Woman, who was informed she'll never end up at Google by startup interviewer, secures job at technology giant

A female Indian recount of an interview experience from the past has turned viral after she wrote about how she had been once taunted by a startup interviewer who expressed doubt that she would ever reach global technology leaders like Google or Meta. The post, which was on social media site X, has received widespread approval and acclaim for its dramatic turnaround.

The participant, identified as Arpita, shared an arduous system design phase at a mid-level startup where she was questioned to handle an extensive set of technical activities. 

"Grilled by a mid-level startup interviewer during a system design phase, he asked me to design infra, estimate CPU price, essentially everything short of building the data centre physically," she posted.

But the interview is said to have sharply turned condescending when she couldn't answer some of the questions. As per her, the interviewer smirked and told her, "This is why people like you won't make it to big companies like Google, Meta."

Arpita, who refused to name the company or the interviewer, dropped a mic in the conclusion by stating that she did make it to Google eventually.

X users supported her and criticized the interviewer in the comments. "Great story. The best revenge is success. Keep it going," a user posted. Another user added, "Wow, legendary backstory. Congrats on making it this far."

"Today most of the interviewer consider attitude and desire to learn since you can't judge person on whole thing in that 10-15 minutes. Congrats for you already reached Google," commented a third user.

Her X bio presently says that she has worked for top firms like Microsoft and Myntra in the past.

In a reflective note, she supplemented: "Not bragging—just wondering why some folks gatekeep based on their own insecurities."

Her tweet has led to discussions surrounding toxic interview cultures within startups, gatekeeping in tech recruitment, and the larger issues candidates—especially women—are facing to navigate the tech sector in India.