The recruiter call went very well, and I had a nice chat with them. However, the pair programming interview went poorly and was by far my least favorite interview I've had in recent memory.

The question itself was not very difficult, but the interviewer seemed combative during the entire second half of the interview, which I have not experienced anywhere else before.

I solved the first question pretty quickly. When presented with the second question, which built off the first, I started a solution before being told the first answer method could not be changed in any way. The second question necessitated a change from the first part. When I brought this up, I was told modifying the first answer method was not allowed. So, I started on a solution, talking through my approach, and the interviewer would not let go of the fact that I tried to update the first answer method to make the second method far more efficient. I came up with a working answer for the second question but was very much done with the interview at this point. Twenty minutes of him repeatedly bringing up how I couldn't change the first answer method while I worked on an entirely different solution had worn my patience thin.

When asked how I would improve my solution, I said I would update what was allowed and modify the first answer to improve overall efficiency in combination with the second method. This started another five-minute back-and-forth on how that wasn't allowed, and I would state yes, but if I'm trying to improve the solution, that's how I would do it. At this point, the interviewer asked me if I had any questions for Square, to which I said no, which seemingly surprised him. I have no idea why, after he was so disrespectful for the final half of the interview. I had no intention of working for Block/Square at this point and wanted the interview to end.

I sent an email to the recruiter to revoke my candidacy for the position, and very shortly after, I was sent a rejection letter.

I've had many interviews before, but I've never had an interviewer be so combative. It really soured my view of the company, which is unfortunate, as my call with the recruiter was actually very nice.

Morse code encode and decode question