My application was for Square. From application to offer took about 2.5 months, so it was a fairly long process.

1. Code Signal assessment while applying for the job. They provided a link in the application and asked me to take it as part of my 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 interview with a recruiter.

4. 1-hour technical interview with a recruiter (a week later).

5. Virtual Onsite (another week later): a. 1-hour technical interview. This one was less like pair programming and was similar to a LeetCode Medium problem. b. 1-hour technical interview. Multiple parts revolved around designing/implementing a class. Each step added complexity and was more difficult than the last. I got halfway through part 4. c. 1-hour lunch break (no interview). d. 45-minute Q&A about past technical experience. I spent pretty much the whole time going in-depth on a project I had done. I chose one where I played a big role, ideally one where I had some level of leadership and could clearly express my impact. They asked some technical questions about the project and also about soft skills, like how I approached solving problems or how I handled 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. 30-minute interview with the hiring manager. We talked about the role and about me. It was a good chance to sell myself to the hiring manager and show why I was the best fit. It was low stress and much more casual. f. 15-minute wrap-up chat with the recruiter. They gave me more information, asked how I thought I did, and my recruiter told me how I was doing so far based on feedback from previous phone screens and interviews from earlier that day.

Overall, most technical interviews were not focused on LeetCode-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 technical interviews was like a LeetCode Medium. I can't reveal the problems I had because of the NDA I signed, but both of my onsite questions happened to be related to matrices.

Six days after the onsite (which was over the weekend, so only 4 business days), the recruiter called me and said he got approval to make me an offer. However, 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.

What was a problem you had to solve in your project, and how did you go about it?