Big-O notation is hardly "math geek" stuff. I'd not call this comment ridiculous, because I might have misunderstood it, but catch me in my cups and ask me for my true opinion and maybe I'd say that.
Big-O notation is pretty basic, and very useful. Combined with a memorized table of powers of two (you don't need all of them - I know up to 2^20, and this has proven sufficient - just enough so you can guess log N for a given value) you have a good chance at being able to make quick calculations about time and space requirements for things. Which, since we don't have infinitely fast computers with infinite amounts of memory, often comes in handy.
I'm not talking about Big-O. I'm talking about the general theme of these interviews.
Besides that I still don't understand this. I don't even know the last time anybody around me ever had a problem or a show stopper problem anything to do with Big-O or an algorithm.
Its always how the programmer can take pressure, how he can contribute to making the project happen, getting things done, how he can collaborate with fellow team mates, how he responds under times of crisis, how good he is with tools, what are his everyday practices, does he write unit tests, does he do code reviews, does he document the API's he writes, how does he package his code, how update he is with software world(tools, framework and techniques) etc etc.
Lets be frank, Its always these things that are relevant today in practical everyday software projects today. Unfortunately people hardly ask questions on these and then complain of bad software practices among people these days.
> I don't even know the last time anybody around me ever had a problem or a show stopper problem anything to do with Big-O or an algorithm.
Either your team does horrifically easy work, or no one has told you about their abstract work. I am sorry, but even writing CRUD apps I have to think about the informatics of the system to make it work reasonably well.
Big-O notation is pretty basic, and very useful. Combined with a memorized table of powers of two (you don't need all of them - I know up to 2^20, and this has proven sufficient - just enough so you can guess log N for a given value) you have a good chance at being able to make quick calculations about time and space requirements for things. Which, since we don't have infinitely fast computers with infinite amounts of memory, often comes in handy.