I get what you’re saying. To me, this reads like someone who takes pride in forming assumptions (and biases) about a team before speaking to any of its members. A fun game for them, perhaps, but less fun for the folks they are trying to pigeonhole.

I guess there’s a fine line between collecting information to have a productive, data-driven conversation, and doing it to avoid having a conversation entirely.

Also seems like they’re more interested in connecting with the boss than the developers themselves, which is probably something you need to do as a contractor, but yeah, it does alienate other developers.