[75dvtwin]

Thank you for the summary. Incidentally the above, is approximately what I try to get from my interviews for technical and non-technical roles.

Specifically, for technical roles I am interested if the person being interviewed can do ( 2 ).

I feel that algorithmic puzzles are the almost an anti-pattern to ( 2 ), and create a negative filter that eliminates applicants that are great at ( 2 ).

[namelosw]

Agreed. Most algorithmic puzzles are looking for very constrained ways of solving problems, that's why those so-called good solutions are fast. In real-world applications, this could be an anti-pattern because of most of the business model are dynamic. In contrast, general strategies like logic programming are underrated for a long time.