Thanks for the post Alex. One of the things I do like about being a developer at BigCo is that it's possible to keep the politics at an arm's length - something that I think would be almost impossible in a startup with a handful of people. (Whether this kind of hands-off approach is actually good for one's career is another matter.)
To continue the analogy..once we determine we're in a sim, maybe the next step is to figure out if there are any paravirtualization hooks we can use to optimize our universe.
Perhaps the guy feels his work is important and derives personal satisfaction from it. That might make him happier in the long run and a better husband and father.
While the process doesn't sound pleasant, a long interview might benefit the potential employee as much as it does the company.
If you're going to be spending a lot of time working with these people..you want to get a chance to get to know them a bit before jumping in. (Same goes for their tools, development process, etc.)
What about the evidence that companies that are known to seek out the best programmers(Google, Microsoft, facebook) are some of the most successful? (Or at least the most visible.)
I believe in the "10x programmer" phenomenon.. In my experience, the best programmers seem to quickly become very good at whatever development task they put their minds to.
I have this fear literally every time I start on a new problem: am I re-inventing the wheel? Has this problem been solved already - maybe written about and discussed at length about in some paper/textbook/blog I haven't read? The more I learn the more I realize I don't know, which seems only increases my anxiety level. So that's one reason I can't stop reading this stuff.
I think the intent of #1 is clear (I agree with your reading of it) but the sloppiness of the statement is distracting. Same really for #2, though it looks like I'm wrong and Google does have three official languages..still I have a hard time believe a 30,000 employee company would not use many more languages internally in some capacity.
Agree with yours (and olefoo's) interpretation of #1; I singled it out because it raised a red flag for me as the kind of statement non-tech savvy people would make, thus calling into question the validity of this piece as a whole. (As much as I, as a software developer, would like to believe it!)