Whiteboarding is pretty stupid, but I think it's better than other metrics, which involve "credentials" that most of us do not have access to.
I'd much rather be whiteboarded, than judged on what school I went to, who I know, or whatever else metric that has been used for 50 years for six figure jobs.
For example, if you had a no name degree, you have effectively zero chance in the top 5 finance firms (Sigma 5, or whatever the hell they call it lol).
Maybe you do it once, and it's so rare that they make a movie out of it.
I feel like I would actually be hired at FAANG if I got enough experience and practiced leetcode.
Seems like the only thing preventing me from getting an actual tech job is my lack of internships, which work experience will replace.
Do I necessarily want to work at FAANG? No, but I want to get into the tech industry proper.
Ideally, it would be replaced with a better technical screen, as DS & Algo's don't say a lot about a persons actual skill ceiling, it just says that you can get good at DS & Algo's, as demonstrated by OP's Math doctorate.
Oh well, it's a step in the right direction I guess.