You seem to have some sort of disdain for "abstract computer science material".
The point is that the job of "software engineer" is not the same as the job of "computer science professor." The required skill profiles are almost totally different. They require mostly disjoint skillsets, despite having some overlap.
If you're interviewing candidates to be a computer science professor at a university, then it is entirely appropriate to quiz them about abstract computer science during their interview.
Google, and other tech companies that inteview like them, are using a "CS professor" interview process to hire "software engineers." That's my point.