Hire a developer who uses Claude Code
Claude Code is where the senior work happens. Long context, agentic loops, terminal native. Here is how to find the devs who actually ship with it
Cursor is the IDE. Claude Code is the command line. The best vibe coders use both, and they know exactly when to use which one
Why Claude Code matters
Long context windows. Surgical editing of multiple files. Real agent loops that can run a test, read the error, fix the code and repeat without human intervention. This is the tool that turns a six-hour refactor into a twenty-minute one
The filter questions
Question: when to use Claude Code instead of Cursor? A real user answers immediately, long-running tasks, large refactors, anything that requires the terminal context
Question: what is in your CLAUDE.md? If they don't have one, they don't use it seriously
Question: show me an output in plan mode from last week. You will know within 10 seconds if the workflow is real
What separates the real users
Users of Real Claude Code have a CLAUDE.md in each repo. They run plan mode before making destructive changes. They know which model to choose for which task. They have built their own slash commands. Their terminal history is a portfolio
LARPers installed it last week, executed one prompt and are now claiming it on LinkedIn. The five-minute audit grabs them every time
The output gap
A senior in a Claude Code agent loop closes tickets at 3-5x the rate of the same senior in a traditional IDE. Over a quarter, that's the difference between releasing the roadmap and releasing a third of it. A year from now, that's the difference between still being in business and no longer being in business
92% of US developers use AI tools at work. Maybe 5% use Claude Code in agent mode with the discipline that produces these numbers. That 5% is who you want
The bar
Senior developers running Claude Code in agent loops deliver speeds that the rental market has not yet priced in. They cost $300K+ because they are worth $900K+ in output. We are specifically looking for this level