In addition to being one of the fastest-growing financial startups in the world, Stripe is also known for its great work culture. If you are a software engineer looking to crack the Stripe software engineer interview,it is extremely important that you are well-versed with the Stripe interview process. And that’s what we’ll do in this piece - we’ll help you understand the type of stripe interview questions to expect, and how to navigate the various rounds of the interview.
The Stripe interview process for software engineers fundamentally tests one’s coding and systems design skills. Stripe interview questions asked at various rounds of the interview aim to evaluate one’s problem solving and analytical abilities, and one’s understanding of how scalable and distributed systems work.
As such, the Stripe interview process is more practical than technical as compared to the other tech companies. The main aim of the Stripe interview process is to select candidates who can smoothly run the company’s financial software at scale.
If you’re a software engineer, coding engineer, software developer, engineering manager, or tech lead preparing for tech interviews, check out our technical interview checklist, interview questions page, and salary negotiation e-book to get interview-ready!
Having trained over 13,500 software engineers, we know what it takes to crack the toughest tech interviews. Our alums consistently land offers from FAANG+ companies. The highest ever offer received by an IK alum is a whopping $1.267 Million!
At IK, you get the unique opportunity to learn from expert instructors who are hiring managers and tech leads at Google, Facebook, Apple, and other top Silicon Valley tech companies.
Want to nail your next tech interview? Sign up for our FREE Webinar.
As you gear up to prepare for the Stripe interview process, remember to be thorough and practice as many Stripe interview questions as you can. Remember, the Stripe software engineer interview is designed to filter-in the best of engineers, so your prep has to be foolproof and thorough if you wish to crack the Stripe software engineer interview. Here’s what we’ll cover in this article:
- About Stripe
- Eligibility Criteria for Stripe Interview Process
- Stripe Interview Process along with Popular Stripe Interview Questions
- Tips to Ace the Stripe Interview Process
- FAQs on Stripe Software Engineer Interview Process
About Stripe
Irish-American financial services and software as a service (SaaS) company, Stripe is dually headquartered in San Francisco, United States and Dublin, Ireland. Primarily, the company provides online payment processing and cred card processing software to its clients.
Whenever a customer purchases something online, Stripe helps in facilitating the transaction between the buyer and the seller. It provides a safe and efficient payment processing platform for the processing of funds via credit card or bank so that online payment can be done in a secure manner.
Eligibility Criteria for Stripe Interview Process
When you are preparing for the Stripe software engineer interview process, ensure that you meet the following eligibility criteria before you apply:
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, or equivalent technical experience
- Familiarity with the Stripe API
- Knowledge of at least one programming Strip supports (PHP, Java, Go, Node.js, Python, Ruby, and .NET)
- Knowledge of the best practices catering to the handling of financial information and processing transactions
- Understand the required data protection and security measures needed to handle private financial data
Stripe Interview Process
The interview process at Stripe consists of three rounds — Recruiter Phone Screen, Technical Phone Screen, and On-site Interview.
Recruiter Phone Screen
Typically, in this round, you’ll be engaging in an informal chat with the recruiter. The recruiter will ask you about your experiences, educational qualifications, and so on. Recruiters encourage any to ask any questions that you might have, such as what the role entails, what is expected of you.
The Recruiter Phone Screen round in the Stripe interview process is mainly aimed at determining whether you’ll be the right fit for the role given your experience and skills. Toward the end of the initial screening call, the recruiter will schedule the next round.
The following are some Stripe Interview questions that you can expect in this round of Stripe’s software engineer interview:
- Why Stripe?
- How did you hear about Stripe?
- What is your understanding of Stripe?
- Tell me about your career aspirations.
- Talk about a project you’ve worked on in the past that you’re really proud of.
Technical Phone Screen
The Technical Phone Screen essentially tests one’s coding and programming skills. It typically lasts for about an hour and takes place remotely. You will be asked to code in your preferred programming language via a shared document or a remote interviewing tool.
Usually, the interviewer will be a senior engineer or a hiring manager. He/she will ask you to solve one or two problems on core data structures and algorithms within the stipulated time. There will be a lot of follow-up questions, the purpose being to understand how you approach problem solving and account for Big-O complexities, test cases, and edge cases. To solve Stripe interview questions in this round of the Stripe interview process, focus on the following topics:
- Databases
- Hash Tables
- Core Data Structures
- Graph and Sorting Algorithms
- Recursion and Dynamic programming
In some cases, you might even have two technical interview rounds instead one. This mostly depends on the seniority of the position you’re applying to. The format is the same as it is for the first tech round.
Stripe Interview Questions to expect in this round of Stripe’s software engineer interview:
- Create a database class for a given problem.
- Given a min-heap, print all nodes less than a given value x.
- Within the sample database, write the unit tests to cover all cases.
