I would think "bring a sample of your coding" might be better. Non-programming might include: Query language "programming". Maintaining an existing "out of box application" Maintenance programming. End user support. Little real coding is necessary. These are programming jobs but not really programming as I see it but. Then there is the ability to learn new languages, processes, dealing with the end user, is the code maintainable, code by specs?, juggling multiple projects. I might start an interview by a sample code but that would not be my only criteria and if the person failed the "programming" test I would see it as a need for further discussion, not really a big red failure flag. Example: If the reason the programmer doesn't know sql is because they spent their time putting out fires and supporting the end users, I would hire that person over the others any day.