The post was not really referring to a gap like that between systems programming and web development. It was referring to a gap like that between developing web

The post was not really referring to a gap like that between systems programming and web development. It was referring to a gap like that between developing web applications in Ruby or Python. Drop a Django guy into a Rails project or vice versa and they will hit productivity parity within a very short span of time. The problem that the post laments is that while there absolutely are separate domains within the programming field, HR people rarely have any idea what those domains actually are. Because of this, they tend to operate under the assumption that every single entity (language, framework, etc) is a different domain, and if you haven't worked with the right entity then you don't have enough experience. Edit: To expand on this a bit further, your example of systems programming vs. web development is actually a perfect example of what the right question would be for the interviewer to ask. Has the carpenter built a lot of houses, or have they built a lot of tables and chairs? What wood they used to build them doesn't matter much, but what they built with it is very important and is where the real domain gaps actually lie. This distinction crosses over to programming very well.