Square Software Engineer Mock Interview

Practice 30 Square Software Engineer interview questions covering payments infrastructure, API design, and system scalability.

Question 1 of 30

Square is very proud of our products and the people who develop them. In your opinion, what distinguishes a great software engineer from an average one?

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William Swansen

William Swansen has worked in the employment assistance realm since 2007. He is an author, job search strategist, and career advisor who helps individuals worldwide and in various professions to find their ideal careers.

When an interviewer asks this type of question, they seek to understand what your perception of excellence in this role is. When answering the question, you should align your response with the job requirements as defined in the job posting. You can also incorporate your performance in previous positions to demonstrate that you are aware of what excellence is and strive to achieve it.

William Swansen

"I believe the trait which distinguishes a great software engineer from an average one is the ability to balance excellence and performance. While I strive to write perfect code, I recognize that the project has a deadline and needs to be completed on time and under budget. If I have to compromise the quality of my code, it is done in such a way that it will not impact the final performance of the product."

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30Square Interview Questions & Answers

Software Engineer

1.Square is very proud of our products and the people who develop them. In your opinion, what distinguishes a great software engineer from an average one?

Software Engineer

2.Here at Square, we value work/life balance and initiative. What personal software development projects have you worked on outside of work?

Software Engineer

3.If hired by Square, can you estimate what portion of your day will involve coding and other activities you will perform when not coding?

Software Engineer

4.Walk me through your process for designing scalable applications.

Software Engineer

5.Describe the process you use to create a program from requirements definition to delivery.

Software Engineer

6.How do you go about addressing errors in your code?

Software Engineer

7.What process do you use to test and find bugs in an application you've developed?

Software Engineer

8.How would you implement Dijkstra's Shortest Path using a programming language with which you are familiar?

Software Engineer

9.Many Square Software Engineers prefer to program in Java. Can you describe how you would implement a linear search in JavaScript?

Software Engineer

10.How do you go about organizing CSS files, and why do you prefer this approach?

Software Engineer

11.Walk me through the steps to build a single page application with multiple sections using the programming framework in which you typically work.

Software Engineer

12.Which do you prefer - a micro-service approach or a monolithic app?

Software Engineer

13.How would you accelerate the response time of a website you created for us here at Square?

Software Engineer

14.Can you describe a tough software development problem you encountered in your last job and discuss how you solved it?

Software Engineer

15.What do you look for or check when reviewing another team member's code?

Software Engineer

16.What do you feel are the critical principles of good software engineering?

Software Engineer

17.Can you describe Square's software development life cycle as you understand it?

Software Engineer

18.Here at Square, we have embraced Agile methodology. How experienced are you with the Agile software development process?

Software Engineer

19.Please describe responsive design and the difference between fixed and fluid layouts.

Software Engineer

20.What are the differences between an array and a stack?

Software Engineer

21.Please describe a stack and the two operations it performs.

Software Engineer

22.What are the differences between blocking and non-blocking calls in the context of Node.js?

Software Engineer

23.Square web developers are incorporating HTML5 in their most recent websites. Can you describe the functions of web workers in HTML5?

Software Engineer

24.Can you define black box testing and white box testing and discuss the differences between them?

Software Engineer

25.What are some of the programming languages you are familiar with, and which ones do you prefer?

Software Engineer

26.How would you explain cloud computing to someone at Square who doesn't have a technical background?

Software Engineer

27.In your opinion, what is the difference between computer software and a computer program?

Software Engineer

28.Which design patterns do you use, and in what situations do you use them?

Software Engineer

29.Can you describe what you know about object-oriented programming?

Software Engineer

30.Here at Square we encourage developing programs that can scale to accommodate our growth. What methodologies do you use to ensure that your program will scale?