Deepgram Software Engineer interview questions

The process is relatively typical for an engineering call: -recruiter screen -tech screen (no coding, just technical questions on your experience plus data structure fundamentals) -take home to build a basic app -2.5 hour virtual onsite: 90 hours to expand on the app, 15 min break, 45 min with hiring manager I got rejected after this round. I was told that I didn’t understand the requirements. I did. I implemented everything they told me to. I even validated with the team during the interview if I implemented it based on the requirements. They said the requirements were open ended (and the instructions in the requirements said as much, exact quote “ consider the specific routes above as examples, and feel free to design the API as you see fit”). They told me that for the interview, I’d use a different implementation for the feature. They said I didn’t do anything wrong, this was just the interview exercise to “refactor.” That went well and then the hiring manager screen also went well. So I was shocked to receive a phone call saying I misunderstood the requirements when I was told that I did not misunderstand them. If they wanted a more specific implementation , they should’ve said as much in the specifications. In a way, I dodged a bullet - imagine working for a company that tells you one set of requirements and totally blindsides you that it was something else. Everyone was pleasant, so that made this even more surprising. The disconnect must’ve been that either the team interviewing me didn’t want to hire me for other reasons or they needed to be more explicit in their assignment.