[scarface74]

If you’re a bog standard “dark matter developer” using high level languages or writing your typical SAAS app, you wouldn’t need it.

I turned down a job offer where the interviewer was more concerned about whether I could write a merge sort on the board (I did), than whether I could design a system. It told me a lot about the kind of people they hire.

I spent my first 12 years as a developer doing a lot of bit twiddling in C writing cross platform code with nothing but the standard library, but these days if someone asked me how to sort I would call a library function. Heck even C has a built in sort function.

[abeyer]

But those issues are all totally orthogonal to my point.

You can argue that someone doesn't need something, that it's the wrong level of abstraction, or that it's not an appropriate interview question. I even agree to some degree. But that still doesn't make those "CS theory" subjects.