Ah, ok. There are three things you probably don't realize. 1. While you think anyone can learn fizzbuzz on day 1, a significant proportion of the population do

Ah, ok. There are three things you probably don't realize. 1. While you think anyone can learn fizzbuzz on day 1, a significant proportion of the population do not grasp the logic behind variables and loops (40% I seem to remember, don't quote me). AFAIK the argument about why this is still rages, it might be because we're terrible at teaching programming logic, or it might be that they're really not capable. These people can still graduate with a CS degree. 2. There's loads of people who apply for jobs that have absolutely no experience. Lies, half-truths, etc. This happens in all fields. They believe they can learn on the job, not knowing what they don't know. 3. The basic math of bad applicants vs good applicants. Good applicants only apply for a handful jobs (or none at all!). Bad applicants will make hundreds or even thousands of applications trying to get the job they want. See Joel's "Everyone thinks they’re hiring the top 1%": https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2005/01/27/news-58/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2005/01/27/news-58/ 1 + 2 + 3 = lots of fizzbuzz failures Making FizzBuzz a great way of weeding them all out.