While I agree with the need to test coding skills with all due respect I think a lot oof the ideas presented here are archaic at best. I think the more real world interaction you can get with the person the better. Give them a quick project to work on a couple of nights before the interview and then do a ccode review. The process you describe above takes hours of time from the Candidate and the staff. You can do a code review in an hour and know more about the Candidate than you do by the above. And a project? I would question anyone who would or would even ask someone to work for free and any senior level developer would laugh. I went over this in some detail at this post. http://www.lonestarprod.com/?p=22