I have 25+ years of engineering experience, something like 15+ in lead positions. I have a somewhat rare background – a blend of network and software with a pinch of data/ML and DevOps. I spent several years with telecoms and several years in two big tech companies. I delivered many projects from scratch and was responsible for mentoring, product and project management, architecture, various testing and monitoring, and maintenance.

I was rejected twice without a chat. I used my connection to get referred and was rejected without a chat again. I used my connection to ask a recruiter for feedback. I waited several weeks for it but didn't get anything. I went to an event with Arista and talked to the recruiter, reminding them about the feedback. I received a call a week later.

I was told that Arista was interested in C++. Because my last C++ project was a part of Google Search five years ago, I was of little interest.

It didn't matter that I had several years of C++ experience in two big tech companies. It didn't matter that once upon a time I had had no C++ experience and had learned the language (as any engineer is supposed to be able to do) enough to do my job for the companies. The rest of my engineering experience didn't matter.

After I expressed my surprise, the recruiter reluctantly mentioned that Arista might test my C++ with a coding interview, which is totally fine. I just can't understand why the first recruiter's thought was to filter me out simply because I didn't have C++ in my latest project. Still, it has been a couple of weeks with no updates from Arista, so that coding test might not even happen.

But I have to thank the recruiter for talking to me. Companies rarely provide any feedback. The recruiter definitely didn't have to have that chat, so I am grateful for the conversation.

When did you last use C++?