A similar thing happened to me once in an interview. They said use any language, but were a TS shop. I went with Python, which is hardly esoteric. The interviewers were seemingly unaware of the breadth and depth of Python’s stdlib, and so I demolished their questions in short order. I don’t remember specifics, only that I used heapq for something, and itertools for something else.
The reply afterwards was along the lines of, “while you clearly have a solid grasp on Python, we didn’t get good signals from the interview.”
It’s very much worth noting that this was for an infra role, DBs specifically. The most advanced algorithm I’ve ever had (and “had” is a stretch) to use is Levenshtein.
I had a similar experience at a different big tech company when I went to use Ruby. The interviewer suggested that Ruby was allowed, but I would be unlikely to get the job if I didn't use python.
I did get the job, and with almost entirely in Ruby and PowerShell, so....
How long ago was this? For at least the last 10 years or so (when I tried and completely failed my first Google interview), Google recruiters have asked what language you want to use in advance. The recruiter would then assign you to interviewers who know that language and can pick questions which are appropriate for that language.
Interesting, and maybe that was indeed part of their effort to improve the process.
It was more than 10 years ago. And the candidate was from Apple, hence his currency in Objective-C.
Another good friend worked at Google for some time after that, and reported a pretty toxic evaluation regime that pitted employees directly against each other. He eventually left.
The fact that one interviewer decided someone can't use Objective C shouldn't really give you any confidence that interviewers there are generally unreasonable.
That wasn't the only incident, nor is that an accurate paraphrasing of what I just conveyed.
And a few years later, Google basically admitted that their interview process was trash and, in not so many words, claimed that they were going to be less douchebaggy.
> punishing creativity
A similar thing happened to me once in an interview. They said use any language, but were a TS shop. I went with Python, which is hardly esoteric. The interviewers were seemingly unaware of the breadth and depth of Python’s stdlib, and so I demolished their questions in short order. I don’t remember specifics, only that I used heapq for something, and itertools for something else.
The reply afterwards was along the lines of, “while you clearly have a solid grasp on Python, we didn’t get good signals from the interview.”
It’s very much worth noting that this was for an infra role, DBs specifically. The most advanced algorithm I’ve ever had (and “had” is a stretch) to use is Levenshtein.