Google probably needs algorithmically savvy people, but that is surely not the case with most of the companies asking similar questions. If a company developing

Google probably needs algorithmically savvy people, but that is surely not the case with most of the companies asking similar questions. If a company developing CRUD apps asks me to reverse a linked list, it is a sign to me that they are clueless. The amusing thing about this is, from what I can tell, Google actually only needs a small number of people with the deep knowledge. Much of the work there still involves things like "developing CRUD apps", just on top of the platforms and infrastructure the smaller group developed for it. Which led to a characterization I once heard from an ex-Googler of the company as a place where "they hire top CS Ph.Ds to do incredibly boring code-monkey work".