How to Know If Your Developer Is Actually Good

The short answer: Watch their communication patterns, check GitHub commit frequency, ask for weekly demos, and pay attention to how they handle problems. If they hide behind jargon and can't show you working software, something is wrong.

It's 11pm. You're staring at your bank account.

You've paid your developer $18,000 over the past three months. They seemed smart in the interview. They use words you don't understand. They're always "working on it."

But your product still isn't ready.

And you have no idea if they're building something amazing or burning your money.

You want to ask questions. But every time you do, they say things like "refactoring the authentication layer" or "cleaning up technical debt."

You nod. You have no clue what that means. You feel stupid.

So you stop asking.

Now you're lying awake wondering: Is my developer actually good? Or am I getting played?

You're not alone. This is the silent crisis of non-technical founders.

The Developer Translation Gap

Here's what's actually happening.

Your developer speaks one language. You speak another.

When they say "I'm refactoring the backend," they know exactly what that means. To you, it sounds like "I'm doing... something... that may or may not matter."

When they say "I fixed that bug," you want to ask: which bug? The one users complained about? The one that's been open for three weeks?

But you don't ask because you don't want to sound dumb.

So you nod. You say "great." And you walk away knowing nothing.

I call this the developer translation gap, the space between what your developer says they're doing and what you actually understand.

Most founders live in this gap for months before realizing something is wrong.

The gap creates real problems. You can't give useful feedback. You can't set realistic timelines. You can't tell if you're being overcharged. You can't know when to fire someone.

And here's the worst part: by the time the problems become obvious to you, you've already lost months and thousands of dollars.

It's not your fault. You're a founder, not a developer. But you need visibility into what you're paying for.

The good news? You don't need to learn to code. You just need to know what to look for.

What Actually Separates Good Developers from Bad Ones

I've worked with dozens of developers over the years. Some great. Some terrible.

Here's how to tell the difference without reading a single line of code.

Good developers communicate before you ask

This is the biggest signal.

Good developers don't wait for you to chase them. Every day or two, they tell you what they finished, what they're working on, and what's blocking them. Unprompted.

Bad developers go dark. You have to ask "what's happening?" constantly. When you do, their answers are vague or filled with jargon.

Ask yourself: When was the last time your developer sent you an update without you asking first?

If you can't remember, that's a red flag.

Good developers commit code frequently

Log into your GitHub repository. Look at the commit history.

You don't need to understand the code. Just look at the patterns.

Good signs: Multiple commits per week, sometimes daily. Clear commit messages like "Added password reset feature" instead of "updates." Steady activity over time.

Red flags: One commit every 10 days with a message like "various fixes." Long gaps with no activity, then a huge dump of changes. Commit messages that are just "fix" or "stuff" or "WIP."

Small, frequent commits with clear messages usually mean good habits.

One giant weekly commit usually means poor planning or someone cramming at the last minute.

Good developers explain things simply

Every few days, ask: "Can you explain what you built in simple terms? Like you're explaining it to someone who doesn't code."

A good developer can do this easily.

"I added a button that lets users reset their password. When they click it, they get an email with a link."

See? Simple. Clear. You understand exactly what happened.

A bad developer hides behind jargon.

"I implemented the auth middleware and refactored the session handler."

If you leave every conversation more confused than when you started, that's not because you're dumb. It's because they're not being clear.

And unclear communication usually means unclear thinking.

Good developers love to demo

Stop accepting status updates. Start asking for working software.

Every Friday, ask: "Can you show me what's new?"

Open the app. Click around. Try to break things.

Good developers love this. They're proud of their work. They want to show you.

Bad developers make excuses. "It's not quite ready." "There's nothing visual to show." "Let me clean it up first."

If someone can't show you something functional after two weeks, something is wrong.

Good developers flag problems early

Things will go wrong. Bugs happen. Deadlines slip. That's normal.

What matters is how they handle it.

Good developers tell you before it's a crisis. "Hey, this feature is taking longer than expected. Here's why. I should have it done by Thursday instead of Tuesday."

They take responsibility. They communicate.

Bad developers hide problems until they explode. They blame external factors. The API changed. The requirements weren't clear. The library had a bug.

Once or twice? Sure, things happen.

Every week? You have a problem.

Good developers push back on your ideas

This one surprises people.

A developer who says yes to everything is a red flag.

Good developers push back. "That feature would take 6 weeks and probably won't move the needle. What if we tried this simpler version first?"

They're thinking about your business, not just billing hours.

Yes-developers build whatever you say without question. Sounds nice. It's actually dangerous. It means they're not thinking critically. They're just collecting paychecks.

The best developer I ever hired regularly told me my ideas were wrong. That's what you want.

Why I Built Shipanel

I dealt with the developer translation gap for years.

I'd ask developers what they built. I'd get jargon. I'd check GitHub. I couldn't read the code. I'd ask for summaries. They'd forget, or the summaries would be just as confusing.

The cycle was exhausting. And it never got better on its own.

Eventually I got tired of it and built something to fix it.

It's called Shipanel.

Here's how it works: you invite your developer, he connects the GitHub repo. Whenever he pushes changes, Shipanel reads the actual code in every commit, not just the commit message, the code itself.

Then it explains what was built in plain English.

So instead of seeing a commit message like "refactored auth middleware," you see: "Your developer updated the login system. Users who forget their password can now request a reset link via email."

That's it. No jargon. No guessing. You wake up, you see exactly what got built yesterday, in words you understand.

Before Shipanel: You ask "what did you work on?" and get "refactoring the API layer." You nod. You have no idea what that means. The developer translation gap stays wide open.

After Shipanel: You wake up to "Your developer added a feature that lets users save items to their wishlist. They also fixed a bug where the checkout page was slow on mobile."

The gap closes automatically.

It's not surveillance. Your developer wouldn't even notice you're using it, their workflow doesn't change. It's just visibility. The same visibility they already have, now shared with you.

One Founder's Story

A founder named Marcus told us he almost fired a great developer.

He'd hired someone remote. The guy was quiet. Updates were sparse. Marcus couldn't tell if he was working hard or hardly working.

He was checking GitHub constantly. He understood nothing. He was stressed every single day.

He was two weeks away from ending the contract.

Then he tried Shipanel.

Turns out the developer was crushing it. Building features faster than expected. Clean code. Smart decisions. Marcus just couldn't see it because of the translation gap.

Two months later, Marcus raised his seed round. When investors asked "what did you ship?" he had clear answers. He had receipts.

That developer is still with him.

Key Takeaways

How to tell if your developer is good:

• Communicates proactively without being asked

• Makes frequent, small commits with clear messages

• Explains work in plain English when asked

• Shows working software weekly

• Pushes back on bad ideas

• Flags problems early instead of hiding them

Red flags that signal trouble:

• Goes dark between check-ins

• Hides behind jargon

• Can't demo anything after two weeks

• Says yes to everything

• Blames external factors for every problem

• Giant commits with vague messages like "updates"

Stop Guessing. Start Knowing.

You started this company because you had an idea worth building.

You hired a developer to bring it to life.

You shouldn't need a computer science degree to know if it's actually happening.

So here's my challenge to you.

This week, try one thing from this article. Maybe it's changing how you ask questions. Maybe it's checking GitHub commit frequency. Maybe it's asking for weekly demos.

Or maybe you skip all that and just let Shipanel close the translation gap for you.

Either way, stop guessing. You deserve to know what you're paying for.

Ready to finally understand what your developer ships?

Shipanel turns confusing code commits into simple English automatically. No spying. No extra work for your developer. Just clarity.

No credit card required. Setup takes 90 seconds.

Try Shipanel free →