I interviewed a finance major for a job parsing a COMSTOCK feed from a satellite. Asked him "Can you program in C++?" "Yes" he lied.

We decided to hire him. After he accepted the offer, he asked if he could come in over the weekend to get started. Wow! What enthusiasm!

He spent the weekend learning to program in C++. He was great, his knowledge of finance was invaluable, a stellar performer all around. Eventually wrote a webpage test kit on his own and sold it to Adobe.

So was it a lie? He WAS able to program in C++ on Monday.