Square/Block Software Engineer Phone Screen Questions
48+ questions from real Square/Block Software Engineer Phone Screen rounds, reported by candidates who interviewed there.
What does the Square/Block Phone Screen round test?
The Square/Block phone screen typically lasts 45-60 minutes and evaluates core Software Engineer fundamentals. Candidates should expect 1-2 algorithmic problems, basic system design discussion at senior levels, and questions about relevant experience. The goal is to confirm technical competence before bringing candidates onsite.
Top Topics in This Round
Square/Block Software Engineer Phone Screen Questions
Current Exp: 3 years in a Fintech Startup. Round 1 ( Screening Round ) (1 hr) About Existing projects About kafka Java Questions 1 medium level DSA question...
ZETA | 1st Round DSA
ROUND 1 (DSA ) Problem 1 https://cses.fi/problemset/task/1194 Q) You and some monsters are in a labyrinth. When taking a step to some direction in the labyrinth, each monster may simultaneously take one as...
Here's how you could describe your preparation for the DP World interview:
I\'m sharing this detailed post because there aren\'t many DP World interview questions available on platforms like LeetCode. I\'ve combined all the information to provide a comprehensive overview of my...
Agoda| SSE (Bangkok)| {Offer}
I applied on the portal directly for SSE Backend YOE: 4 Round 1: Coding Q1: Difference of frequencies between most frequent and least frequent Q2: Coin change dp, fumbled a bit but solved it...
Square | Phone | L4/L5 Reject
Part 1 Given a json string as input which contains an array of objects, each with an id and x, y coordinates. Compute the closeness of a coordinate from another. A...
TCS Prime Interview Experience | On-Campus 2024 (Tier - 1)
TCS Prime Compensation: 9 LPA (Base / CTC) First I had to appear in the TCS NQT exam for priority institutions, where many other college students appeared. The scheme of the...
Innovaccer | SDE-1 | Rejected
Status - B.Tech from Tier 1 college Position - SDE-1 in a healthcare startup HR reached out to me directly on call and scheduled the interview Round 1 (Coding interview) 1. A brief introduction...
Flipkart | SDE-1
Here is my Interview Experience with Flipkart that happened around Nov/Dec. Interview Rounds 1. Machine Coding 2. Problem Solving/Data Structure 3. Hiring Manager Round 1: Machine Coding Design an online book reader system like Kindle. Below...
Experience: 2+ years fullTime Position: SDE 2 at Product company Location: Bangalore, India Total: 3 rounds Round 1: DS and Algo \t1. Introduction of interviewer followed by my Introduction then coding problems \t2. https://leetcode.com/problems/find-all-numbers-disappeared-in-an-array/ 3. Remove...
DUNZO | SDE-1 Backend | Rejected
Company Name : DUNZO Position: SDE-1 Backend College : Tier 3 Location: Bangalore Experience: Fresher Verdict: Rejected I applied to Dunzo in the month of June\'22 and got a call from InterviewVector (third-party interviewer) within two...
Zeta | SDE3 | Hyderabad | Jul 2022
Experience : 7 years Round 1 : Coding 1. Merge k sorted Linked list 2. Capturing adjacent squares ( variation of bfs with two players) Round went...
// The problem here is, given a 2d grid showing the layout of our gym, with walls and pieces of exercise equipment marked, find an optimal placement for the free...
Livspace | SDE-1 Backend | June 2022 (Reject)
Round 1 (1 hour): DSA Round: Asked 2 questions, should be able to write optimal running code. 1) Maximum sum such that no two elements are adjacent, and here we need to...
Dunzo | SDE-2 | Jul 2022 | Worst experience ever.
Round 1 [LLD]: Taken by Interview vector - Design splitwise (You can find question on glassdoor) Link ->https://www.glassdoor.co.in/Interview/Dunzo-Interview-Questions-E1616162.htm?filter.jobTitleExact=SDE-2#InterviewReview_64774173 **Round 2 [DSA]: Taken by Interview vector - This is most idiotic...
