That, or the programmer was being silly. If you feel pro enough for contracts, pick coders that are pro enough to like that. Having things cleared up from start should be a relief, rather than cause for anxiety, to any person of decent attitude and intention.
That being said, honestly I'm not super keen on legal stuff myself. Maybe that means I'm super shady too, but I don't like lawyers and courts, like I don't like hospitals and doctors, nor anything reminding me of that. Terrible. Like circus clowns.
So yeah, if the project has the scope of a game jam title, that seems a bit overblown. But even so what happens if it becomes a surprise hit suddenly? The less concrete the conditions of collaboration from start, the more probable the bad blood on "success", that should rather be a reason for rejoice. And despite my irrational fears of clowns: that's my problem, not yours, I gotta learn to deal with that. it's for my own best.
Other than that, you should better define what these projects are really about for you personally. Actually trying to earn money, or building your resume? Building your resume is also a good reason, because the better and bigger that looks, the better the offers and conditions for you later. Ideally you would "snowball" in your career. For that you need to start somewhere. Usually on less than ideal conditions. Important is to get the first few titles out with your name in it, no matter what, you need to pull through. Start small, pick whoever, just start getting things under your belt. Get a bit pickier after each title. With the growing experience, you also learn better to judge people and conditions from tell tale signs before-hand, you know what you like and don't. But I'm afraid, if you're starting out, you just need to get experience, good or bad, no way to shield yourself off completely, maybe just try limit the biggest lows. Learn to move on knowing better.