[ypcx]

Here's a good solution - review the Github (or similar) of the people you are thinking to hire.

They may have the simplest of projects or contributions out there but you may infer how they think, how they behave, and what drives them.

If I don't have things to show for it, then I'm not really interested into programming. The immediate knowledge is secondary, the self-motivation is primary, because motivation makes you gain knowledge quickly, or, at all, in fact.

[schwartzworld]

I haven't contributed to my personal github in a year, but I love programming and do it every day.

[salawat]

I don't maintain a GitHub at all, yet I spend plenty of time digging through FOSS code at all levels. I generally don't contribute because any type of fix I'm doing is typically just a one-off for my own purposes, which may clash with the intent of the overall project.

I despise signalling for signalling sake. I just enjoy debugging, learning how things work, and doing the smallest tweak possible to fulfill my needs.

I minimize my digital footprint intentionally; people have a habit of trying to get to know you without engaging with you directly when you're too open, and I hate that.

I throw away and redo things in different ways on a regular basis. I change my working OS, workspace structure, buildtools, programming languages, etc. Keeps beginner's mind firmly in place, and helps keep me humble.

Point being, your vetting process completely fails to take into account someone that simply doesn't put themself out for everyone else's perusal, and who actually values their privacy.

Your method ironically would turn me off of most candidates. The Art of Software Engineering for me is to take what you have, look at the hole that needs to be filled, then coding a piece that looks like it belonged there the entire time. It's about building what you want with what you have.

I can admire idiosyncratic code that works in clever ways. Just as I can run screaming when it comes time to refactor it.

Point being, sometimes people's value add isn't conducive to being posted on GitHub, or isn't for personal reasons.

[thatswrong0]

Yeah, that’s a terrible idea. I’m good at programming and like doing it, but not enough that I’ll put in appreciable time outside of work because I have _other hobbies_, as incomprehensible as that sounds. I put a lot of time into them, and between them and having a social life, there’s no time for programming.. but that certainly doesn’t make me a worse programmer or less motivated when it comes to my work.