I received an email asking to schedule a 30-minute phone interview. I called on Friday. During the interview, I was told I'd be asked to schedule a technical round later that afternoon. Instead, I didn't hear back until Monday, when I was rejected.

During the interview, I asked to clarify some terms, which the interviewer took to automatically mean I have no experience. I stated that my main programming language is currently Python, although I've had extensive C++ usage before. The interviewer interpreted this to mean I have no C++ experience.

In both instances, when I clarified that I have experience, the interviewer had already made up her mind that I did not.

Describe past experience with C++ and various systems-level programming.