To understand why people try and get programmer jobs who cannot program, it helps to understand a common job tactic a lot of people use. In most business jobs it is easily possible to fake out an interview and get a job you have no experience of. After three months most people have gained enough knowledge of the job to function to a degree where it is not worth firing the person. I have a few friends who have blagged thier way through whole careers using this technique. Now to a person who has no knowledge of programming, they have no idea how easy it is to spot a rubbish coder in this industry, let alone a complete incompetent. But being a programmer is regarded as a lucrative career so people are going to try it on. Sad but true. On the subject of having too many interviews I did read an only partially tongue in cheek method: Divide the cv's into two piles. Bin one pile because you don't want to hire anyone unlucky.