Whether or not the person in question can actually write code. In my experience (both hiring and being hired) no company is going to hire you for a programming

Whether or not the person in question can actually write code. In my experience (both hiring and being hired) no company is going to hire you for a programming position unless you can already code reasonably well. That doesn't begin to cover the full picture (ancillary tools like testing, version control, etc... as well as teamwork and time management skills, more...) but it's enough to get a foot in the door at some places.