Oddur Magnusson

I'd say,

Intelligence and Willingness to learn...

Evrerything else is second to that imho.

cheers

intelligence and enthusiasm, ie willing to learn.
So I agree with Frederic Gos

With intelligence you can learn almost anything, if you just want it. I think you can see if someone wants to learn by looking how enthousiastic that someone is.

We used to have a saying about that : "If you hire them you have to work with them". Basically hire the kind of person you would want on your team when you have a deadline coming up and a really tough problem.

-James

Have you read the Joel on Software stuff about how he chooses people?

Yup, the JoelOnSoftware tips aree excellent. My advice would be to test them on a non-trivial task which would be similar(ish) to the job they were being hired to do.

Aptitude and Attitude (a.k.a. Intelligence and Willingness)

Skills can be taught/learned. But a person's aptitude and attitude rarely change and over a long period become more important than the skills a person walked in the door with...

In my hiring, I've turned away a PHD and instead took programmer with 3 years in the industry. The PHD's attitude pissed me off in the interview. Yeah, he was very smart and could have added a great deal to our group, if he had lived long enough...

The less experience programmer is still around and has become a star member...

Just my $.05...