Well one can prepare by memorizing a ton of algorithms and hope to get lucky and get asked the questions about those they happened to study or by actually study

Well one can prepare by memorizing a ton of algorithms and hope to get lucky and get asked the questions about those they happened to study or by actually studying up on what's relevant to the job, which random algorithms that can be looked up on Google most certainly is not. It's impossible to do both--it's difficult enough concentrating on one area. I know which engineer I'd hire. Then again, I wouldn't ask such useless questions in the first place.