I have been using vi/vim since 1989, and I found spf13 to be a totally frustrating experience. Twice I tried it out and quit. It messes with settings of neocomplcache (issues reported and verified with authors), it installs plugins like autocomplete (??) which can also be frustrating. I had hunt through the source of some 20 or more plugins to figure out the offending ones and remove them.

However, that's just my experience. I'd suggest he try a clean vim and add plugins as he needs them. There are plenty of links suggesting great plugins for developers. "sjl" (steve losh) has an article which was linked here (Coming Home to Vim) that mentions some good plugins.