Sadly, I've been that person. I read pg essays, blogs about programming and watched various videos about programming for about 3 years before finally deciding to leave my relatively comfortable small-business as an EFL cram-school partner and start actually coding stuff. People have been absolutely amazed by how little I know compared to how much I sound like I know.
Fizzbuzz wouldn't have filtered me out of getting my first (and current) real software job, but any sort of Google/MS-style interview would have. It may not be the wisest thing to admit to on the internet, but I'm basically in the opposite boat of your general target on HN: I'm fine with selling, but limited (non-EFL) skills to sell!
That, along with seeing numerous senior iOS dev applicants struggle both with Fizzbuzz and with Macs in general, has convinced me that it's more than worth it to test candidates without code portfolios.
Fizzbuzz wouldn't have filtered me out of getting my first (and current) real software job, but any sort of Google/MS-style interview would have. It may not be the wisest thing to admit to on the internet, but I'm basically in the opposite boat of your general target on HN: I'm fine with selling, but limited (non-EFL) skills to sell!
That, along with seeing numerous senior iOS dev applicants struggle both with Fizzbuzz and with Macs in general, has convinced me that it's more than worth it to test candidates without code portfolios.