Engineering Manager Interview Experience - San Francisco, California
Process
The interview process included:
- Three technical interviews
- Three design and management interviews
- A final interview with the department lead
Overall, this was a reasonable interview process.
It consisted of three 45-minute technical sessions, followed by lunch, and then four more management and design sessions.
I was not moved forward due to my performance on the technical portion of the interview.
Questions
While stated in more general terms, the questions and expected answers amounted to:
- Implement Levenshtein distance algorithm.
- Implement Bresenham's line algorithm.
- Implement Neal Stephenson's Solitaire Encryption Algorithm.
I had 35-40 minutes to complete each on a Java IDE after introductions and questions.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 2 interview experiences for the Block Engineering Manager role in San Francisco, California.
Success Rate
Block's interview process for their Engineering Manager roles in San Francisco, California is fairly selective, failing a large portion of engineers who go through it.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Block's Engineering Manager interview process in San Francisco, California.
Block Work Experiences
- 5.0Fun Place, Few ConsEngineering Manager • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesJanuary 20, 2025Pros: Fun place to work at.Cons: Not a huge amount of cons.
- 4.0Good Culture, Rough ChangeEngineering Manager • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesJanuary 1, 2024Pros: Good engineering culture, going through a rough change.Cons: Going through a rough change, I will come out strong in one year.
- 5.0Square is a great place to learn.Engineering Manager • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesOctober 15, 2014Pros: There are a lot of great engineers at Square. There are also a lot of hard problems to solve, hence there are ample learning opportunities. Taking initiative to solve problems is encouraged, so you can fairly easily grow into the role you want. It's a fast-paced environment with "real" problems.Cons: The company has grown a lot quickly. Some projects and teams have been launched and then cut. However, Square's execs do a good job of identifying issues and course-correcting. There's a decent balance between bottom-up and top-down decision-making.
Block Interview Questions
