But you cannot measure problem solving and learning ability without relying on a set of common knowledge to use in your tests.<p>Again, are we speaking of giving out straight IQ tests? I think there&#x27;s plenty of people that would be against that, plenty of people that consider IQ tests to be fundamentally flawed. And if not IQ tests, how do you measure problem solving and learning ability?<p>Maybe you give the interviewee something to do, like an algorithm or a piece of code to develop on the spot, right? But maybe your <i>personal expertise</i> doesn&#x27;t match with what the interviewer wants or needs. And the interviewer has to give you some problem to solve in some way.<p>I remember that at a coding interview I was given the problem of programming a Lego Mindstorms device to detect obstacles and do stuff. But then the problem was really about reading a document on the C subset used to program the device, along with the several couple of functions needed to control the motion and read the sensors.  Was that measuring learning ability in any way? Of course, if you think that the skill of <i>reading</i> a technical document with precise instructions is so rare. But that wasn&#x27;t real world problem solving.<p>So how can you test real world problem solving? Do you give candidates a homework? Ah, but then you run into another problem: the good candidates, the ones that might actually solve your homework, are rarely interested in spending their time on such things, because most good people already have jobs and a life and things to do and you can consider yourself lucky if you get their attention for a couple of hours.<p>In that light, I don&#x27;t think it&#x27;s that unfair to give problems to solve that rely on basic algorithms and data structures, especially for companies where the problems solved are much harder than that.