{"id":37653,"date":"2023-07-13T15:58:06","date_gmt":"2023-07-13T13:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wbscodingschool.com\/?p=37653"},"modified":"2025-05-12T15:33:48","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T15:33:48","slug":"talented-developer-vs-experienced-developer-who-is-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wbscodingschool.com\/blog\/talented-developer-vs-experienced-developer-who-is-better\/","title":{"rendered":"Talented Developer VS Experienced Developer \u2013 Who Is Better?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I have never read a \u2018talent versus experience\u2019 article \u2013 be it about tech, art, sports, or folding paper airplanes \u2013 that did not end with some platitude on how \u2018both are necessary, and the true winner is the person who can find the right spot between both\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since I tend to assume that my readers know the difference between truth and truisms, I\u2019ll skip the bit where I say that a developer needs both talent and experience, and that these are not mutually exclusive categories. I\u2019m reasonably certain you already know all that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, I\u2019m going to keep the promise of my title: I am actually<\/em> going to compare a software developer who has talent but little experience with one who has experience but little talent, and I\u2019m going to tell you which of the two is better, and why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ready to get polemical with me? Then let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#1 Who works faster?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"talented<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Highly talented developers can understand problems at a glance, arrive at multiple solutions quickly, and write code with a spontaneity that us mere mortals can only dream of. Put the talented and the experienced dev to work on a coding exercise, and the talented dev will be done in half the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore the winner is\u2026 the experienced developer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wait, wait, wait \u2013 put the pitchfork down, and let me explain! Yes, a talented developer can write code<\/em> more quickly, but that is something different than getting work done<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Occasionally there will be a problem or a client request that needs to be worked on from scratch\u2026 but in the vast majority of cases, a developer will be dealing with problems that others have encountered (and solved) before. Where a talented programmer will come up with a new solution in, say, hours or days, the experienced programmer will find a library that completes the task for them without wasting any time at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are exceptions to this rule, edge cases, everything you like. But in some eight cases out of ten, the experienced developer is the one who gets the job done more quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winner: Experience<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

#2 Who writes the better code?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"talented<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Experienced developers may have a much wider arsenal of tools, but writing code is ultimately a form of composition, one that requires creativity and ingenuity, and these are things that no tool can supplement (other than ChatGPT & co., naturally, but it doesn\u2019t take an experienced developer to know about those).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The talented developer is the clear winner here. Their code is typically more elegant and concise, and while their experienced counterpart will struggle to apply past solutions to new problems, a truly talented dev will be flexible, and their code sensible and easy to understand regardless of what type of application they\u2019re building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only advantage an experienced dev has is that they will have worked in teams before, meaning they understand the importance of readability and leaving comments. That said, leaving a helpful comment to thirty lines of code is not quite the same as writing a three-line snippet so sensible that it makes comments redundant!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winner: Talent<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

#3 Who works better in a team?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"talented<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This question has no answer, and anybody who tells you otherwise is only talking out of their own prejudice. Talent and experience at writing software are two things completely disconnected from a predisposition for teamwork, leadership, conflict resolution, and other such soft skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides, it\u2019s perfectly plausible to imagine a talented developer who gathered experience in teamwork outside of software development, or an experienced developer who spent almost all of their career as a freelancing lone wolf. This question must therefore remain indeterminate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winner: Draw<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

#4 Who is better for a small company and\/or a startup?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"experienced<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The smaller a company, the more its developer(s) need to be skilled at multitasking, at thinking outside their professional box, at respecting deadlines, and at synergising their work with the company\u2019s greater goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means that a small company will almost always do better with an experienced developer, who typically has accrued a much better understanding of their past software\u2019s broader business purposes, and who has seen first-hand how the work they do affects the company\u2019s overall performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes a talented developer can be the better choice, but only if they are already highly business-oriented (and someone who is both a highly talented developer and<\/em> a natural entrepreneur is a rare find indeed). Alternatively, a talented dev can outperform an experienced one if under the supervision of an excellent manager, one who knows how to direct them and make the most out of their talent \u2013 but not by themselves, and the smaller the company, the more likely that a dev will have to work by themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winner: Experience<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

#5 Who is better for a large company?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"experienced<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A large company will normally have a correspondingly sizeable tech team, which means that \u2013 if their hiring manager is anything but a total incompetent \u2013 they will already have a mix of talent and experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assuming a certain equilibrium is already in place, then, the better choice for a new hire is usually a talented developer. That\u2019s because large companies already have the team and the infrastructure in place to nurture said talent, and they tend to deal with problems that are more unique and complicated than smaller companies, requiring greater creativity and insight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, large companies are often better places for a developer to cultivate their career in the long term, and one advantage that talented developers have is exactly that: regardless of whether they\u2019re the better worker, they are certainly the better investment<\/em> \u2013 if, that is, they can be persuaded to stay where they are!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winner: Talent<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve seen a certain balance between talent and experience in the above comparisons. Having to cast my vote in this particular contest, however, I will give the palm of victory to\u2026 *drum-roll* \u2026the experienced developer<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not because experience is inherently better than talent, but for the rather simpler reason that programmers are professionals who work in a fast-paced and often mercilessly business-minded world. Talent is a wonderful thing to have, sure, and if you give it time, in the long run it will flourish into wonderful things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But time is exactly what companies in the tech world typically do not<\/em> have. If a product needs to be deployed, if investors need to be shown a demo, if a deadline is coming up, then a company needs a professional who gets the job done<\/em>, regardless of whether the code they write is the most elegant or most original in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, in spite of the fact that talented and experienced devs are balanced in most of the categories we looked at above, the simple fact that experienced devs win in the contest of who\u2019s quickest means that they win the overall contest too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re an experienced dev, please enjoy my seal of approval! And if you\u2019re a talented dev \u2013 well, no need to feel bad. Experience will come to you eventually, with good old work, initiative and a little bit of patience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An actual answer (and not the usual truisms!) to the talent vs experience dilemma for coders<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-coding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wbscodingschool.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wbscodingschool.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wbscodingschool.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wbscodingschool.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wbscodingschool.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37653"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wbscodingschool.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50576,"href":"https:\/\/www.wbscodingschool.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37653\/revisions\/50576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wbscodingschool.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wbscodingschool.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wbscodingschool.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}