It honestly depends also at what level they are in the pipeline, and maybe we've already screened out the other people that can't code before we even ask them t

It honestly depends also at what level they are in the pipeline, and maybe we've already screened out the other people that can't code before we even ask them to, so I don't dump them in the bucket of people who can't code. Phone screen - maybe 3 out of 10 pass (ish), most are meh, and 1 or 2 out of 10 is terrible. Onsite - because of weeding out at the phone screen level, I think it's maybe 1 in 10 that can't program (or I question their fundamentals), and 1 in 8 that an offer is made, and most are floundering somewhere in between. Most can program but either can't solve the problem, or don't understand some key concepts in the solution. Adding more gates to reduce the amount of time you're wasting onsite is definitely the right thing. I personally think the phone screen is pretty valuable, as annoying as they are.