I applied through an employee referral. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Block (San Francisco, CA) in Mar 2020
Interview
In broad strokes: the process began with a phone screen. After that, there were two separate CoderPad pair programming interviews. After that was a "virtual onsite" (given the ongoing Coronavirus shelter-in-place order), which had three more pair coding sessions (two more CoderPad algorithms questions, and a JavaScript CodePen visualization question), a session to discuss recent past projects, and a system design question session with the type of system given ahead of time.
After the on-site, I was told that under normal circumstances, I would be placed, but that due to the economic downturn from the Coronavirus, Square was closing out most of its existing positions without filling them. The recruiter told me my hypothetical leveling and mentioned that I may still be able to get a placement in the near future if the economy bounces back and new postings go up, and I haven't actually gotten a formal "no" besides that discussion. It's a bit disappointing, but understandable given their small business customer base and the extraordinary times. I'd definitely apply again under normal circumstances.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Lots of pair coding algorithms (think LeetCode medium, more OOP design than "figure out the Big O complexity trick"). Present about a past project in great detail. The usual system design and scaling questions.
I applied online. I interviewed at Block in Oct 2025
Interview
I had a call with their recruiter first, talked about my past experience and what I'm look in for in my next role. Then had a technical front-end screening with two engineers where I needed to build an application. I thought I did well, I was able to implement a working app, but I did not pass. Not further feedback was given.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Implement a memory game in any JS framework or vanilla JS. You need to implement this game based on some demo app that you can play around with before hand. You need to implement the HTML/CSS and JS all from scratch. The game has the following behavior: you need to display N x N cards in a grid lay out. The number of N should be configurable by the user through a slider. When the user clicks a "start" button, N cards a highlighted for 2-3 seconds. Then the user needs to click on the cards that were highlighted. If the user clicks on the correct card, it changes the color to green, otherwise it changes to red. If all the initially highlighted cards are clicked the game is over. What to watch out for: you need to track the cards that were clicked in the grid, you need pick N random cards to be highlighted for each round of the game. You need to make sure the gird of N cards can be increased and reduced. It's not enough that the app works, you also need to write clean/readable code. You have about 40 minutes to implement this, and you need to talk through your work.
Long process. System design felt like I aced it but they didn't pass me. It was the classic design a hotel booking platform question. They put you through a lot of rounds up front.
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Block in Feb 2025
Interview
Two rounds: the first was a technical screen and hiring manager interview, and the second round was 5 interviews (2 coding, 1 system design, 1 technical project review, 1 leadership interview)