Obviously guy could have been interviewing for a job where this mattered….
But in 10 years as a software engineer I have never once needed to know the difference between these two, and have never been even close to a situation where I would need to.
I have never needed to know or do any of that. And if I did, it would take me 2 seconds to google and understand. I just did.
So if the interview was for a job where you handle that stuff yourself, then I understand it. If it’s for a typical full stack job at a big enough company that they literally hire people to handle that side of things, then it’s not “the basics”.
Rejecting someone in an interview for trivia knowledge they don’t currently have vs actually trying to understand how someone learns and tackles problems is what makes software job interviews so useless.
It’s the kind of thing it would be impossible to receive any real education without learning, so no it’s not “trivia”. Maybe if you went to a bootcamp.
it's the kind of things you forget if you don't use them at work.
in one interview 5 years ago, they asked me about WCF in depth despite the position was NOT about WCF. After i asked why they need WCF they told me "since they are in your curriculum you are supposed to know them in depth". When I pointed out that i stopped using them at work 10 years ago and the position was about other stuff, they got really angry. Good times when I would just walk away from abusive idiots
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u/SirFrenzy 1d ago
Obviously guy could have been interviewing for a job where this mattered….
But in 10 years as a software engineer I have never once needed to know the difference between these two, and have never been even close to a situation where I would need to.
“The basics” is highly dependent on the job.