He talks through six major issues and then summarizes in positive and negative bullet points. It's not a perfect list but I agree with most of it. When I'm hiring, I look for someone who is passionate, programs in their spare time, works on personal side-projects, learns additional technologies "for fun". I want someone who has "strong opinions, weakly held" (which is a toned down version of what is presented on that blog post). Similarly, I hear alarm bells when I am interviewing a developer who views programming as "just a job", only learns new technologies when the company sends them on training courses and only knows one set of technologies. I'm less concerned (than the blog's author) about someone who started programming "late" in life.
As folks who've been interviewed by me know, I don't "quiz" people or set them "clever" tests. I get them talking about their work and their projects. I want to hear passion, I want to hear about problems and how they solved them - and how they dealt with managers (or peers) who didn't see eye to eye with them on solutions.
Are your criteria different?
I agree, quizzing and testing people typically shows only one thing definitively: the interviewee knows how to take a test. I think it's more valuable to know how someone will solve a problem they don't know how to solve with their current skill set.
It's been my experience that well-rounded people make good programmers. You have to be excited about your job and your lifestyle (and yes, programming is a lifestyle). People that just want to get a paycheck won't be motivated to go beyond what is expected to produce something noteworthy.
Typically I'll start with something open-ended such as "tell me about a favorite project of yours" and see how that conversation goes.
During the aftermath of the dotcom bust, a lot of candidates (that somehow were getting through the HR filtering) were obviously not qualified, but trying to lie in an attempt to get a job. When I hear a lot of "i'm a jack of all trades." and other vague, ego-inflating talk, I have been known to switch gears and ask more direct questions, depending on which part of the resume I'm trying to poke a whole in.
A personal favorite is "Are Java and JavaScript the same thing? Why or why not?"
:)
Seeing how a candidate responds to a direct question while in the midst of a relaxed interview tells me a lot about them.
I don't care about if they program at home, but if they can extend their worktime when some problems occurs, when the company needs it for some reason.
Personally, I don't like to program at home. When I need some extra time to finish some job I preffer to do it in the company. I use to read books at home, but I also like to stay with my family.
But when someone works on their own projects (Open Source, community contributions, personal blog, whatever...), on their own time, for fun, I think that shows a lot of passion and commitment, which is a good thing.
