A Bengaluru-based tech professional with 10 years of experience in frontend development was left frustrated after an unusual job interview. The woman, well-versed in frontend technologies like Angular, JavaScript, and CSS, recounted her bizarre experience on Reddit, where she was asked to draw the Indian flag using CSS. What started as a standard interview soon turned into an unexpected test of her design skills.
The woman explained that, given her decade of experience, she expected to be asked about real-world coding challenges or complex scenarios. Instead, the interviewer chose to focus on theoretical CSS questions, eventually leading to the request to design the Indian flag. To her surprise, the interviewer later asked her to add intricate details, such as drawing the Ashoka Chakra and its spikes, which she found completely unreasonable. Frustrated, she ultimately quit the interview, questioning the approach of the interviewer.
Absurd Question or Clever Tactic?
The woman’s post prompted a variety of reactions from fellow Reddit users. Many sympathized with her, agreeing that the interviewer’s line of questioning was irrelevant for someone with her experience level. One user suggested that the interviewer might not have understood the nuances of frontend development and was simply testing her patience. Another user speculated that the interviewer could have been using this unconventional test to assess her technical abilities in CSS, albeit in a misguided way.
Some commenters believed the question was more appropriate for freshers, as it would test basic CSS knowledge like positioning and pseudo-elements. However, most agreed that for an experienced professional, such tasks were not only unexpected but also a poor use of interview time.
A Call for Better Interview Practices
The Reddit thread also raised concerns about the competency of interviewers themselves. Many users pointed out that interviewers should have a solid understanding of the roles they are hiring for and should focus on asking meaningful, skill-based questions that reflect the candidate’s experience. Instead, tasks like drawing an Indian flag using code seemed more like a test of patience than of technical prowess. The debate highlighted the growing demand for interview processes to be more structured and relevant to the applicant’s experience.