[nprateem]

To waste your time.

> Who really cares about algorithm on daily bases. How often you solve algorithm-heavy tasks at work?

Practically no one and practically never for the majority of developers.

It's a trend started by Google, and since lots of startups don't bother thinking for themselves (and the interviewer wants to sound knowledgeable) some of them also ask these questions.

Perhaps this type of interview is more popular in some places rather than others - I've never had one like this, although occasionally people ask questions like "how many piano tuners are there in your city?" (answer: "let me check on Google..." or "why, are you thinking of starting a piano tuning company?").

[kgraves]

> let me check on Google...

First of all, Newsflash! that's illegal in a programming interview, please solve this question using a whiteboard instead, show a mathematical proof if needed.

/s

[booleandilemma]

I have a coworker at my job who specifically asks questions he finds through googling “google interview questions”.