I find code review-style discussion of a simple coding challenge to be great for assessing both culture fit and skill. What we administer is like a web app equ

I find code review-style discussion of a simple coding challenge to be great for assessing both culture fit and skill. What we administer is like a web app equivalent to FizzBuzz in terms of difficulty level. But unlike a whiteboard FizzBuzz, it doesn't put the developer on the spot. As an extra bonus, unlike FizzBuzz, you'll get different results from the kid who just successfully finished a CS degree and the grizzled veteran who's built and maintained complex systems for decades. The right challenge can be completed in an hour or so by a mid-level developer in a brute-force manner. It will weed out those who simply can't code (or don't grok how the web works or how apps are constructed); and also highlight candidates who are capable of more sophisticated work. If being up to speed on a specific technology from Day 1 isn't important, you can give the developer their choice of framework or language or whatever. Then when you do a code review in person you can get a feel for both how the developer approaches code (a skill) -- but more importantly, how they take critique. Do they get defensive? Do they riff off your ideas? Do they suggest improvements/refactorings they would have made if they had more time? You can also explore other cultural factors - for instance, how did they approach constraint trade-offs in terms of time vs. completeness vs. sophistication? How clearly are they able to communicate about technical concepts?