[throwaway088]

All good points. Why do you want to work here is just a dumb question for this purpose. It basically forces me to lie and say you guys sound awesome instead of just saying your company ticks the right boxes for me.

Have you ever asked your plumber or handyman why they want to work for you ? Same circumstances, there also you want someone passionate.

[icedistilled]

it's very different in some ways and the same in another. In this situation it's not the same.

There is no real online review of software jobs seekers. There is word of mouth recommendations of who is good at their job like with a trade.

In plumbing and short contract jobs it matters less what the company does, it's a one off job. If one were hiring a short term contractor dev then it would be the similar, not a full time dev.

For a full time software hire it makes sense to ask their motivation of where they want to spend most of their waking time. There's a huge different between someone just working for money who'd work at a pay day lender just as willingly as working at an outdoor lifestyle brand versus someone into that brand. Most situations will fall in between, but who would you hire, the person who has some connection to the field or something about the company, or just wants to earn a buck and doesn't care.