[jerrickhoang]

I don't think interview must entirely be related to the practical world. I mean having a very hard and interesting practical problem is the best of both world but not necessarily the only way to go. If you want to know if the candidate can really build things you can check out his github/resume. I think the 45-min interview is just to determine how smart the candidate is. If you want to determine if someone is smart you put them in a very hard situation (not necessarily a practical one) and see how they reason about it.