Very Confusing Process!

I was contacted by the company HR through LinkedIn. My interview was scheduled for a weekday. There were two more people who came for the interview for the same role.

Initially, during the phone screen, the HR told me that there would be an online coding test followed by two face-to-face interviews on the same day. However, there was no online coding test. I was sent for the face-to-face interviews as soon as I reached.

The questions in this round were good, although the interviewer was pausing (probably recalling the question) for five good minutes before asking the next question. The questions were mainly focused on LLD, problem-solving, and data structures. This round went well, and I was asked to sit in the common area while the HR got back to me. I found the other two candidates waiting there already.

After about ten minutes, the HR called each one of them, saying that there were no more rounds that day and that they could leave. I still didn't get any call, nor did the HR come to me. Though the interviewer who took my interview came back to me saying there were no more rounds that day and I could leave.

Confused, I went out and called HR. The HR asked me not to go, as there would be a next round of interview for me. While I was coming back, she again called me on the phone, saying she talked to the panel and there would be no further rounds for me. I left for the day.

The same evening, she called me again, asking me to come over the weekend for interviews with some other panel. I said I had already given one round of interview. On which she said that this is a different team, and I needed to go through the whole process again.

I went for the interview that weekend to find that around 60 people had been invited for interviews. The first round was a write-on-paper algorithm round, with a time limit of 45 minutes. Those who qualified this round had to code the same algorithm on a computer.

The question was:

There is a rectangular land of 400x300 area with chunks of barren lands whose coordinates are given. Find the fertile land areas and print them in sorted order.

This is crazy! How can a company come up with such a question for screening candidates at the initial round? After submitting the pseudocode, someone came and asked me to explain it. It seemed he was looking for a perfect solution to the problem. Although my solution could have passed 30-40% of test cases, the solution was straightforward and simple, as told by him. I was disqualified!

There is a rectangular land of 400x300 area with chunks of barren lands whose coordinates are given. Find the fertile land areas and print them in sorted order.