[awinder]

1. There's shades of legacy code, 20 years of rot is way different than 5 years. There's also different states of legacy code, and it sounds like this is not in the good state. So being sold on one universe where the real universe is so far off, that's a special case of embitterment that's maybe more justified than lesser lies.

2. I don't necessarily agree with the premise, he's not looking for a greenfields project, he's looking to use the toolset he was sold on during the interview process. There's plenty of established companies that have moved from xyz -> React in the past year or so.

This seems a classic case of being either deceptive or self-deluded from the interviewing side, with classic results. Its foolish, it rarely results in good things, and it's a huge waste of time for everyone when interviewers are not straightforward with candidates. Don't do it, and I would not feel bad for a second leaving a place that pulled that.