Yes, it sounds like you took your role very seriously and the applicants were probably extremely grateful. I just think the whole process as you recount it see

Yes, it sounds like you took your role very seriously and the applicants were probably extremely grateful. I just think the whole process as you recount it seems inefficent and probably as useful as a fraternity hazing at getting the desired result. That the process is daunting is used to screen out the undeseriables even when completing the gauntlet has very low truth value on the question of performance in the role. But I'm sure that Google has some A/B testing right? Like measure some candidates effectiveness on the job that didn't go through the process (like I dunno low badge numbers) against those that did go through the process. (I had to sneak that in, lol?) Not a bad thing in an interview, measuring how the candidate responds to failure/blocking as long as it is done honestly because creative solutions and overcoming failure/roadblocks is pretty much the same thing in engineering. I have to agree to disagree with you on your conclusion. Cramming data structures seems to me like a waste of time.