each project or problem might require. This means that they are able to apply the fundamentals of programming across technologies that they learn as they go.
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• Ability to unlearn: Omnistack developers are always eager to learn new things and stay up-to-date with the latest developments in their field. But importantly, they’re also able to unlearn old habits and develop new ones quickly, which is why they’re able to change their way of working depending on the technology they’re working on. 
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• Strong delivery fundamentals: Instead of focusing on specific programming languages, Omnistack developers have a strong grip on fundamental best practices, including using CI/CD pipelines, clean code practices to keep things simple, strong communication skills, and simple concepts such as the naming of classes, functions, and variables, routine code refactoring. A strong inclination to follow these practices in a disciplined way also makes moving from one programming language to another much easier.

• Let frameworks do the heavy lifting: Omnistack developers are able to focus on writing complex business logic by leveraging frameworks across the stacks they work on. Making things hard while writing software is very easy, it is even easier when you stick to just one language purely because you know it well and spend a significant amount of time trying to make things work with what you know instead of learning something new. The antidote to this is to have a bias for learning new stacks that you can build complex business logic on and letting frameworks do the heavy lifting when working on them.

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In a nutshell, if organizations can shift focus from hiring for technologies to hiring ‘omnistack developers’, they will end up building a highly adaptable technology talent pool that will pay dividends in the long run.