Speaking as a carpenter, you're quite right! However every so often we do have to advertise for a position, and then the process of weeding through the applica

Speaking as a carpenter, you're quite right! However every so often we do have to advertise for a position, and then the process of weeding through the applications probably isn't so different from what everyone else has to do. At this point in my career I can say that it's quite easy to spot a skilled carpenter if I spend a few hours with them. I imagine an experienced programmer could do the same. The problem is getting to that point.