[rdl]

Work history is essential.

After an initial screening (minimal technical competence, etc.), and a review of work samples already prepared, I think a walkthrough of "what have you done, and why", starting as early as possible, makes sense. It's not just passive "I worked at X, Y, Z", but trying to actually understand the candidate and his motivations. It's interesting to explore what someone didn't do as much as what they did do. The point of being comprehensive is that it's much more difficult to come up with a bonus story with that level of detail while keeping it consistent, and the most interesting stuff is not the overt things ("I worked on guidance systems") but all the details and motivations.

This could easily take 2-3h even for a 30 year old. Doing it without 1) being a dick 2) psychologically taxing 3) being confrontational is the hard part. I'd personally rather have a 2-3h interview/talk with a manager or founder, and a half-day of technical stuff, than sit through 8 interviews with people I won't be working with doing a combination of technical and non-technical.

Then, work-product sample, as close to the actual work as possible.