> dehumanizing the candidate into a “code monkey.”

Bingo.

A hiring process that attempts to convert the multidimensionality of humans to a handful of numeric variables is essentially trying to hire the best drone out there, not the best human fit for the job.

I learn more about candidates from the types of questions they ask me, and their reply to open-ended questions I ask them, than from any technical grilling test.

A dev manager I work with insists that one of the best indicators, along with all the usual things you try to suss out about a software development candidate is whether or not he does any software development in his spare time. Not everyone who's good does, but there's a good correlation between people who would be good at writing software, and people who do it for fun.

So I would take writing software for fun as a plus, but would not take not writing software for fun as a minus.

Haha, nope, not Todd.

Nice try, Todd ;)