I don't know if the poor interview can really prove discrimination. Yes the conditions sound like they were awful (I mean, coding exercise over the phone? wtf)

I don't know if the poor interview can really prove discrimination. Yes the conditions sound like they were awful (I mean, coding exercise over the phone? wtf), but based on my experience interviewing at Google is pretty terrible, regardless of your age. How is he gonna prove that he was treated unfairly when it is well known that Google interviewers are terrible? To be clear, I do believe that there is a significant bias against older folks in tech. I have witnessed it when I was trying to hire a 50+ year old guy and encountered strong resistance from my supervisor.