That's because you have to have a license to perform that work. If you don't meet the code, you don't keep your license.

This is one of the reasons why McConnell et al have argued that we need professional licensure. Licensed Professional Engineers can lose their licenses if they sign off on half-assed plans.

"The ones who do not challenge themselves to create new things are often falling behind - they learn a hip new language today and try a new web framework tomorrow, but still lack the foresight to invent and to improve."

That's exactly what it is...

Effective interviewing is hard, and like most things hard you won't be very good at it without some practice and study.

Asking an algorithm question is relatively easy.

Wiki: In conventional business terms, lifestyle businesses typically have limited scalability and potential for growth because such growth would destroy the lifestyle for which their owner-managers set them up.

An executive from America was standing at the pier of a Mexican village, taking a much needed vacation. It was his first in more than 10 years. He noticed a small boat docked with just one fisherman on board. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The executive complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The fisherman replied, “only a little while.”

The executive then asked, “why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?”

The fisherman replied, “I have enough to support my family for a little while.”

The executive then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, and stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life.”

The executive scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”

To which the American replied, “15-20 years.”

“But what then?”

The American laughed and said that’s the best part. “When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”

“Millions.. Then what?”

The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

It's part of an interview process that includes an in depth review of your projects and roles, a technical screen, some design questions, et al.

"Wtf do I do"? I don't hire people that become belligerent over or flustered over simple meta level questions.

You might reconsider your negative bias towards "spin", btw... http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/10/the-one-thing-every...

I much prefer to ask what they have done in the last year to improve as a developer, and what they feel they need to do in the next year.

But as an interviewer, you always have to be wondering how honest a person is being. That's why you also do an in-depth examination of their past projects, and ask them to design something.