The true goal of any interview is for both parties—the interviewer and interviewee—to work out whether the person can do the work and is a good fit with the rest of the group. There are many brilliant programmers out there whom I would never hire because the detrimental impact of their character defects on the rest of the team would outweigh their abilities as coders. The question to ask is, "How do I determine, in 30 to 60 minutes, if this person can do the work we need, and in a way that I can put up with him or her for 10 hours a day, five days a week, and possibly for years on end?" That's a lot to ask of such a short meeting.
via queue.acm.org