Yea this is where I'm at with it. If I walk into an interview and the first question is what is the difference between an abstract class and an interface my interest in the interview is probably going to decrease exponentially. How about asking me about my design approach to a specific problem, what frameworks have I try when presented with a specific problem and my thoughts on it, or what I'm currently learning.
I get why they do it but at a certain level it's almost a sign of disrespect to be asked to fizzbuzz if you can verify I've been working at reputable companies for the last x yrs. Let's have a more nuanced discussion about technology so that you can confirm that I didn't just cram certification questions over the weekend and I can get a gauge on the type of problems I may have to tackle on the job.
You assume people working at programming jobs for years on end have a clue... that's not always true. I've worked with people who couldn't do fizzbuzz, or describe the difference between an interface and an abstract class, or any other basic programming stuff.
If they throw you an easy pitch, knock it out of the park and they'll ask you something more difficult afterward.
This is precisely right: I ask people questions like the difference between an interface and an abstract class as a gauge, because I've had so many people answer them really badly.
The question wouldn't normally come out of the blue, though, but as a follow-up from part of a design exercise where they would have just used one or the other in their design, and as part of finding out whether they could justify their choice.
