I agree, if you implement a linked list in production code, you've almost certainly made a mistake.

My point is that a linked list is such a simple concept that anyone with real programming experience should be able to write a basic implementation.

It's a Shibboleth; I only care about your ability to perform the task because it tells me something else about you.

OK, I have to kinda agree.

It almost levels the playing field in the sense that since no one actually writes these things, we're probably all equally half clumsy with them :)

For linked lists I'd regard the question really being about whether the candidate understands pointers.

> The linked list is such a fundamental piece of technology that you never have to implement it.

Is this a good reason not to ask it in an interview?

I'd expect any competent software engineer to be able to implement a linked list without too much trouble. It's maybe not a great interview question (depending on your point of view, you may not consider it to contribute much positive or negative hiring signal), but I don't consider it a "gotcha" question the way a lot of people seem to.