> unfamiliar with a particular language's mod operator Just anecdotally, over some hundred interviews, I've never ever ran into a candidate who failed one of t

> unfamiliar with a particular language's mod operator Just anecdotally, over some hundred interviews, I've never ever ran into a candidate who failed one of these FizzBuzz style loop writing tests because the didn't know the mod operator, or were nervous enough not to remember it. I see a lot of candidates that can't remember what params some standard system call is supposed to take and I always tell them I'm happy as long as they define what they think it looks like. Heck, most of the time I have no clue myself. I'm not claiming the candidate you describe (competent but can't remember a for loop) doesn't exist, just that I've never personally encountered such a beast. Quite the contrary, with a technically open minded interviewer it seems hard to get even the most introvert candidate to stop talking shop .. :-)