Software Engineer Interview Experience - San Francisco, California
Process
Overall, a very positive experience. I find the reviews on here that say the interview was 100% negative hard to believe. At the very least, everyone I interacted with was professional, and nearly all of them were outright friendly.
I obviously can't predict what questions others will be asked during their interviews, but in general, Square doesn't seem to ask "hard" questions that rely on figuring out a specific trick to get the correct answer. Instead, they ask what I'd call "fair" questions - multistage OOP problems that incorporate CS fundamentals to varying extents. That being said, if people study in a way that heavily favors trick problems, they might find Square's more practical/applied questions pretty hard.
Biggest piece of advice: get your code running.
I think the most important difference from many other companies is that you're actually coding on a computer, not whiteboarding - so your code has to run. Getting your code to run should be your first priority. If it doesn't run, you need to be able to debug and fix your errors quickly. Get to a working solution for the initial stage of the question, run some test cases, refactor... then repeat for the next, harder stage of the question. Honestly, most of my coding interviews at Square ended up being kind of fun.
You may or may not get asked specific time/space complexity questions about your code, depending on the interviewer. Interviewers were all friendly and helped unblock me if I got too stuck for too long. They kept things moving.
The post-interview experience was very positive, too. Things moved quickly - I heard back within a couple days - and the team selection, offer, and negotiation all went pretty smoothly. End-to-end, the entire process from initial phone screen to final offer took 4 weeks, and could have moved faster if my personal schedule had permitted it.
Questions
Multistage OOP problems that rely on correct usage and application of CS fundamentals.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 59 interview experiences for the Block Software Engineer role in San Francisco, California.
Success Rate
Block's interview process for their Software Engineer roles in San Francisco, California is very selective, failing most engineers who go through it.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Block's Software Engineer interview process in San Francisco, California.
Block Work Experiences
- 4.0Loved working at Square for 3 yearsSoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesMarch 13, 2025Pros: I loved the people there and the workplace culture.Cons: Like most companies, multiple reorganizations occur, which is inevitable. This still causes lots of disruption and affects morale in many ways.
- 5.0The best people I've ever worked withSoftware Engineer • Current EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesDecember 27, 2013Pros: Number 1: people, people, people. I've never worked with so many highly intelligent, friendly, curious, and intrinsically motivated people in my life. This, above all, makes going into Square every day exciting, fun, and rewarding. * Clear mission. It's even carved into a wall in our new office: "Make commerce easy." Everyone in the company, from engineering to finance to support, knows it, creating this really positive energy and spirit of teamwork like "we're all in this together." * High impact, meaningful work. On the micro scale, it's always so cool when you visit a business running on Square and see your product being used day-in, day-out. On the macro scale, metrics showing the huge number of businesses using Square every day always awe me. * Incredible learning opportunities. Every engineer is happy and willing to teach something new. I've learned an insane amount! * Transparency. Almost nothing is secret inside Square. All our metrics are available to all employees. Notes from every meeting are shared, including board meetings. New strategies and products are shown early and often. A huge amount of trust is placed in each of us to keep these secrets, but it's incredibly empowering and can even spark new ideas across the company. * Challenging the status quo. Square is growing and iterating extremely fast. Old processes are quickly questioned and replaced if they get in the way. Employees are encouraged to ask the senior staff anything they want during our weekly "Town Hall" on Fridays. * Tons of autonomy. Individually, employees have the latitude to work when they want, how they want. Some people get in past 11 am and stay later, while some work typical 9-5 hours. We have an unlimited vacation policy as well. Engineering teams also have a great deal of autonomy. Each team has full-stack engineers, designers, and product people so they can design, build, and ship their own product. * Work/Life balance. I usually work around 45 hours a week and am always home for dinner. One engineer even took a whole month's vacation recently. There are some who still work insane hours, but managers are actively discouraging it. * Amazing office & perks. I love having our office downtown instead of traveling far away to some cordoned-off campus. It feels like we're really a part of the city. Our restaurant in the building provides us with amazing food, but lots of food trucks and local restaurants are within blocks. * Hack Week. Four times a year, the entire company takes the whole week to work on something different. This isn't just for engineers; everyone participates. It brings in a lot of creative energy and has even been the birthplace of some of our products.Cons: Nothing major. Most of the cons people have written about have been addressed in the last year or so. I have no plans to leave anytime soon! :)
- 3.0Good Work, Bad ManagementSoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeSan Francisco, California, United StatesFebruary 8, 2024Pros: Easy to get things done with some initiative. Good for self-starters. Little to no interference from management before 2024. Can avoid politics as an IC not trying to uplevel. Supportive and helpful colleagues.Cons: * Below-average compensation compared to industry leaders. * TC is limited by stock price. * Minimal opportunities for career development. * Subpar engineering managers. * Poor direction from middle management. * Excessive time wasted on frequent planning and re-planning.
Block Interview Questions
