Hiring your first engineer when you can’t code is one of the most consequential and most uncomfortable things you’ll do as a founder. You’re evaluating someone for skills you don’t have, in a market where bad hires are expensive and good ones are hard to find.
Here’s how to do it without getting burned.
What you can evaluate without technical knowledge
More than you think.
Communication clarity matters enormously in engineers. Can they explain what they built in terms you understand? Not because you need to understand the code, but because engineers who can’t communicate create enormous coordination problems as teams grow.
Problem-solving evidence is readable from anyone. Did they describe what broke, how they diagnosed it, and what they changed? That’s a solvable-problem thinker. Did they describe what they were assigned to do and confirm they did it? That’s a task-completer. You want the former.
Shipped product track record is verifiable. Ask what they built. Look it up. Working software in production is worth ten years of impressive job titles.
What to outsource
Technical assessment should be done by someone technical. A one-hour paid technical review from a senior engineer in your network is worth every penny. Give them your top three candidates and a specific brief. They’ll tell you who can actually code.
Screening CVs when you can’t read the technical stack
AI-assisted screening is particularly useful here because it can evaluate relevance of technical experience even when you can’t. Sieve scores candidates across technical depth, domain fit, and experience level, giving you a ranked shortlist you can take into a technical review with confidence. Start at sievecv.com.