Most companies worth their salt care about these things from an engineer: can they think? can they communicate how they think? will they be diligent?
The real work is being the "person with whom the CTO can have a meaningful discussion about their current work with and then produce results on." Whether or not you as an employed want to grab a beer with your hire is a false signal.
I'm sorry, but this just isn't true. Everybody has cognitive social biases at play when hiring. Even those who are aware of it and who go through great pains to isolate their feelings from the interview process will fall into the same trap. The smarter the interviewer, the more they can find justifications for their subconscious desire to hire or not hire.
The real work is being the "person with whom the CTO can have a meaningful discussion about their current work with and then produce results on." Whether or not you as an employed want to grab a beer with your hire is a false signal.