I remember reading a thread someplace (I think here or at reddit) that criticized the traditional software developer interview process. One person made the suggestion that the reason why a lot of companies ask more...bookish knowledge that seems like its from college homework/final exam, is that they don't want to admit that what they do is relatively mundane, and doesn't really require the daily application of the kind of thing you find on your data structures or operating systems final exam. So, they add complexity to their interview questions, as well as their development process, to compensate.

Does anyone know if traditional, "real" engineering fields, (civil, chemical, mechanical, etc) ask detailed, technical kinds of questions during interviews, like software engineering is known for? I find it hard to believe civil engineers get bombarded with all day grill fests by other civil engineers about technical questions in interviews, but I really don't know.