How to Interview Developers

I've been interviewing with companies recently and it's interesting to see how some places just completely ignore these types of questions. My guess is that there's a bit of self selection when interviewing. Some places don't looks for passion because they themselves may not be passionate.

On the other hand, you do want to make sure they know how to program. Talking about side projects and areas of interest may bias the interviewer when they really just want to know how technically competent you are.

I've had pretty good semi-accidental success with this method. Half the time I don't even get to the coding questions. Usually after 10 minutes of general technically-focused chatting I know if I want to reject the person. Knowing if I want to hire requires more, but I'm not always convinced throwing them at a whiteboard is the best way.