Ok, this is true story and has nothing to do with my credibility. Few days ago glenwood systems, a core product developing company conducted a recruitement drive in my college. There was me, a coding geek with all my passion for one thing, and there was him, who is a puzzle freak. They selected him past the first two rounds full of puzzles and math, finally rejected him knowing his programming incompetence. And they missed someone who really could help. me. There are a ton of books out there teaching you how to crack interview puzzles and programming riddles. There's no book telling you to get your hands dirty with projects and code. The author is right. Hire the one who did things, not the one who learnt to crack puzzles.