I had a very similar experience with them (around Java and Python dev questions) a few years back. Completely turned me off applying to Google, or replying to the numerous pings I get whenever they want to expand headcount in Europe.
(I'm not going to mention other companies here, but I also had enough "technical" interviews of this kind to make me wonder if people actually know how to recruit outside their - often quite narrow - perception of what their area of expertise actually is.)
Makes me quite sad, really, because there is zero assessment of experience, talent and know-how in this kind of interview (and whiteboard interviews can be ridiculous in their own right, too, but that's not the point here - it's just that they appear to be the next step in this broken appraisal).
(I'm not going to mention other companies here, but I also had enough "technical" interviews of this kind to make me wonder if people actually know how to recruit outside their - often quite narrow - perception of what their area of expertise actually is.)
Makes me quite sad, really, because there is zero assessment of experience, talent and know-how in this kind of interview (and whiteboard interviews can be ridiculous in their own right, too, but that's not the point here - it's just that they appear to be the next step in this broken appraisal).