[caw]

> As someone hiring, I'm just thinking the time would be better spent on code samples than writing a resume.

I guess it depends on what you're looking for and your point of view.

It sounds like that given the choice between coding something in order to show employers versus creating a resume you would rather produce the code. But as an employer, do you want code that they wrote to show off, or do you want code from a project that they enjoy and to solve a problem, rather than as a demonstration? And as other people said, you don't know how long it took them to write that spiffy code they're showing you. If you spend enough time on it, the turd will eventually be polished.

Resumes are pretty much universally accepted. Startups are tending towards more code based, but I get the impression that you don't know going in if they want to see existing code, or a specific problem solved. Given that situation, your bang for the buck would probably go with a resume. Even if you tweak your resume to have 3-4 versions in order to apply to different positions it's probably time better spent than creating contrived code examples to serve as a resume.