Stonksology's journey

I had an interview today for a senior developer position at a company that seemed promising on paper, with good benefits and a modern tech stack. However, things took a turn when the tech lead joined the call. He looked like he hadn't slept in years, surrounded by a wall of outdated Java books. As we began discussing architectural choices, it became clear that his knowledge was stuck in the past. He asked me about state management issues using terminology that felt like a history lesson, and I quickly realized he hadn't kept up with industry advancements since Docker became popular. He spent a considerable amount of time arguing against using a specific framework feature that has been standard for years, insisting it was too experimental. I tried to explain the performance benefits and improvements in garbage collection, but he just shook his head, clinging to outdated practices from a legacy codebase he likely wrote a decade ago. It felt like trying to convince someone that smartphones are superior to landlines. The worst part was his arrogance; he acted as if he had caught me in a rookie mistake when, in reality, he was just quoting an old blog post. When I inquired about their deployment pipeline, he mentioned manual FTP uploads to a staging server, which made me question how this person could be leading a team. If he is the standard, every merge request would be a struggle against his outdated views and refusal to embrace modern practices. I’m not even upset about the rejection I expect; I’m just baffled that individuals like him can hold high-level positions without anyone realizing they are stuck in the past. They gatekeep these roles while more qualified engineers get filtered out by ATS systems for lacking experience in tools that are relatively new. The interview ended with him suggesting I brush up on the fundamentals, referencing a book that is out of print. I just nodded and closed the tab. Now, I'm planning to spend the day searching for job opportunities that don’t have 'legacy' hidden in the fine print. My cat is judging me for being unemployed, but at least she understands how cloud technology works better than that lead developer.