[blister]

I've hired several junior developers after just chatting without really getting into deep technical details. With junior developers, I'm more concerned with the individual being a good fit for our team culture and dynamic.

With more seasoned engineers, I mostly just ask about projects they've worked on before. The good engineers that have been a great fit with the team are the sort that (when prompted) get really excited when I ask about their previous projects. They go into great detail on cool hacks they made and challenges they were able to overcome. People that aren't a good fit usually give simple answers to direct questions. If I have to goad the developer along during the interview process, it's a non-starter.

And, to agree with some of the other commenters, none of the best engineers we've hired have ever been unemployed during our courtship phase. We make every effort to accommodate their work schedule, including having interviews during lunch time or in the evenings and weekends. Good developers are generally not out of work for very long, if at all. If a guy wants a job with us and isn't currently working, it's almost always a sign of some deeper problem.

[10098]

You do realize that disclosing details of a proprietary project that I've worked on might be a no-no? A lot of us have signed a paper explicitly stating that we're not allowed to do this.