This is the difference between how it should be, and how it is. When you solve something simply and pragmatically it won't impress the non-technical or semi-technical manager. They also want to see microservices, bells and whistles.

Believe it or not for many managers "I refactored something and fixed the problem in an hour" isn't very desirable. When you go to your next interviewer they won't be impressed either, though they absolutely should be.