Square Roots Interview Questions
& Process

Applied online and then had a recruiter call to kick things off. They told me the salary range right away and it was fine for NYC. Pretty easy and smooth overall. Luckily, the tech interviews weren't weird. This company was high on my list of places I was really looking into. In the end, I took a different job that paid way more and offered better chances to grow my career there.

A recruiter reached out to me about the role. The whole process took about 2 weeks and consisted of 4 interviews with different team members. First, I spoke with the product manager about the role, team communication, the company, and how the Tool Belt team fits in. Then, I had a technical interview with my potential manager and another engineer. We talked about data modeling for the Tool Belt product, including some tricky parts and edge cases. After that, I interviewed with the Engineering Manager. This wasn't a strictly technical interview, but we did discuss data architecture and engineering concepts like batch vs. streaming, and I learned more about the role. Finally, I had a chat with someone from the People Team where we focused on culture, typical behavioral questions, the company's values, and I shared my past experiences. The recruiter kept in touch throughout. I felt they were pretty open about where I was in the process, sharing how the team felt after each stage and asking for my feedback, giving some specific feedback too. After the last interview, it took about 2 weeks to hear back. Turns out, they were shifting the role from Data Engineering to Data Architect. This wasn't a total shock since it would have been their first Data-X role, and they needed someone to really drive the data architecture for scaling their data pipeline, optimizing it, and adding architecture/tools for data-driven insights.

I went through a lengthy interview process for the Apprentice Grower role at Square Roots that spanned several months. Even though it's an entry-level job with a starting pay of $12/hr, there were five rounds: three video calls with different people and two in-person interviews at the site. The whole thing took ages, with weeks between each step. Everyone was super nice, but the slow hiring pace made me wonder about how organized they are. I got an offer somewhere else, and it's been almost three weeks since my last interview with Square Roots, even though they said I'd hear back early that week. I haven't heard anything back yet.

I had an initial phone call with HR, which was pretty straightforward. Then, I moved to the next round for a video call with the Head of People and a Finance/Business Operations person. It was all pretty much behavioral questions, nothing technical. After the interviews, I followed up with both. One responded and returned positive sentiments. Also, it was mentioned that we were early in the process and that HR would be in touch. That never happened. I hope this lack of follow-up/communication for candidates is not customary at this company. Not a good practice. Perhaps, I was just an unlucky fellow.