Recruiter call went very well and I had a nice chat with them but the pair programming interview went poorly and was by far my least favorite interview I've had in recent memory.
The question was not very difficult but interviewer seemed combative the entire second half of the interview which I have not experienced before anywhere else.
I solved the first question pretty quickly and when presented with the second question (which built off the first) I started a solution before being told the first answer method could not be changed in anyway. The second question necessitated a change from the first part and when i brought this up I was told modifying the first answer method was not allowed. So i started on a solution talking through my solution and the interviewer would not let it go that I tried to update the first answer method to make the second method far more efficient. I came up with a working answer for the second question but was very much done with the interview at this point. 20 minutes of him bringing up how i can't change the first answer method over and over while i worked on an entirely different solution at that point had worn my patience thin.
When asked how I would improve my solution I said I would update what is allowed and modify the first answer to improve overall efficiency in combination with the second method. This started another 5 minute back and forth on how thats not allowed and i would state yes but if im trying to improve the solution thats how I would do it. At this point the interviewer asked me if I had any questions for square to which I said no which seemingly surprised him. No idea why after he was so disrespectful the final half of the interview. I had no intention of working for block/square at this point and wanted the interview to end.
I sent an email to the recruiter to revoke my candidacy for the position and very shortly after was sent a rejection letter.
I've had many interviews before but never had an interviewer be so combative. Really soured my view of the company which is unfortunate as my call with the recruiter was actually very nice.
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)
