[pavlov]

A whiteboard DP puzzle is totally different from any real-world engineering situation of “picking up loosely specified directions and filling up the gaps.”

No point in arguing this further. These tests are fundamentally just a performative power trip masquerading as objective measurement — the perfect storm of software engineer bias.

[srean]

I think you are projecting your own biases here. OP said "DP question", there is no mention of a 'puzzle' anywhere. As I said in another comment of mine on this page, I have had to use DP in each of my last three years in real projects. If i were to hire someone for help with these, I would definitely be looking for comfort with DP styled thinking in a candidate. In order to do so I do have to simplify and abstract out the problem statement.