Jeese - this is a tough crowd. I can think of several Irish businesses that I have worked for that would grab this guy straight away to train him. He may not be the worlds greatest programmer (he does not claim to be) but his attitude is great, he is creative and resourceful for thinking of this idea and he does not take himself too seriously.

I have trained several hundred people in software development when working as a contract trainer and it was always attitude that allowed me to guess who would be the more competent programmer.

I would prefer to hire a well rounded competent young person who could become a solid competent developer that some rockstar programmer with no personality. Fair play to this guy, he is doing something original instead of feeling sorry for himself.