"It is also entirely possible do essentially the same project over and over in a multi-decade long career, and learn nothing material from it all, and I've seen that happen too."
I remember interviewing someone like that. He came to the interview with 11 years exclusive experience in a language that's 11 years old; yet he struggled with the basic patterns and terminology that should be wrote memorization for anyone who's worked in it since the beginning.
As I struggled through the interview, I wondered if the guy just outright lied on his resume, and if I should end the interview early.
Then, at the end, I got to my question that's basically writing boilerplate data access code, and he zoomed through it. I realized that this guy spent 11 years writing mindless data access code and never really learned how to program!
I remember interviewing someone like that. He came to the interview with 11 years exclusive experience in a language that's 11 years old; yet he struggled with the basic patterns and terminology that should be wrote memorization for anyone who's worked in it since the beginning.
As I struggled through the interview, I wondered if the guy just outright lied on his resume, and if I should end the interview early.
Then, at the end, I got to my question that's basically writing boilerplate data access code, and he zoomed through it. I realized that this guy spent 11 years writing mindless data access code and never really learned how to program!