This was a very disappointing interview process. I had read a lot about how Stripe's interview process was "different" and not like your typical interview process. While this is true, I feel they have not improved on the traditional interview process and have ultimately made it worse. I also felt Stripe had no appreciation for my time as an interviewee and was quite happy to continually waste my time.

The interview process consisted of:

• A recruiter interview;
  • The recruiter reached out to me; Stripe had been aggressive about contacting me via LinkedIn. By the time I went through this interview loop, I had been contacted five separate times by different people at Stripe.
• A design 1 interview;
• A hiring manager interview;
• A take-home 1000-word essay.

This was then followed by the main interview loop:

• A programming interview;
• A second design interview;
• A project management interview, discussing the 1000-word essay;
• An adaptability interview.

In my case, the final interview of my day was canceled as the interviewer was not available. The interview was rescheduled for a week later. After the rescheduled interview, I waited for six business days (eight days total) and heard no reply. I then reached out to my recruiter, who then scheduled another Zoom meeting to discuss the interview process. The recruiter let me know that my second-to-last interview performance was not good enough to proceed to the offer stage. Stripe had no intention of making me an offer but still thought it was acceptable to schedule the final interview and then not provide any feedback until I reached out after a week of no contact. I firmly believe that if I had not reached out, Stripe would not have sent me any feedback or any information on their final decision.

I was extremely disappointed by Stripe's interview process; they seem to have absolutely no regard for their candidates' personal time.

The interviewers themselves were friendly and professional, but very few had anything good to say about Stripe. A number of the interviewers responded to my questions about the company by criticizing the company and the management structure. No one had a good overview of the company culture, and I was met with the "I'm the wrong person to ask about culture" response. I was unable to get a convincing answer about what the engineering culture at Stripe is actually like.

I would not suggest anyone interview with Stripe, as they are quite happy to waste your time. Disappointing experience.

Interview questions covered by NDA.