You're not wrong, but that one time you see a place for a new algorithm for a specialized problem can make a big enough difference to be worth it. If nobody in your group has the range, it's not likely you'll know when it'll pay to call in the research department with the PhDs exactly when they're needed, either. There's no bright line between coding and invention.

More mundanely, when I was starting out at a small shop (I'm around your age) my coworkers hadn't mastered undergrad algorithms, and it made a significant difference in what we could do.

It's unfortunate that attempting to test for this seems to have encouraged too much memorizing of known tricks relative to better mastery of principles.