>> Obviously, I would hire the first guy, because he has the skills that
>> matter. But the IT manager? He's a ****ing moron, so he would hire the
>> second guy. Just because the second guy has some superficial attribute
>> which is nearly completely unimportant.
>
> It's not really unimportant when hiring for a programming position,
> though - if there's existing code that needs to be maintained, you would
> want someone who knows the language it was written in.

If you need something done in a real hurry, then having somebody who can 
hit the ground running can be very important. But most of the time, what 
you want is somebody who can be trained to do a job well. An aptitude 
for learning and a willingness to do so ought to be a higher priority 
than merely having some of the relevant knowledge already.

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