Hardware at Square

Written by Lindsay Wiese.

At Square, we are developing hardware in an industry that has seen very little innovation in more than 50 years.

Our first Square Reader was soldered together in our original office, Jack Dorsey’s apartment. Five years and three major iterations of Square Reader later, we continue to lead all electrical, mechanical, and firmware design and engineering in-house, under one roof. (We even have a dedicated hardware lab in our new headquarters.) For each new version of Square Reader, we focus on creating a beautifully designed product with better swipe accuracy, while keeping costs low, and the reader small and power efficient.

While our design philosophy has stayed constant, the growth of our company has presented new opportunities and technical challenges for our hardware team. This past July we launched Square Stand, a beautiful piece of hardware for brick and mortar businesses that turns an iPad into a complete point of sale. Building Square Stand required close collaboration between teams to integrate Square Register software and Square Stand firmware. For months before launch, software and hardware engineers sat side-by-side refining and testing daily. Like Square Reader, Square Stand is modern and minimal. Nothing is there that doesn’t have to be there.

You can learn more about our hardware team — from our vision, to design and engineering challenges — in the video below:

For more information about hardware careers at Square, check out squareup.com/careers/engineering. Lindsay Wiese - Profile *Comms @Square. I like running, triathlons, hiking, and traveling.*medium.com