It could be. Some hiring teams at the place I work use these kinds of silly interviews, but they have a number of "older" people on the team. Some of my teammat

It could be. Some hiring teams at the place I work use these kinds of silly interviews, but they have a number of "older" people on the team. Some of my teammates use these questions for their interviews, and they haven't indicated any preference for younger developers (e.g. to save on wages). I think ageism might play a role, but I think a bigger factor is that this industry is just filled with people who have an academic degree and desperately want to think of themselves as engaged in sophisticated math-y work even when what most do most of the time is closer to being a glorified handy man. This includes myself, of course, and I work on a data science team. The industry is just too enamored with itself.