Square · Primly Community

Square new grad / entry level interview, how to prep and what to actually study

pivot_pat · 4 replies

okay so i just got an offer from Square for a new grad SWE role and i want to write down exactly what i did because when i was searching for prep advice for their entry level / university hire process i found almost nothing useful.

first the process itself: online assessment (two LC-style problems, 75 min, on a standard coding platform) recruiter screen after OA (brief, basically confirming you're real) two-round onsite-equivalent over video: one coding round, one behavioral

the coding round for new grad is solidly medium difficulty. both of my problems were on arrays and string manipulation. one had a follow-up asking about space complexity after i gave the initial solution. no system design at all for new grad which is different from some companies that throw that at you even at the entry level. they want to see you explain your thinking out loud, not just produce an answer.

behavioral round was actually longer than i expected. about 50 minutes and very STAR-method. they asked about a time i worked on a team with conflicting priorities, a technical mistake i made and what i learned, and something about a project i'm proud of. the Square behavioral questions felt a bit more 'tell me about a real project' than the generic leadership principle style. less corporate feeling.

for prep: i did about 4-5 weeks, mostly neetcode's structured roadmap (arrays/strings/graphs), plus practiced explaining solutions out loud. the behavioral prep honestly took more time than i expected because i had to actually write out my STAR stories and not just vague summaries.

timeline was about 3 weeks from application to offer. they were responsive, which i appreciated.

sf-based role, summer 2026 start. happy to answer questions.

4 replies

jp_newgrad

this is exactly what i needed. did they ask any sql or did it stay purely algorithms? i've been going back and forth on whether to study sql for the swe oa.

alex_design

no sql for me, was purely algorithmic. that said i've seen data-analyst-adjacent roles at Square have sql components. for new grad SWE i wouldn't prioritize it.

bootcamp_bri

Do you remember if the OA lets you use your preferred language or was it restricted? That's always my first question for any platform-based assessment.

ae_andre

Good writeup. The behavioral prep note is real. I place a lot of new grad candidates and the ones who under-prepare for behavioral are almost always caught off guard by how long that round runs. Budget at least as much time as coding prep.