Agree that a basic test can be useful, but I think two points need to be made here. 1. It falls on the interviewer to be helpful and clear enough to help a can

Agree that a basic test can be useful, but I think two points need to be made here. 1. It falls on the interviewer to be helpful and clear enough to help a candidate understand what is being asked. Often, a brainteaser of any sort explained poorly can be a death knell for anybody, no matter how smart they are. It's imperative that the interviewer is able to thoughtfully analyze a person's line of thinking moreso than whether or not they can get to a right answer. 2. Which brings me to the second point... The issue with a lot of brainteasers for poor interviewers is that it's a binary outcome. Either the candidate already knows the answer and comes off looking like a genius, or the candidate stumbles around in no man's land with no clue what you're talking about. Again, it's key here that the interviewer is able to guide a candidate through the thinking instead of sitting back and enjoying the show (which is admittedly sometimes fun). I definitely think there is space for brainteasers, but it really requires an interviewer with the right training to get it right (which a company like Google does not have to worry about, but a start-up may). What I've actually heard is an interesting approach for start-ups recruiting is to just have the candidate sit and try to tackle a recent problem the company has faced with the interviewer.