[KamBha]

"Tell me about that one time you solved an interesting problem?"

I agree if that was the only thing you asked, you wouldn't get a good answer. However, if you then dug into their answer you can probably tell if it is BS or not.

I remember having this exact experience with a junior dev who claimed to worked on some interesting projects at Uni, but when you dug deeper, you realised he knew very little about the technology he supposedly used.

That said, my company isn't really interested in hiring people who can code an algorithm to balance b-trees. My company just need people who know how to ask questions, write maintainable code, and use a profiler.

[dmitrygr]

Worked with a guy once who was a pro at this. Every day he did nothing, but when higher ups asked the team what was done and how, he managed to take credit and explain how things worked well enough to convince them that he had done it all. The rest of the team was not amused. Just listening in on a team (while adding nothing to the code or discussion) might be enough to go into great depth in such a discussion.

[vonmoltke]

What makes you think a bullshit artist that good a) doesn't actually know his shit well enough and is just lazy and b) won't pass your technical interview by either actually knowing enough or absorbing enough test prep material?

Also, how common do you think these people are? IMO, not common enough to design an interview process around. Then again, I don't subscribe to the "one bad apple will torch the orchard" paranoia popular in this industry.

[wolfgke]

Give each team member a different assignment - this should avoid the mentioned problem.