[hkarthik]

See that's where I want to dig deeper with those that really believe in this style of interviewing. Clearly it must have some value other than the weed-out factor.

Are there engineers who actually keep the algorithms/data structure stuff in their head and find small ways to apply it while they work on a standard web or mobile app? That's the only way I could see the knowledge having any value, but I've never worked this way nor have I observed anyone who works this way.