Eric Sink has a good article on MSDN about how to hire developers. I agree with most of his recommendations. The one about looking for people with degrees from good computer science programs stings a bit, since I don’t have that, but I suspect that it’s good advice. To me, his last piece of advice on hiring is the one that marks my hiring strategy – look for people who have a passion for developing software. When I interview people, that’s the biggest thing I look for. I want to work with people who are writing software because they can’t really imagine doing anything else for a living.