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How do you identify/attract/hire good programmers to implement an idea if you yourself are not a coder?

Jeff Kesselman, 25 years in the video game ... (more)
If you are going to build a technical team, you need a techncial team builder. Which is to say CTO. Thats a key hire and the one you should be focused on.

There is a lot more to this then just "hiring some programmers" and as a seasoned CTO let me tell you I have had to clean up startups that tried to go it without one and its always an expensive mess. They would have been far better served to have had someone like me from the start (and have said as much).

A CTO will create your architecture, probably prototype your product, spec out your development and release environments and hire and manage your technical team.

If you have access to entrepreneurial circles ask around who knows someone who is good and might be available. If you have an investor, Id go to them as they usually have contacts in the areas they are investing in. If not, look for someone with deep knowledge of your domain space and experience doing everything from line engineering on finished products that shipped to architecting similar kinds of systems.

And be prepared to pay for it. A good startup CTO without a lot of experience at the CTO level costs around $200K and 3%, and it goes up the more successful projects they have completed.

NOW if you are just trying to get a proof of concept together cheap, don't hire anybody. Get a contractor. Do it the way everyone hires contractors:
(1) Write a clear specification of work
(2) Shop it to at least 3 contractor with good references (check them)
(3) Take the middle offer
(4) Recognize that this is JUST a POC and will be thrown away once you have real funding.