On one hand you say that these are "bog-standard" SRE questions, and on the other you say it's "super strange".
What exactly is super strange? That a non-technical recruiter asked the questions? If that's not the strange part, then surely it's believable that the recruiter would not recognize some of the subtleties involved?
That said, if this guy is the creator of GWAN, then it's entirely possible that his personality rubbed someone the wrong way and he was nixed for "personality reasons" in the only way they could.
It's super strange that the recruiter would have no understanding that alternate answers are possible, and would end the call abruptly claiming the candidate didn't know their fundamentals.
I've done this kind of phone screen for an entry level position at Google, and while the recruiter wasn't an engineer, they did have some basic knowledge of the concepts involved, and were able to prompt me with follow-up questions if I missed something or got a question half right. The questions themselves are not strange, it's the alleged attitude of the recruiter.
This is exactly why I think that transcript is a bogus, one-sided take from someone who's dejected and hurt by the fact that they weren't chosen. It reeks of the smell of someone that thinks they were smarter than the interviewer.
What exactly is super strange? That a non-technical recruiter asked the questions? If that's not the strange part, then surely it's believable that the recruiter would not recognize some of the subtleties involved?
That said, if this guy is the creator of GWAN, then it's entirely possible that his personality rubbed someone the wrong way and he was nixed for "personality reasons" in the only way they could.