My worst hire was a java guy that I took a gamble on because we were short staff and could have used some help with mobile stuff. He was fired within two weeks, so I totally understand where this guy is coming from. I've also done interviews where I've asked candidates why they became interested in programming and they replied, "I don't really like computers, I just do this for the money." One guy actually said exactly that.

When 95% of the people you see coming through the door are like this I could see a non-programmer not being in a position to figure out that these people simply aren't worth hiring.... the solution I don't see addressed is more rapid and iterative trial and error in the development hiring process: bringing people on in a limited capacity or throwing them at smaller and contained technical projects before giving them responsibility for more important stuff. I'm a big fan of finding good people for part-time work and then growing them into full time positions if the business model starts supporting it and they want more work. This has worked well for non-programming stuff too.