See, being an anti-TDD person applying for a TDD team (I'm anti-TDD, btw) or anti-pairing on a pairing team are great examples of legitimate "culture" filtering. Thanks!
I wouldn't call any of that culture[1], the candidate doesn't believe in the same best practices or style of development as the team. It is much easier to write and understand[2].
1) [not directed at tptacek but a comment in general] I really, really detest all this use of the word culture when it is nothing more than clique behavior from high school wrapped in some passive aggressive defense. We get it, you want ego boosting over getting stuff done and won't hire old folks (35+) or people different from you. You care more about drinking buddies than actual friggin finishing and going home to real friends and family to recharge. Real culture is enriching and amazing in its diversity. You are calling a Yugo your Ferrari.
I couple days ago I wrote something to the effect of "There are genuine culture fit issues in startups, but the term culture fit has become so poisoned that we're probably going to have to invent another term for them", and this is exactly what I meant.
Maybe I'm a bit weird because I live somewhere between Japan and Germany, but I've always seen culture fit within a company as being very similar to cultural assimilation when moving somewhere new -- e.g. "when in rome..."
When I'm in Japan, I'm still very American, but my sense of personal space has changed because it works differently in Tokyo. Likewise, I notice all kinds of details that were completely invisible before, but that are important in Japan.
This doesn't mean any of my fundamental beliefs needed to change to suit Japan, nor does it mean that I'm entirely satisfied with the way the Japanese run things, but I've managed to find a niche for myself where I can be happy without driving everybody around me too crazy.
Other people have had more or less luck. Some people just adore every aspect of Japanese culture and never want to leave, and a great many more that end up either going home, or living a bubble of foreign friends and bars in Roppongi. I'm somewhere in the middle.
When I think of cultural fit at a company, I think of the same sort of process. You either identify with the evolved culture and practices of the company enough to be happy and productive, or you don't.
If you don't fit in, that's not a bad thing. It's the same as coming to Japan and discovering that you really don't belong there after all.
That's real culture. What seems to pass for "culture fit" at companies is either style / process difference of beliefs (at best) or high school cliques (at worse).
