[blablabla123]

Didn't try that yet. But that would only work for microscopic node js libraries. I mean when someone asks you: "are you proficient with SuperAwesome ORM XYZ?" Apart from the fact that the person on the phone probably won't even know what an ORM is, it's not possible to learn an API by heart in 5 minutes. ;) (I doubt it's desirable but that's another thing.)

I understand the desire of people wanting to have competent hires who get up to speed quickly. But that is just going in the completely wrong direction and likely costing such companies tons of money because they need to search longer/spend more on a dev.

[late2part]

Maybe. Or you could invest the short time you said it takes to come up to speed, do that, and call them back. You'd be much more valuable to them and should be able to get a job more quickly with higher value to you.

[blablabla123]

I'm sure you're right but on the other hand I'd then declare myself as having not enough value. I find it already ridiculous which amount of preparation some companies ask, just for a simple interview. Doing even hours (or days - in case of a lib) for making a good impression on the phone is just insane. Interviewing with 20 companies would then be a half year full-time job.

On the other hand taking a few days to get to know something is still waaayy better than taking months for the exact same thing. But yeah, that's just over the top for recruiters who just want to go through a checklist.