That seems a very odd strategy, it's basically saying "we don't want to hire anybody who is smart". I can understand wanting to hire people who know how to sol

That seems a very odd strategy, it's basically saying "we don't want to hire anybody who is smart". I can understand wanting to hire people who know how to solve problems over people who can regurgitate the algorithms textbook on cue. OTOH most of the questions here really aren't PhD level at all, they are typical of what I would expect on a sophomore level undergrad CS exam.