[whymauri]

Pretty much every team is a network... which is to say, I think this advice applies to hiring, generally. Not just engineers.

Some people have made the solid point that a corollary to:

> After a baseline level of competency is satisfied, who you hire does not matter.

Is that the hiring team has a solid understanding of what that baseline level of competency is, in the first place. In my previous job, this was the limiting factor: the head of our hiring had absolutely no idea where that bar was.