Career Advice About Stripe

I just got an interview for a backend role with Big Tech. I'm pretty excited. They informed me that the interview will not be a standard Leetcode DSA Interview. Here is what they said:

We’re excited you’ll be interviewing at Stripe! This interview will evaluate your ability to solve a programming exercise in a readable way, as well as your knowledge in automated testing. We don’t use Leetcode or trivia, or ask trick questions. This exercise is an example of the kind of coding we do regularly in our daily life at Stripe. In fact, every part of our interview process is designed to give you streamlined examples of the kinds of real-world problems we solve day-to-day.

• We recommend practicing timed coding problems. Focus on writing code quickly, ensuring correctness, and explaining your thought process out loud as you work.

• While our interview problems are different from exercises on , , and , some Stripes have found these sites helpful for practicing timed coding challenges.

My question is, other than Leetcode, is there any way I can prep for this? I'm looking for a better way than Leetcode since I won't be asked a Leetcode question.

Thanks!

I’m a Data Engineer at a slow-moving finance company who’s looking for my next job in Big Tech. I just had a recruiter from Stripe reach out about scheduling an interview, which happened because I had a buddy who works at stripe refer me to the role. The position is for backend engineer.

The recruiter says the call will be 20 minutes and I should come prepared with “the most technically complex project” I’ve worked on, and talk about my role, duration, number of engineers, and stakeholders.

I’m nervous about this because my current role is something of a hybrid between data engineer and data analyst and I do a fair bit of data-analyst type work. It’s not that I don’t have projects I can talk about, it’s just that I’m insecure about them and I feel like they are unimpressive to a ‘real’ software engineer and this becomes apparent under sustained scrutiny. So maybe I can get by the 20 minute intro call, but there will surely be an hour-long session later where they want to go into excruciating detail. I do have some experience with backend as well, but it’s already almost 3 years ago now.

My question is this: how can I go about improving my situation? I’m applying for entry-level roles (IC1) and was under the naïve assumption that I just had to get very good at DSA/Leetcode. Obviously, this is not the case.

In order to better handle these project walkthroughs going forward, I see a number of potential approaches, which are not necessarily mutually exclusive:

1. Get better at discussing projects in my current toolkit. Ditch the imposter syndrome and spend more time thinking about what I already have.
2. Invest more in my current job to create better projects with ‘scope’ that are more impressive in interview rounds. Right now, I’m not very committed to my work and coast, doing whatever is assigned to me but in a minimalist way. My current manager has told me how he wants me to be more active in getting things done and taking on a larger role, but as a Tier-3 company, there is no expectation or requirement for me to do so (i.e. very low chance of me being let go), and furthermore, I tell myself I will be leaving soon, so why take on more responsibility? This might ironically contribute to it being harder for me to move since I don’t do the kinds of things that make it easier to interview.
3. Do side-projects outside of work that I can discuss. But here I run into the issue that I’m not working with anyone (unless it’s open source) and this is probably not the best approach unless my side-project is really good with users. I’ve heard Alex and Rahul say this a number of times.

Happy to hear anyone’s thoughts about how I can improve my situation. I probably have the wrong attitude towards my current role, as I’ve been wanting to leave it for over a year. I’ve thought about quitting a lot so I can have more time for interviewing, side-projects, networking, learning, and prep, but everyone says that’s a bad idea (especially in the current climate), so it’s easier to just muddle on in my current role.

Thoughts are welcome!

Thinking about switching my career to Solutions Architect as I'm interested in talking with users.

Although, I'm still relatively new in my career (~2 YOE) and worried whether it's too early to make a move.

Any tips/thoughts on switching careers from SWE to Technical Solutions? Will it be harder to switch back to SWE in the future?

I am considering a role at Stripe. The stock offer looks great, but I'm worried that they might IPO and the stock might drop rapidly.

Is the main solution just to quit immediately after IPO time? Is there something better I could do to de-risk myself financially?

Hey everyone, I’m right now exploring breaking into Big Tech and want to determine if is for me :).

Background:

• BS in CS (2022), 1.5yr SWE at Series B YC startup ($150M)

• Left Jan 2024 for break, explored GovTech/startup ideas

• Pivoted to Big Tech goal (Nov 2024)

• Completed 150+ Leetcode, 26 mock interviews on TryExponent

• Did 5 startup interviews Jan 2025 (rejected) - realized startups need different prep & chose Big Tech.

Along the way, I’ve tried creating interview prep groups but that failed.

Current state:

• Formation TIRA score: 525/1000 (could pass easiest tech interviews at JP Morgan Chase)

• Have referrals at Meta/Stripe/Google/Microsoft

• Got and failed Uber L4 first recruiter screen (7/18/24)

• Solo prep isn't working well& I’m clearly not at a level to pass any Big Tech interview.

My main priorities rn:

• Find a community. Interview prep alone is tough & feels inefficient.

• Have accountability to level up.

• Have real-world challenges (such as mocks interviews with real Big Tech engs)

• Know what to work on.

Spoke with recruiter and offers:

• AI-generated DSA exercises

• Weekly small group interviews (5 people) with industry eng

• Weekly 1:1 mocks with staff eng

• Job recommendations

• Daily manager check-ins

Cost: $5k upfront + up to $15k ISA

Worth it or not:

• Alex said: “So is one of the better interview bootcamps out there. They have results, and the founders are legit. However, their results have definitely dwindled in this market, especially among junior engineers.”
• My current thinking is to do the 7 day free trial and just see how it goes.

Questions:

1. Given the 2025 market, is generally worth it? How about given my situation?
2. Is the cost ($20k total possible) concerning?
3. What Big Tech level should I target? I received a L4 recruiter interview at Uber (7/18/24) and failed the recruiter call so that makes me a bit confused.