> that people don't try simpler and proven solutions FIRST

Well why don't people do that according to you ?

Its not 'mind blowing' to me because you can never guess what angle interviewer is coming at you. Especially when they use the words like ' data stack'.

> you can never guess what angle interviewer is coming at you

Why would you guess in that situation though?

It’s an interview, there’s at least 1 person talking to you — you should talk to them, ask them questions, share your thoughts. If you talking to them is a red flag, then high chances that you wouldn’t want to work there anyway.

I don't know why and this is why I said it's mind-blowing. Because to me trying stuff that can work on most laptops comes naturally in my head as the first viable solution.

As for interviews, sure, they have all sorts of traps. It really depends on the format and the role. Since I already disclaimed that I am not actual data scientist and just a seasoned dev who can make some magic happen without a dedicated data team (if/when the need arises) then I wouldn't even be in a data scientist interview in the first place. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Thats fair. My comment wasn't directed at you. I was trying to be smart and write an inverse of original comment. Where I as an interviewer was looking for a proper 'data stack' and interviewee responded with a bespoke solution.

"not understanding the scale of "real" big data was a no-go in my eyes when hiring."

Sure, okay, I get it. My point was more like "Have you tried this obvious thing first that a lot of devs can do for you without too much hassle?". If I were to try for a dedicated data scientist position then I'd have done homework.