> I would argue that incompetence is a form of not caring.

It is not.

It can be a product of not caring, and what is actually not caring can be mistaken for incompetence, but incompetence can coexist with dedication (the idea that it cannot seems is a face of the "effort is all that matters, there are no real differences in capabilities" myth), competence and concern are not at all the same thing or inherently linked such that either necessary implies the other.

One man's incompetence is another man's profound skill. OK maybe not actually, but let's just say that some people are quick to apply a label of "incompetent" to people who think a little differently, or who are perhaps only 10% less knowledgeable, or to people they imagine are less knowledgeable.

> One man's incompetence is another man's profound skill

Only when there's no way to measure the results.

Measuring results is notoriously hard in this industry. Any metric can be easily manipulated, and many qualitative aspects of software are not quantifiable. Moreover, the people who get to decide the metrics will tend to choose them in a way that gives an advantage to themselves.

Maybe some fraction of incompetent interns are playing a kind of double game, where they merely pretend to be really caring.

But I doubt that’s the norm. There really are a lot of not so smart people of all ages out there in positions way beyond their actual capability.

Edit: And in a lot of situations the dumb and hard working are way more dangerous than the smart and lazy.

With the dumb and lazy being somewhat better, so I partially agree with the parent.

In my 15 years, I’ve had a lot of interns, and a lot of indirect interaction with other interns. I can usually spot a genuine one in about a day at this point.

Show horses and workhorses – Hillary Clinton was all about that and say what you like about her, this distinction is quite wise.

There is also the latin saying "res, non verba" – that one is proven by action rather than words.

I'm sure there are also a lot of competent smart people who may happen to have other issues in their lives affecting their output. Maybe they are burned out, have some family drama, have health issues, etc.

I for one am glad if 10 interns get a chance even if only 1 turns out to be truly useful. It's a matter of empathy and I hope it prevails because what real purpose do we have without it.

Not always. I've seen multiple people who are very enthusiastic and care deeply about something they are absolutely terrible at, but are unable to recognise it (possibly because it's a hard thing to admit to yourself that this thing you like and care about is probably best left to someone else).