I recently interviewed with an SF consulting company (a sort of network/placement firm), which purports to offer only the most senior devs to the hottest companies. The process includes a timed puzzle-solving test.
Ironically, fresh CS grads are more likely to do better on such a test because senior devs have filled their minds with ways of solving real problems and building complex living systems that actual humans use. They know that the once or twice a year they need to solve such a problem, they will likely find it well-solved in a library or site like this one. If not, they know that the boss will not be holding a stop watch over them -- she measures productivity in person-months, not person-minutes.
Even more ironically, this particular test also rewards premature optimization by stress testing your solutions for micro-optimization.
Ironically, fresh CS grads are more likely to do better on such a test because senior devs have filled their minds with ways of solving real problems and building complex living systems that actual humans use. They know that the once or twice a year they need to solve such a problem, they will likely find it well-solved in a library or site like this one. If not, they know that the boss will not be holding a stop watch over them -- she measures productivity in person-months, not person-minutes.
Even more ironically, this particular test also rewards premature optimization by stress testing your solutions for micro-optimization.