I would still talk to them, it they actually were a CTO for a period and then got hired as Principal Engineer, they might be extremely talented.

I find these meaningless reasons bullshit, just tell me that you spinned the roulette and 5 red came out and I needed a 7 black to be chosen to be talked to. At least I don't start self doubting myself just because someone didn't like my formatting or the choices I made after university.