I met Square at an event and, after talking to a recruiter, they took my resume.

I received an email from the recruiter asking me to follow a link to complete a simple coding challenge. There were two questions, and I was able to complete one.

Three weeks later, the recruiter invited me to a phone interview. My interviewer called from San Francisco, and we solved a problem together using the CoderPad.io platform. The question was fun and represented a real-world example of the problems they solve at Square. We ran through tests, improved on the solution, and added more features. My interviewer was extremely nice and helpful. He later asked if I had any questions for him, and I did.

I had another similar phone interview about six weeks later.

After two weeks, I was invited to interview with engineers in Atlanta, Georgia. They paid for my flight, food, hotel, etc.

At the office, I had two technical interviews where I solved a problem together with an engineer (my interviewer). Square calls their technical interviews "pair programming" because you and your interviewer would have separate keyboards but would share a screen together and write your code together using CoderPad.io. The questions were not overly difficult, and the interviewers were always very nice and helpful. I enjoyed these interviews as they were not harsh but smooth and realistic.

After this, I had lunch with what I believe was a senior software engineer, though there was also another senior software engineer and a manager present. It was fun talking to them, and we all seemed to have a lot in common.

The penultimate interview was with two senior engineers who asked me questions about one of my projects. The questions were very detailed, as if they knew a lot about my project and the technology I used. It was very interesting, and I actually underestimated this part of the interview process, but I pulled through.

The last interview was with a manager who asked if I had any questions for him about Square or the Atlanta area in general. This conversation was very short, so I felt less confident about the outcome.

I flew back home, and after a few emails exchanged between myself and the recruiter, a phone call was scheduled during a workday. They called me to congratulate me and provided the offer details. I was very happy with it and accepted.

Square's interview process is by far the best I have experienced anywhere. Just know how to use data structures and understand runtime complexity, and you'll be fine. Also, just be yourself! I wore jean pants, a long-sleeved shirt, and sneakers to the on-site interview, and I felt good about myself. It is more about what you say, how confident you are, and how prepared you are.

Data structures, runtime complexity, projects you've worked on