What kills me about this kind of advice is hearing people say, "Yeah, but I know developer X who doesn't read blogs, doesn't go to conferences, doesn't play wit

What kills me about this kind of advice is hearing people say, "Yeah, but I know developer X who doesn't read blogs, doesn't go to conferences, doesn't play with projects in his spare time, but he's a solid team player." My response is always, "We don't have room for every good person here, it's a small team. He will go on to be successful elsewhere, and that doesn't reflect badly on us just because we didn't offer him a job."