The interview process consisted of two pair programming Skype interviews on an online text editor, where you can run your code. The on-site had two pair programming interviews, where you sit with your interviewer and code a problem side-by-side. It was really nice to be able to code on a computer, rather than having to write on a whiteboard, and the interviewers were there to bounce ideas off of and jumped in when they wanted. They look for work quality code, as well as expecting the code to execute properly, as they will run it in front of you. The recruiters responded very quickly, and adapted to any hiccups that came along during the interview process. The interview process took a lot longer than expected because one of the interviewers didn't show up for one of my phone screens, and by then it was the holiday season, where onsite interviews were halted for a couple of weeks. Honestly speaking, I was very surprised to get a rejection letter after waiting two weeks because I was able to get running solutions for the problems, and all of my interviewers enjoyed working with me and thought I was a great culture fit according to the feedback. Overall I had a great time interviewing with Square, as all the engineers were extremely friendly, and they all seemed like they had a large say in the products that they worked on.

My application was for Square. From application to offer took about 2.5 months so it is a fairly long process: 1. Code Signal assessment while applying for the job. They provide a link in the application and ask you to take it as part of your application. 2. Code Signal assessment from a recruiter. I was contacted by a recruiter to complete a Code Signal assessment again so that they could finish reviewing my application. I assume this means they didn't get the results of the first one? 3. 1 hour technical with a recruiter 4. 1 hour technical with a recruiter (a week later) 5. Virtual Onsite (another week later): a. 1 hour technical. This one was less like pair programming. It was similar to a LC Medium problem. b. 1 hour technical. Multiple parts revolve around designing/implementing a class. Each step adds complexity and is more difficult than the last. Got halfway through part 4. c. 1 hour for lunch (no interview) d. 45min Q&A past technical experience. Spend pretty much the whole time going in-depth on a project you've done. Choose one that you played a big role in. Ideally, one where you had some level of leadership and one where you can clearly express your impact. They will ask some technical stuff about the project and also about soft skills like how you approached solving problems or how you handled some conflict. They liked that I was able to give them a live demo of the project and said that most people aren't able to so I think it's good to have this prepared. e. 30min interview with the hiring manager. Talk about the role and about you. A good chance to sell yourself to the hiring manager and show why you're the best fit. Low stress and much more casual. f. 15min wrap-up chat with your recruiter. They give you more info, ask how you think you did, and mine told me how I was doing so far based on feedback from previous phone screens and interviews from earlier that day. Overall most technicals were not focused on LC style questions. I had a couple that were about implementing classes, so make sure you brush up on good class design. One of my phone screens was a pretty simple problem with multiple parts. Only one of my onsite technicals was like a LC medium. I can't reveal the problems I had because of the NDA they have you sign but both of my onsite questions happened to be related to matrices. 6 days after the onsite (was over the weekend so only 4 business days) the recruiter called me and said he got approval to make me an offer, but the hiring manager I interviewed with decided to go with a higher-level engineer instead (I'm guessing L4). We scheduled a meeting with a different hiring manager for the following morning. After interviewing with that hiring manager, I got a call from my recruiter that afternoon which is when I received my verbal offer. He went to get final approval and later that night I received the actual offer letter.