The sort of bounty + interview question I would ask when I'm really looking for those who will actually use such optimal algorithms in practice where it directly applies.

Which is exactly this for video decoders.

In fact, a bounty will show us who really is serious or not and even some interviewers don't have a clue why they ask for 'optimal algorithms' in the first place. Maybe just to show off that they Googled or used ChatGPT for the answer before the interview.

Well, you can't do it for this one. The one who improves this and can explain their changes will have a impressive show of expertise which puts lots of so-called 'SWEs' to shame.