- Given a database, design a method to find the minimum value in a specific column.
Onsite Interview
This round generally consists of 4-5 interviews that take place over a period of 1-2 days. Before you appear for this round, you’ll get a preparation guide to know what to expect and what type of Stripe interview questions to practice.
The On-site interview typically includes the following rounds -
1. Coding Interview
This part of the final round will help the interviewers gauge your coding skills and proficiency in data structures.
Some sample Stripe interview questions on coding:
- Given: Some values. Task: Write the sets of values whose sum is X.
- Given: A list of maps and keys. Task: Return the lowest corresponding value among the maps.
2. Behavioral Interview
An interview panel consisting of a hiring manager, HR rep and senior engineer will usually conduct the behavioral interview to assess attributes of your personality and attitude. They’ll also gauge whether you’re a cultural fit for the company or not.
Some sample Stripe behavioral interview questions that appear in the Stripe software engineer interview:
- Tell us about a time when you had to resolve a difficult situation within the team.
- Tell us about a time you had a difference of opinion with a team member. How did you resolve it?
- How do you handle negative feedback?
3. Bug Hunt
A codebase will be provided to you and you’ll have to run different tests to see where the bug(s) in the program are. Further, you’ll have to come up with ways to resolve those bugs. There’ll be a time frame within which you’ll have to complete the task.
4. System Design
The Stripe interview process includes one or two systems design rounds that aim to evaluate your understanding of distributed and scalable systems. In this part of the interview, your ability to build a large-scale system, your thought process, and what factors you’ll consider when designing it will be assessed.
Below are some Stripe interview questions for this round of Stripe’s interview process:
- Design the frontend and backend for a logging system.
- Sketch out a database for a product such as a toy.
- Design an architecture for delivering webhooks to customers.
5. Integration Task
You’ll have to integrate new code into an already existing codebase in this round. You need to have good knowledge of HTTP Rest calls, parsing JSON, knowledge of software tools, and sending requests to APIs.
Tips to Ace the Stripe Interview Process
Some tips to keep in mind when preparing for the Stripe interview process are:
- Begin your prep early, at least 8-10 weeks before your interview. This will give you sufficient time to cover all the important concepts from an interview perspective.
- Don’t get too hassled if a question appears too complex. Questions that seem complex can be easy if read and understood correctly. So just re-read the question calmly and don’t forget to ask questions if you’re in doubt.
- Throughout the Stripe interview process, the interviewers are trying to understand your thought process. You can make it a lot easier for them by keeping your answers as clear and simple as possible.
- Think out loud while solving coding and design problems. This will give recruiters a window into your thoughts. Remember, the approach you take and how you articulate are key areas that will set you apart from the competition.
- When practicing for the interview, ensure that you also practice in pair programming format as in the technical screen sometimes, your interviewer will act as your pair.
- Follow the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, and Result) when answering Stripe Behavioral interview questions. This will give recruiters adequate understanding of what you wish to express.
- If you have a problem understanding a question, clear any doubts that you might have beforehand. This is much better than making a mistake over a confusion later on.
The Stripe interview process can get quite intense and complex. But this doesn’t mean it isn’t crackable. You’ll need to keep at it and practice as many . One pro tip is to research the company thoroughly and dig up the questions they are most likely to ask you.
FAQs on Stripe Interview Process
Some commonly asked questions about the Stripe interview process:
Q1. How many rounds are there in the Stripe interview process?
The entire process is divided into three parts — Phone Screen Round, Technical Phone Round, and On-site Interview. The on-site interview consists of 5 rounds (coding interview, behavioral interview, bug hunt, system design, and integration task).
Q2. How long does the Stripe interview process take?
Overall, from the first phone screen round to the on-site interview, the entire Stripe interview process can take anywhere between 2-4 weeks.
Q3. Is Stripe a good company to work at?
Stripe has an overall rating of 4.1 out of 5 according to the 287 reviews left by anonymous employees. Out of these, 77% would recommend the company to a friend and 88% have a positive outlook for the business. (Glassdoor)
Q4. Is the Stripe interview process hard?
Popular for its developer-first approach to building products, the company has a great engineering culture and hiring bar. The Stripe interview process is known for being quite complex and focusing more on practical knowledge than theoretical.
Q5. How long does it take to hear back from Stripe?
After the on-site interview, you can expect to hear from the company in a few days. Send a follow-up email if you don’t hear from the recruitment team within a week.
Ready to Crack Your Next Tech Interview at Stripe?
If you’re looking for guidance on how to master the Stripe Interview Process, then sign up for our free webinar.
As pioneers in the field of technical interview prep, we have trained thousands of software engineers to crack the most challenging tech interviews and land jobs at their dream companies, such as Google, Facebook, Apple, Netflix, Amazon, and more!
.png)
.svg){kind=icon}
