The A+ tech profile has moved. The 2020 version still works as a floor; the 2026 version requires it as a baseline and adds three things on top. If you're hiring against the 2020 version, you are paying market for a tech who will be a B-player in 18 months. Here's the new profile.
The five non-negotiables
- They know the trade.Wrench skill is still wrench skill. The new profile does not replace this - it builds on it. If a candidate is great at AI but can't diagnose, the system rejects them at F2 (pattern) and again at F3 (synthesis).
- They use the AI tools you give them.Without complaining. Without you having to push. The test for this is in the F5 reverse interview - the question "what AI tools have you used to do your job better in the last six months?" separates A from B faster than any other.
- They talk to customers like a human, not a script. F4 (taste) catches this. The tech who replies to a customer complaint in a script-canned way is the tech who'll cost you a referral.
- They spot the problem the diagnostic missed. They understand what the diagnostic is doing well enough to know where its blind spots are. This is breadth showing up as synthesis on the truck.
- They want to be the best at what they do.Not the highest paid. The best. The money follows for the best ones, but the best ones don't lead with money. F5 (reverse) reads this directly.
What you stop screening for
Drop the 2020 signals that were never very predictive:
- Years on the truck without ranges of performance behind them.
- Vocabulary matching your job description.
- Polished interview presentation.
- "Stability" defined as long tenure at one shop - stability without ascending responsibility is a yellow flag, not a green one.
The hiring loop, then
Run the 5-Filter system. F2 grades pattern fit against your blueprint. F3 surfaces synthesis. F4 surfaces taste. F1 and F5 filter out everyone who's in this for the paycheck. If a candidate clears all five, they fit the 2026 profile. If not, they don't, regardless of how nice the resume looks.
Three traits, then breadth
The deeper change underneath the five traits: the old A-player was a tall skinny rectangle (deep in one thing). The new A-player is a wide rectangle with AI sitting on top as a multiplier. Depth is still useful - wrench-skill is non-negotiable. Breadth is now mandatory. Hire for breadth, then layer AI tools on the breadth. Compounding from there does the rest.
If your last 10 hires don't match this profile, you're not behind. You're still ahead of the field. But you have 18 months - see the compounding-math section of the talk - before that gap closes. Start hiring against the 2026 profile on your next role.