I've read a lot about how Stripe's process was "different" – but even the limited amount I've experienced is honestly just worse than most others I've gone through.

Starting with an initial HR screen, the recruiter was very nice and helpful.

The next part was a live coding round.

People keep saying it's "not LeetCode style," but that's just not true. Just because the interviewer asks you to focus on solving it quickly and not care about efficiency doesn't make it not LeetCode style. This also hamstrings you if you want to think out loud and explain your train of thought, since when you actually think about the problem, you don't just want to "get it done" – you want to do it right.

This part was very frustrating, since I had an interviewer who also kept interjecting and actually focusing on efficiency (for example, asking why I initialized a variable where I did or why I was considering implementing a certain approach instead of another), even though he asked me to disregard it.

At the end of the day, this part is basically a speed coding interview, and in order to complete it, you need to stop being an engineer and just write the fastest, and probably worst, code you can. This could be a much better experience if it were just given to the candidate without such a rigid time limit, or if it were a more digestible problem-solving exercise where you can actually show your skills as an engineer and not just as someone who can write code.

This is honestly a red flag, since as an engineer, I never consider just finishing something as quickly as possible a positive approach. You're at a disadvantage if you're a seasoned developer and fresh off learning how to code.

Leetcode-style question without caring about efficiency.