I know this is tangential to your main point but I actually like and expect some bitching when I'm interviewing someone, and frankly don't see how you could do

I know this is tangential to your main point but I actually like and expect some bitching when I'm interviewing someone, and frankly don't see how you could do an honest interview without some bitching. The supposed motivation for the no-bitching rule is that the interviewer thinks you'll complain about their company in two years. Well yeah, no shit, if you get fired or quit in two years, you're not going to run around telling people what a pleasure it was to work there, and that the breakup was mutual. The people who seem to say every place they worked was good, had a good team, had no problems, etc, always seem to be mediocre. The interviewee who's like "Oh my god, they didn't even use source control when I got there. I setup a subversion server on my desktop." shows that they take charge. Horror stories about bug tracker shenanigans are always good for a laugh. "Well 'critical' was getting used too much, so they created 'ultra-critical'. After all the bugs ended up at that status they added 'yesterday'." Funny, but also shows they understand the concept of prioritizing. The people who bitch, and (more importantly) take the steps to make things better are the people I want to work with. Of course it can be overdone, and I've had people who bitched so much or were so caustic that they got a pass. I guess maybe things would be different if I was working in Fortune 500 IT-land. Maybe then I wouldn't want someone who complains about Fortune 500 IT-land shenanigans, and just want someone who will just implement the code written by the Grand Architects on Mount High. But it's like the rule about wearing a suit and covering up any tattoos. I will never wear a suit to an interview again. If that's a pass, that's a company I don't want to work for. Same with an interviewer who would be outraged that you complained about the company you're actively trying to leave. Or that you had the gall to take a year off of your professional life to tour Europe.