[filoleg]

Yup, that's pretty much why he got hired. He was clearly an all-around smart guy who knew his fundamentals, had zero issues with learning new things (in fact, seemed to enjoy it, which is always a great mark in my book), and seemed very socially smart (i.e., great to work with as a teammate). As a sidenote, "socially smart" isn't a synonym for "that guy who cannot stop obnoxiously bothering everyone with their constant chatter". "Socially smart" means that he has enough sense of tact and awareness to know when and what to say (or not to say anything at all).

The fact that he wasn't familiar with front-end tech at the time was just a tiny blip that absolutely no one was even slightly concerned about when he joined.