My philosophy on hiring has always been to hire the smartest people who are still capable of working and communicating well with others. Over the years I have f

My philosophy on hiring has always been to hire the smartest people who are still capable of working and communicating well with others. Over the years I have found that I need to focus more on different areas during the hiring process depending on the presence of a degree. Those with degrees I need to ferret out if they actually like to program or if they just are in it "for the job." I tend to find that those that have come to programming via another route are more likely to actually enjoy it. Those without degrees I need to spend more time ferreting out the "plays well with others" skills. I tend to find that those without a college degree tend to have less experience attempting to solve tough intellectual problems as a member of a group -- this is usually alleviated by more professional experience. One other quirk that seems to come up more often[1] is the "Smartest Person in the Room" syndrome, the constant need to prove one's superior intelligence. If you get more than one of these people on your team it tends to turn every discussion or meeting into an unproductive fireworks display of one-upmanship. My perfect hire is the self-learner who loves to program, has a mastery of the fundamentals of computer science, can effectively communicate complex topics, and has enough confidence in their abilities to stow the ego. Then again I'm also looking for some beach front property here in Colorado... [1] - I also see this quite a bit with people who are _really_ proud of where they went to school. This is then usually combined with them somehow working the name of their alma mater into the conversation at least a dozen times during an hour interview.