[mawburn]

Is it amazing that they can't do them at all, or they can't do them in the spotlight in a totally unfamiliar? I have a strong feeling that most of the people you think fall in the former are actually in the latter.

Yes, the solution might be a couple nested for loops. But if it's a new question to the interviewee, then they don't know the solution yet.

[Retra]

If you can't find the solution, and you can't work in a slightly unfamiliar situation which is undoubtedly supposed to be your core competency, then I don't see why that's a job you should get.

If you're bad at taking tests, being able to make a vague excuse for why you failed one is not an acceptable substitution for passing it.

[drugme]

If you're bad at taking tests, being able to make a vague excuse for why you failed one is not an acceptable substitution for passing it.

Nor is the above argument an acceptable substitution for a sound argument that these kinds of tests have some kind of validity.

[mawburn]

If you ask questions that are relative to the job and something you might run into or someone asking you for help, then that is different.

But, I've personally never been asked these kinds of questions in a live coding/whiteboarding session. It's always brain teasers or some sort of algorithmic problem. Usually they are things that aren't necessarily hard, but are about as far from everyday work as you can get.