Square Reviews

Pros

Great brand equity in tech and also financial services. Some really nice people but nobody stays long. Very high quality work is produced by this company. Design is always paramount and on point. Awesome coffee.

Cons

Business practices: Square leverages its name to their advantage and to the disadvantage of everyone else. This is manifested in poor compensation for all people outside of engineering and getting out of paying for recruiting and / or sponsorship privileges for their brand. Contractors are treated as second class citizens and must be willing to work for very little pay. Full time roles are advertised as available but I know for a fact there was never headcount to begin with. All this makes the company seem disingenuous as they are constantly trying to convince people that they're the "good guys" in merchant services. Business health: Cost cutting is apparent throughout the organization (not that this is a bad management style, but it seems to be a signal something more). Sometimes it feels like some people are shoving the proverbial company "kool-aid" down people's throats; I think anyone with a discerning eye knows what's going on. Working environment: The company is large now so there is a lot of red tape and channel conflict. Be prepared to manoeuvre a highly political environment. Your experience largely depends on your team and manager (like every other corporate) and culture is obviously much less cohesive than at smaller companies. Tricky thing is even if you get onto a great team, I guarantee that team will not stay that way long. Churn is very high at this company (for many reasons) so don't count on anyone sticking around for very long. 4 months in and you're considered a veteran! Most people come in and realize it's only a stepping stone. There are lots of intelligent people here; most are not humble. There are also lots of ambitious people here but they're more likely to push you down than help you up. Expect to work long and hard hours. Don't expect to make friends.

Pros

It's great getting to work with a very talented team. I love learning something new and getting challenged each and every day. The company is incredibly transparent internally, which is really refreshing. I love building products that empower local merchants. Compared to big tech companies that I've worked at, I feel like Square is a great place where we can win as a team.

Cons

Growing fast and having many offices around the world have come with challenges. The amount of internal communication can be mind boggling if you don't quickly figure out a system for managing it. If you are the kind of person that needs to know exactly what you'll be working on in two month then Square isn't for you.