After the same amount of time I'd say our code is of the same quality (ie, after say X days working on something new).
I'll have written lost of lesser quality versions first and slowly approached an optimal solution. He'd never write anything until he understood it well enough to write the optimal solution first time.
Sometimes getting lesser quality versions done quickly is a good thing - certainly I was much more useful at getting a quick messy mostly working solution done (and sometimes that's all that is needed).
OTOH, if there is job big enough to amortise that startup cost and important enough that it had to be of the highest possible quality then I'd often give it to him.
I'll have written lost of lesser quality versions first and slowly approached an optimal solution. He'd never write anything until he understood it well enough to write the optimal solution first time.
Sometimes getting lesser quality versions done quickly is a good thing - certainly I was much more useful at getting a quick messy mostly working solution done (and sometimes that's all that is needed).
OTOH, if there is job big enough to amortise that startup cost and important enough that it had to be of the highest possible quality then I'd often give it to him.