Local vs. Foreign Tech Interviews – Noticing a Pattern?

Hey! I've been interviewing with local companies recently (I think around 6?) and noticed something interesting.

A lot of local companies focus on foundational questions—things like how does HTTP work? or what is a pure function? or what is the 2nd argument for useEffect. Stuff like that.

Honestly I don't even think they're gotcha questions - the tone is largely conversational. I did not get a feeling it was a gotcha question/answer, but more assessing general familiarity with the topic. I've had a couple of pair programming sessions, but interestingly got offers at some without.

I just find it interesting. I know for example, what promises are and have used them to death, but still does trip me up kinda because I'm rusty on its internals. Which I think have been asked in almost every single local interview I had.

Meanwhile, when I’ve interviewed with foreign companies (companies in US and big Tech like Meta, Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and others in Australia/Singapore), the focus is different. Google/OpenAI leaned more Leetcode-heavy, while Meta/Anthropic were more about general software engineering (leetcode-y still but more on just general SE).

Personally, I really like take-home exams. I know they’re one of the most loathed interview types, but for some reason, I enjoy them. Not sure why.

Also I actually like the conversational interviews that I've had with local companies. Medjo nanibago lang ako nung simula.

Curious—have you noticed similar trends? And where do you stand on take-home tests?

EDIT: forgot to add in title - this is for senior frontend/full stack positions.