Had an initial screening call with the recruiter. They were friendly, and everything was explained clearly.

This was followed by a one-hour tech test, which has three stages. The aim here is completeness; I think they are looking to tick a box first and foremost.

The interviewer was pretty disinterested and didn’t really let me reach conclusions, stepping in too often to help and breaking my train of thought.

After this came five hours of a “virtual onsite.” As explained here and all around the web, you get a pretty lengthy document outlining the expectations, and honestly, it’s really well organized.

The virtual onsite is better suited to more experienced developers and pretty impossible to prepare for. Just be familiar with your professional day-to-day tooling.

I found that two out of five interviewers in these sessions were pretty disengaged and bored from the beginning. This had a huge impact on my chances, as it’s easier to connect with an easygoing person, and it definitely doesn’t reflect well on Stripe’s culture.

There doesn’t seem to be a weighting where one strong skillset can tip the scales of a weaker skillset.

There is definitely a certain hiring bar that needs to be met to get the offer. If you don’t reach certain stages in each session, you won’t get the offer. While I don’t agree with this approach because people have different strengths, I understand the need for consistency across the board to ensure fairness.

All in all, I would say Stripe’s process is probably one of the best I’ve seen: super efficient, no long delays in replying, and good communication throughout. Definitely apply.