[thegrim33]

People think that other people are lying, because .. they extremely often do. Do you know how many people apply for engineering jobs and can't solve fizzbuzz? What's the alternative? Just trust anything people say and blindly give people any job they apply for because they say they have the qualifications?

The specific question helps settle the lying issue. If somebody claims to have experience, they should be able to produce an example of said experience. It's both an immediate test of their experience as well as at the same time providing lots of additional data, through their story, about how good of an engineer they might be.

Even if it's a person who has horrible communication skills, a decent interviewer can ask follow up questions to probe into the story's details that the poor communications skills left out.