My feeling is that your reply is excessively focused on the specific example of a compiler from the parent comment. Replies don't need to be specifically focuse

My feeling is that your reply is excessively focused on the specific example of a compiler from the parent comment. Replies don't need to be specifically focused on compiler projects to be relevant to the general comment about how a side project like a compiler project could get someone hired. My belief, which it seems you do not share, is that a project like homebrew is perfectly analogous to a project like a self-made compiler. They illustrate broader scale systems thinking, although the specific computer science fundamentals will be different for each of those two problems, the a system like homebrew likely also has to have more focus on deployment, user interface, and project management tasks (which, I would argue, makes it more relevant for most hiring situations). I can't comment on whether Howell's self-deprecation was meant to be tongue-in-cheek criticism of Google or if he sincerely meant it, and of course those interpersonal reasons could have been at fault for a failed interview (although it doesn't seem that anyone disputes that it was actually just a straightforward result of some binary tree trivia).