In my experience, there is a strong correlation between people who like programming and work on projects in their spare time, and their ability to contribute su

In my experience, there is a strong correlation between people who like programming and work on projects in their spare time, and their ability to contribute successfully in a programming job. As I've said in other comments, you need some method of filtering out job applicants. I find that people who do things to stand out (personal website, side projects, github account, etc) are worth looking at more than people who rely solely on a CV.