I disagree. A typical adult has the spare time to study 3-5 algorithms prior to an upcoming interview, and the algorithm question lottery has room for several

I disagree. A typical adult has the spare time to study 3-5 algorithms prior to an upcoming interview, and the algorithm question lottery has room for several hundred. This means that the practice of trying to stump them with algorithm questions provides a strong benefit to hiring managers: can this candidate read my mind even before I've decided what it is I will ask of him? They're selecting for psychic powers and do-what-I-want-ness. Which is what most management in the United States (elsewhere probably, but I'm an uncultured redneck type... wouldn't know) values.