Block/Square | Phone | connect four modified
I got somewhat medium but bit harder to come up solutions for my telephone round for square. There were three parts 1. Create 2 d array of the connect four grid. Example...
Question: First design a data structure to represent the below grid formed using match sticks. Using this data structure as an input write a program to count all the possible...
ClearTax | Software Engineer-II | Bengaluru | Oct 2021 [Reject]
Round 1 [PS/DSA Round] - 1. Some Questions Asked From Resume Related To NoSql, MongoDB, ElasticSearch 2. Maximal Square https://leetcode.com/problems/maximal-square/ 3. DB Design Of CoWin App Round 2 [LLD Round] - 1. Low Level Design Of...
Doordash | Experienced | Bay Area| August 2021|No
Doordash | Experienced | Bay Area| August 2021|No Phone screen: \t1. Write a validator for Sudoku square. I knew nothing about Sudoku. Did write the validator easily. \t2. follow up: Write a...
Hello, I\'ve got 8.5 years of experience as software engineer (with master\'s degree in computer science) and with absolutely no lead experience. I did a first quick HR phone call with Square...
Mentor Graphics visited our campus in Spetember for 2 profiles - SDE, and QA. I applied for the SDE profile. The first screening test was scheduled on 26th September at...
What to Expect in the Square/Block Phone Screen Round
The Square/Block Software Engineer Phone Screen round has a specific calibration purpose distinct from other rounds in the loop. Across 48+ verified reports on LeakCode for this exact round type, the consistent expectations: clear scoping of the problem before diving into a solution, explicit reasoning about complexity, structured handling of edge cases, and the ability to discuss trade-offs between two reasonable approaches.
Reports tagged with the Phone Screen round at Square/Block show recurring patterns in difficulty and topic distribution. The Phone Screen round is typically 45-60 minutes; the interviewer is calibrated against a specific rubric. The discriminator between candidates who advance and candidates who do not is rarely the final correctness of the answer. It is the path: did you clarify, did you verbalize your approach, did you handle edge cases, and did you communicate throughout.
How To Prepare for This Specific Round
Filter the questions below to the most recent reports (past 6-12 months). Questions tagged for this exact round type from this exact company at this exact role level are the highest-signal data available. Older reports may reference questions that have since rotated out of the company's pool.
Practice 4-6 representative problems from this set under timed conditions. The goal is not memorization (companies rotate questions); the goal is to internalize the patterns the interviewer typically reaches for and the depth of follow-up to expect. Reports on LeakCode also tag the typical follow-up depth at this round type, which is the discriminating signal between hire and no-hire calibration.
Phone Screen Round Timing and Format
The Phone Screen round at Square/Block typically runs 45-60 minutes. Use the first 2-3 minutes to clarify requirements; you should never start coding or designing without verifying the input/output format, constraints, and edge cases out loud. Use the next 5-7 minutes to verbalize your approach before writing any code. The middle 20-30 minutes are implementation. Reserve the final 10 minutes for testing with concrete examples and discussing optimization or trade-offs.
Time budget discipline is one of the most reliable senior-vs-junior discriminators in this round. Strong candidates verbalize where they are in their budget out loud ("I've used about 20 minutes, I have 15 minutes left for testing and one optimization"). This signals engineering maturity to the interviewer and creates positive feedback they can capture in writing.
Common Failure Modes in This Round
Reports tagged "no hire" at Square/Block Software Engineer Phone Screen commonly cite: coding silently without verbalizing approach, jumping to implementation before clarifying requirements, missing edge cases (empty input, single element, very large input), producing working code that the candidate cannot refactor when asked, and failing to test their solution with concrete examples before declaring done.
The single most predictive failure mode in 2025-2026 reports: not asking clarifying questions. Interviewers at all FAANG companies are explicitly trained to weight this dimension. Strong candidates ask 3-5 clarifying questions even on problems that look obvious; weak candidates dive into code immediately. The clarifying-question check is often the first signal recorded in the interviewer's notes.
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