Which of these approaches gives you the most realistic view of a developer’s technical skills? Pick your top 3.

I'd personally rank Professional Experience, Coding test, Education, certification, and interview performance.

I like to have a good, repeatable, and patterned interview, which usually includes some coding assessment.  We also try to dig into professional experience to ensure what is represented on a resume is the truth.

Beyond that I read "Interview Performance" to then be other aspects, and some people are poor at interviews or interviewing.  I've seen far to many people present well in an interview yet come in the door with poor technical skills.

If you're expressing expertise in an area I fully expect to be able to hold an in-depth talk with you.  If you show proficiency AND show adaquite softskills in the interview you usually get the :thumbs-up: from me.