[notacoward]

I went through this process at 52, i.e. not with all the algorithms still fresh in my mind from college. Also, this was despite the fact that I already knew what team I was being hired into ("hard allocated" in FB lingo and very rare) and had already proven my relevant skills by being a maintainer for the open-source project the team was built around. I didn't prepare, and had no trouble passing.

The interviewers did a pretty decent job within the constraints they were given, but it really was an almost complete waste of time for all of the reasons others mention. Even for a junior developer - who the process is designed for - it barely seemed to touch on the skills they'd actually need to succeed there or anywhere. Maybe it also weeds out impostors among those with no searchable record, but if that's the purpose then such an interview should only be done in those cases and skipped for those who have plenty of evidence that they can do the work.

The design interviews were more useful IMO, and less skippable, but those don't seem to be the topic here.