Ask HN: Shouldn't a recent CS grad know how to throw an exception? 13 years ago
I'd say it depends. If they consider Java to be their primary language and they haven't spent enough time coding in it to have ever encountered exceptions, then they haven't spent enough time coding, period (I'm assuming exceptions weren't the only gap in their knowledge, and this was just an example?). If they consider something else to be their primary language, and are otherwise solid on their CS fundamentals, then by all means, cut them some slack.