[steamboiler]

I've found that pairing with interviewees on real(ish) problems usually helps to detect useful traits (I am not advocating pair-programing here FYI; rather working with them in front of a machine during the interview). Your mileage may vary.

Some of the things I look for are (in no particular order):

1. Knowing where to look for help when stuck

2. Systematically looking up the man pages/docs/API when stuck as opposed to making multiple wild guesses

3. Indenting code and saving files with proper names (you would be surprised how many people don't intend code even when it spills over 15-20 lines)

4. Instinctive eye for usability - for e.g. parsing command line arguments when appropriate rather than doing it blindly (`if sys.argv[n]: foo elif sys.argv[n-1]: bar`)

5. Inclination to iterate, even during an interview. Many people are happy to produce a working answer and leave it at that. Some iterate and tidy up without being asked to.