I think depending on where you are there is a risk of fewer / not enough candidates if you're on the leading / uncommon edge technology a bit. It does make sense though that enthusiasts might be better candidates.
I do wonder though if this might actually be more of a personality type thing and maybe less "better candidate".
Folks who want to learn something non conventional might be better, but they also may share personality traits that mesh well too.
Actually (again, just based on the samples we saw), candidates that came from the Elixir community submitted _way_ better code for the programming assignment compared others, which is one of the reasons that made them better candidates.
I do wonder though if this might actually be more of a personality type thing and maybe less "better candidate".
Folks who want to learn something non conventional might be better, but they also may share personality traits that mesh well too.