i've always approved everyone i've ever interviewed because i believe that it's possible for anyone to learn how to do this kind of wok and with the anticipation that i will have to show them everything i know; but i've never had to, i've always been pleasantly surprised.
i would approve this guy before the interview as over. lol
Trying to sus out a candidates ability to learn and adapt is number one thing I try to do when interviewing. A question I ask a lot is “Give me an example of a time you got completely stuck on a task and how you overcame that.”
my go to question is: tell me about an time when you couldn't get something to work and how did you attempt to make it work? what did you learn from it?
Drag hates being asked that question. "Drag was stuck on a hard problem... And then drag figured it out?" Drag doesn't know how to explain inspiration. Nobody does, not even philosophers or psychologists have managed to explain that moment of insight where suddenly it all makes sense.
I've definitely had some coworkers that in retrospect we should not have hired. But I've also had people I was iffy on that turned out great. Hiring is hard.