Woman, who was told she'll never make it to Google by startup interviewer, lands job at tech giant. Her post

The user, who goes by the name Arpita, recounted a difficult system design round at a mid-level startup where she was asked to tackle an exhaustive range of technical tasks.

An Indian woman’s account of a past interview experience has gone viral after she shared how she was once mocked by a startup interviewer who claimed she would never make it to global tech giants like Google or Meta. The post, which appeared on social media platform X, has garnered widespread support and applause for its striking reversal.

The user, who goes by the name Arpita, recounted a difficult system design round at a mid-level startup where she was asked to tackle an exhaustive range of technical tasks.

“Was grilled by a mid-level startup interviewer in a system design round, he made me design infra, estimate CPU costs, basically everything except physically build the data centre,” she wrote in her post.

Was grilled by a mid-level startup interviewer in a system design round - he made me design infra, estimate CPU costs, basically everything except physically build the data center. When I stumbled, he smirked and said, “This is why people like you won’t make it to big companies… https://t.co/fDKU3blwJS

— Arpita Das (@Arpitaaa01) July 27, 2025

However, the interview reportedly took a sharp turn into condescension when she struggled to answer a few of the questions. According to her, the interviewer smirked and said, “This is why people like you won’t make it to big companies like Google, Meta.”

Arpita, who did not identify the company or the interviewer by name, revealed in a mic-drop conclusion that she eventually did get into Google.

X users cheered for her and slammed the interviewer in the comments section. "Great story. Success is the best revenge. Keep going," a user wrote. Another user commented, "Wow, legendary origin story. Congrats for getting so far."

"Today most of the interviewer see attitude and eagerness to learn as you can not judge a person on whole thing in those 10-15 minutes. Congrats for you already reached Google," a third user remarked.

Her current X bio also states that she has previously worked at prominent companies such as Microsoft and Myntra.

In a note of reflection, she added: “Not bragging—just wondering why some folks gatekeep based on their own insecurities.”

Her post has sparked conversations about toxic interview cultures in startups, gatekeeping in tech hiring, and the broader challenges faced by candidates—particularly women—navigating the tech industry in India.