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This is what I don't get about this requirement. I guess you can quickly see if a developer uses design patterns, writes tests and how easy the code is to understand. I don't think that's necessarily mind blowing though and you could still get stuck with an individual who checks all those boxes and still sucks.

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You are thinking about this in terms of one applicant. When you get 200 applications it's very useful to be able to quickly weed out people who are obviously not a fit.

You can also just throw out applicant number 26 and up. You most likely have a few solid candidates in the first 25 worth a phone call. And if not, look at 26 through 50. No reason to look through all 200 at once.

I don't see why it needs to be a silver bullet.

For example, an applicant that goes through the trouble of writing a thoughtful, reasonable README for every one of their projects signals a positive quality.

When comparing two candidates, that's certainly something to consider.

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