[fivre]

eh, not really. even if you have a CS degree you forget how to do typical algo hard problems quickly after working in industry because you so rarely need to do them. the CS degree lets me _recognize_ when there's a problem with a particular complexity domain that needs a time- or space-efficient solution to scale, but I sure as hell can't recall the exact strategy on the spot like interview scenarios demand.

given a day or two, sure, I can go review, find that solution, and provide an implementation and explanation as to why it matters for a particular problem domain, but an hour-long phone interview isn't gonna check that effectively, unless they really want to see the initial stage of me silently reviewing maths literature to awaken knowledge in cold storage

on contrast, I _can_ explore systems design stuff fine in that space of time, because systems design _is_ what I practice regularly in industry, because that's what I'm regularly asked to do.