I emailed a Square recruiter directly, as a friend had recently accepted an offer to work there. From there, I underwent two technical phone screens. I found both to be rather difficult, and I barely managed to solve the problems in the end.

Square calls their phone screens "pair programming," but they were very similar to generic phone screens from other companies, with not much of an increase in collaboration.

However, my onsite experience felt quite different. The questions were much easier, and the engineers sat down with me at a computer to talk about and solve the problems together, which felt much more collaborative.

During the onsite, I completed two technical interviews. I also had a casual chat with a new grad during lunch, followed by a "prior experiences" interview. This last interview ended up being another discussion about my previous projects and internships.

The SF office is extremely beautiful, and the food was pretty excellent.

I received an offer a few weeks later. This was delayed due to a hospitalization and one of my interviewers being out of office for a week. I was quite happy with the offer and decided to accept.

Overall, the people at Square seem very enthusiastic. However, I've heard that experiences can vary depending on the team you choose to work for.

As my first job out of college, I think it will be a good place to start developing some valuable industry experience.

Graph and dictionary questions