What I'd like to know is what's the best way to gauge a candidate's coding ability when they say they don't have any code samples to share? (They all have excuses.) I dislike giving homework assignments, and while a lot of people advocate the contract side project (like this guy), I dislike those as well because they take a lot of time and effort. If I wanted to be a contractor, I'd be a contractor, and if I wanted to hire a contractor, I'd hire a contractor. The paperwork and commitment involved is pretty great, and if we assume that Hansson accepts 150 applications, rejects 80% of candidates out of hand, and the remaining 20% send in code samples (or are required to write code samples), then that's still 30 candidates that I have to spend time talking to and reviewing code and potentially doing contract paperwork, only to reject 29 of them in the end. That's a minimum of 60 hours on the phone (tech screens) and a minimum of another 15-30 hours reviewing code samples before I even bring them on site.

Is that really the best use of my time and money?

I think that's really the big problem to solve. How do you prove they can code before they even walk through the door? How do you make sure that you're not wasting your money on people who can't even write "great" code?