It's an example of conventional attributes which didn't exist then because the whole field was unformed. It seems like that would inhibit specialized aptitude tests - if you're hiring math or whatever majors back then (not that it doesn't happen today) you can't ask them about linked lists or sorting algorithms.

Not to mention, a vast number of people who could be good programmers wouldn't have had access to a computer before a first programming job, even if they had a college degree. Today it's much safer to assume that if someone is any good, they will have been exposed.

But nobody's talking about interviews that ask for conventionalized CS material. The point is that the interview questions are more difficult. They aren't especially more computer-focused.

I wasn't asked more difficult questions in 2007, when I got my first programming job. Several years on, we had some discussions about what kind of questions to ask candidates. One place I applied to more recently had a flowchart reading test that must have been from the punched card era.

So I don't concede the point, anyway.

But, the examples above definitely do compare more and less computer focused things.