Smartsheet Software Engineer interview where a coding round turned into system design

My Smartsheet process felt unclear in both the way it was explained and the way it actually ran. The recruiter screen went well, and I was told to expect an easy progression into a coding screen. Instead, the round described as a one-hour coding interview turned into system design.

The same mismatch continued at the onsite. I had a behavioral round, several hours of coding, and some trivial questions, followed by another segment that was supposed to be system design. That segment turned out to be more of a project deep dive, with experience-based questions about edge cases you wouldn't realistically encounter with a perfect systems architecture. I couldn't answer some of it, and I felt like I was reacting instead of building.

The interviewers were open about the company's shortcomings, which I appreciated. Still, I would have rated the experience as more neutral if the preparation material and round descriptions had matched what I actually encountered. I didn't get an offer, and the overall experience felt negative mainly because the process was messy, rather than because the questions were inherently unfair.

Location: United States. Overall feedback: Negative. Offer status: No offer.