That is a fine and common opinion, but just one question: how often have you inverted a binary tree at your job? Because after nearly 20 years it hasn't come up once for me. I am sure for some roles it is a necessary skill but my issue is that most of these questions are more or less toy problems that come from academia and not business. They are a great test of your retention of a data structure class but not super relevant beyond that.
I would rather hire an engineer with a strong business or user sense - reading between the lines of requests and anticipating future issues or uses adds so much more value in a real sense.
To me, these are great entry level questions because it is a good baseline for new grads when you have little work experience to judge. Past that, it is like making a lawyer take a mini bar exam for every new job - a waste of effort if you want to hire for specific skills and experience.
I would rather hire an engineer with a strong business or user sense - reading between the lines of requests and anticipating future issues or uses adds so much more value in a real sense.
To me, these are great entry level questions because it is a good baseline for new grads when you have little work experience to judge. Past that, it is like making a lawyer take a mini bar exam for every new job - a waste of effort if you want to hire for specific skills and experience.