A colleague of mine recently circulated an excellent article (http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/GuerrillaInterviewing3.html) that describes how technical folks ought to approach the interview process. According to Joel (the author), one of the two most fundamental traits to scan for in potential candidates is whether they are smart. He meant a certain kind of smart, and I want to explore that (as well as other kinds of smarts to look out for) in greater detail.

In the world of psychol...