[speaking for myself only, not my employers past or present]
[I am guessing this will be an unpopular opinion, so posting anonymously]
I feel that interviews are essential. Every alternative I've heard seems to not work. I've tried.
0. Review their contributions to open source
--a. Some brilliant people have none - they prefer to get paid for their work & not disseminate it openly for free - that does not mean they should be disqualified
--b. I've personally seen people with stellar resumes claiming to have contributed to many projects who could not even tell me when they'd use a hashtable in any scenario of their choice
1. Ask about their last project
--a. It is easy to lie, to any level of detail. Anyone who tells you otherwise has never watched a politician speak.
--b. Speaking about engineering (even well) does not mean you can actually engineer well.
2. Pair program with them
--a. This tends to waste a lot of time, since either you use an abstract problem (and you're back to a normal interview) or you use a real problem and you spend 10000 hours explaining it.
3. Hire them on a trial period
--a. This is insulting to the brilliant people
--b. This is a waste of company time on the not brilliant people
I feel that interviews are essential. Every alternative I've heard seems to not work. I've tried.
0. Review their contributions to open source
--a. Some brilliant people have none - they prefer to get paid for their work & not disseminate it openly for free - that does not mean they should be disqualified
--b. I've personally seen people with stellar resumes claiming to have contributed to many projects who could not even tell me when they'd use a hashtable in any scenario of their choice
1. Ask about their last project
--a. It is easy to lie, to any level of detail. Anyone who tells you otherwise has never watched a politician speak.
--b. Speaking about engineering (even well) does not mean you can actually engineer well.
2. Pair program with them
--a. This tends to waste a lot of time, since either you use an abstract problem (and you're back to a normal interview) or you use a real problem and you spend 10000 hours explaining it.
3. Hire them on a trial period
--a. This is insulting to the brilliant people
--b. This is a waste of company time on the not brilliant people