The hiring manager implored me to apply, stating that Square has moved away from algorithmic interviews. The recruiter also mentioned that interviews are based on "real-world problems."

Instead, I was asked to traverse a nested array, which is essentially a binary search algorithm.

I probably would have completed the solution, except the interviewer wasted half our allotted time on a "warm-up" and only introduced the actual problem halfway through our session.

This kind of interview does not measure real-world engineering skills at all and is biased towards people who have time to study (e.g., no responsibilities outside of work).

Square claims to value inclusion and non-traditional backgrounds, but their interview process clearly indicates otherwise.

The cherry on top is that they will ghost you if they don't wish to move forward.

Implement a binary search algorithm.