There was a pause on the line. Usually, candidates were defensive, expecting a keyword checklist. "You read that?" Sarah asked, her voice softening.

"Hi Sarah, I’m reading your blog post about interrupt latency," Elias said, using a tactic from Chapter 3: The Credibility Hook . "I noticed you argued that preemption is often over-engineered."

"I stopped looking for the stack," Elias said, tapping the cover of the book in his jacket pocket. "I started looking for the pain."