As someone else who has also been in the industry for quite a while, it used to be fairly common for me to implement linked lists back when I was programming pr

As someone else who has also been in the industry for quite a while, it used to be fairly common for me to implement linked lists back when I was programming primarily in C. But lately, yeah, it has been mostly abstracted away, even in languages where doing pointer operations is useful or allowed. As far as companies attempting to emulate Google or Facebook when it comes to interviewing, this sort of thing is even older than either of those companies -- in the mid-90s it was common to attempt your own spin on the "Microsoft interview". I totally agree with the basic point, though... for all of the supposed rational thinking that goes on in tech, hiring people is mostly cargo cult and voodoo magic.