Ask HN: How long does the programmer hiring cycle last at your company?

For each new hire, how many hours, on average, would you say it takes to do each of the following and what method do you use to accomplish it?

1. Analyzing skill/ability fit of a potential programming hire 2. Analyzing code samples 3. Narrowing down pool of applicants to those that you want to interview.

If you could add a bit of information about the sort of company you work for (large dev shop, small dev shop, startup, Google, etc.), that would be really helpful as well.

Thanks!