I'd rather work with a smart, well read person who likes to think than someone who hasn't read much. Sure asking about Ayn Rand isn't really an intelligence te

I'd rather work with a smart, well read person who likes to think than someone who hasn't read much. Sure asking about Ayn Rand isn't really an intelligence test, but it's not a bad start. Smart people can learn about data structures and algorithms. Slow people who've managed to get a CS degree from some random college may have learned enough to pass, but there's no demonstration of smarts there. I'm hiring based on people being smart, self-motivated, willing to learn, willing to think, and people I can hold a conversation with. Teaching someone like that how data structures work is a lot easier than teaching a degree holder how to be someone I want to work with and someone I can trust to be on the ball as new technologies come out.