As someone who has conducted a ton of systems design interviews, the "I used these tools at my last job so I will use them for this completely different problem

As someone who has conducted a ton of systems design interviews, the "I used these tools at my last job so I will use them for this completely different problem" is bamboozling. OTOH, there are advantages to comfort picks. You know the APIs, you know the common libraries in the ecosystem, you know the quirks and pitfalls. It might not be optimal—and in production it compounds—but for dinky personal projects or finite-scoped professional things, it's understandable.