Solving hard algorithmic problems in a job interview is a very uncommon interview practice in Germany. In all other job interviews that I had, the programming questions were ridiculously easy. UPDATE: I actually got rejected in one job interview because I knew too much about some quite subtle details of the C++ language (claimed reason: I am not "sufficiently pragmatic" as a programmer).

But I actually did solve some really hard algorithmic questions in my doctoral thesis - they are just of a very different kind than the "algorithmic brainteasers" that seem to be common in job interviews in the Silicon Valley.