As an electrical engineer who has basically always worked as an embedded programmer, I don't know what big O is. But, I'm probably not applying for your open positions.
It definitely depends on the domain. In embedded programming you can often know that your n is small for your algorithms. If you are making a desktop app or web service it is very important to prepare for people using your service in unexpected ways and a super linear algorithm can result in terrible performance or downtime if not managed correctly.
