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What Working at Stripe Has Been Like

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Re: What Working at Stripe Has Been Like

#121

Post by discordance »

alexcnwy wrote: post #112
xrd wrote: post #15

The most fascinating part of this article is the idea that Stripe is spending time thinking about unlocking potential in Internet businesses in Japan. A tough nut to crack. The revolution is happening in all these countries, but if Stripe can move the needle in Brazil and Japan and other places where entrepreneurship currently requires more grease/graft, that'll really be interesting.

I’m in Tokyo right now for work (my startup NumberBoost won an innovation competition with NTT Japan) and it’s so wild how simultaneously forward and backward things are here. On the one hand, there are so many things they do here that make me feel like they’re in the future. On the other hand, every fifth person has a flip phone, the WiFi sucks, you can’t buy a travel SIM card at the mall, and there are CD/DVD store…

Travel sim cards are available everywhere. Your local BIC, Yodabashi or electronics retailer sells them [1].

1: https://tokyocheapo.com/business/internet/prepaid-cheap-japa...

Re: What Working at Stripe Has Been Like

#122

Post by patio11 »

retromario wrote: post #97
patio11 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many (tens of percent of engineering, etc); we are taking steps to materially increase the number.

I checked out the list of remote engineering jobs after reading your (fascinating) article but unfortunately they all seem to be restricted to North America. Is this a time zone issue or a legal issue? Are there plans to expand remote jobs to other regions (like Europe)?

As time goes to infinity we plan on having Stripes building products very close to as many of our customers as possible, which is (much) more widely distributed than the status quo, which is (much) more widely distributed than open recs on any given Monday. There will be more on this subject coming later.

Re: What Working at Stripe Has Been Like

#123

Post by andrewingram »

cyberferret wrote: post #101
spudlyo wrote: post #32

I left Stripe a little over 6 months ago to join an exciting startup with a number of my friends. What I miss most about working there is the culture of shipping. There are a number of 'shipped' email lists at Stripe where people can tout their accomplishments large and small. These lists are widely read and commented on, and folks put in a fair amount of effort making their "shipped" emails informative and entertain…

If Stripe's HR department is reading this thread, I think they can pinpoint one crucial interview question that will determine culture fit in their organisation for future hiring - and that is "do you like talking about your accomplishments with the rest of your team?". Seems to be a very polarising thing to be asked to do, judging by the replies on this particular comment. EDIT: Curious about the downvotes? This is…

Possibly that such a recruitment filter would exclude a lot of people with depression or anxiety-related mental illness.

To clarify, I hate talking about my accomplishments, it makes me feel deeply anxious and uncomfortable, and will say as much if asked. But I’ll also do it if that’s what’s required of me.

Re: What Working at Stripe Has Been Like

#125

Post by jodrellblank »

andrewingram wrote: post #123
cyberferret wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Stripe's HR department is reading this thread, I think they can pinpoint one crucial interview question that will determine culture fit in their organisation for future hiring - and that is "do you like talking about your accomplishments with the rest of your team?". Seems to be a very polarising thing to be asked to do, judging by the replies on this particular comment. EDIT: Curious about the downvotes? This is…

Possibly that such a recruitment filter would exclude a lot of people with depression or anxiety-related mental illness. To clarify, I hate talking about my accomplishments, it makes me feel deeply anxious and uncomfortable, and will say as much if asked. But I’ll also do it if that’s what’s required of me.

.. so you're saying it would be an effective filter, for the suggested purpose?

Re: What Working at Stripe Has Been Like

#126

Post by jodrellblank »

thwarted wrote: post #120
foldr wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A manager a level above my manager would rub his hands together and say things like "really looking forward to reading that shipped email!" whenever I told him about what I was working on. That doesn't sound optional at all. From my point of view, making things fun isn't fun. Watching a comedy routine is fun. Writing one isn't.

This is so absolutist. You must have a boring life. Sometimes it's about making things fun, sometimes it's about making fun things, and sometimes it's about both. Driving a car is fun. Building a custom hotrod isn't. Going to the museum is fun. Learning to paint isn't. Playing a video game is fun. Writing a video game isn't. Going to a concert is fun. Playing a gig isn't. Eating is fun. Gardening isn't. Oh, wait, non…

Can you say it without the personal attack?

Re: What Working at Stripe Has Been Like

#127

Post by myhf »

jodrellblank wrote: post #125
andrewingram wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Possibly that such a recruitment filter would exclude a lot of people with depression or anxiety-related mental illness. To clarify, I hate talking about my accomplishments, it makes me feel deeply anxious and uncomfortable, and will say as much if asked. But I’ll also do it if that’s what’s required of me.

.. so you're saying it would be an effective filter, for the suggested purpose?

It would be an effective way to commit illegal discrimination.

Re: What Working at Stripe Has Been Like

#128

Post by jodrellblank »

jklinger410 wrote: post #70
rarecoil wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's the point of the statement. Facebook culture makes a similar statement: "Nothing at Facebook is someone else's problem." I don't take it to mean that you are supposed to be the Atlas of the organization, but rather that when you see problems and issues that might arise, you don't ignore them because it's "not my job" or "not my problem" - you embrace it, escalate or forward it to the correct peop…

>I don't take it to mean that you are supposed to be the Atlas of the organization, but rather that when you see problems and issues that might arise, you don't ignore them because it's "not my job" or "not my problem" - you embrace it, escalate or forward it to the correct people, and then go back to what else you have to do. Trying to really educate around this at my workplace. I call it "throwing your hands up." I…

I call it "throwing your hands up." If you run into a problem, or notice that something isn't working, what-have-you, if you throw your hands up instead of working to fix it, or find the person who should fix it, you are on my shit list.

My problem with this is that everything is always not working, or barely working, and nobody wants to hear about it. You're going to say "of course I mean important things", but wherever you look, if you look for problems, you see problems, there aren't a few things which are problems, there are oceans and oceans of problems and potential problems.

The only coherent response to this is blinders - do what everyone else does, and pretend everything is fine - until an incident forces people to face it. Then face the smallest possible case of it, and reassure each other it's fine now. I think you really mean "intuit the same judgement of importance that I have", but either you're so used to not-seeing-problems that you don't see how many there are, or you aren't willing to say that outright because it leaves the person with an escape from you putting the blame on them, and you don't want them to have an escape and you need someone to shitlist for .. I dunno what reasons. Why /do/ you have a shitlist instead of a "training" list?

"Everything broken, or barely patched together" is the norm.

Cynical people reading this, give a couple of minutes thought how many things you've experienced just today, which aren't right or could be a problem. I bet you'll pass a dozen in that time, right?

Re: What Working at Stripe Has Been Like

#129

Post by jodrellblank »

kevan wrote: post #105
rarecoil wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's the point of the statement. Facebook culture makes a similar statement: "Nothing at Facebook is someone else's problem." I don't take it to mean that you are supposed to be the Atlas of the organization, but rather that when you see problems and issues that might arise, you don't ignore them because it's "not my job" or "not my problem" - you embrace it, escalate or forward it to the correct peop…

Very similar sentiment at Amazon. >Leaders are owners...They never say “that’s not my job". You own your entire problem space, not just your solution. If something unexpected comes up, you're still ultimately responsible for dealing with it with the goal of solving your actual problem In a large company it's tempting for people or teams to put up walls around what they think their job description should be. Invariabl…

It's still surprisingly common for comments from ex-Amazon people to say how shoddy their infrastructure is, and for real-world outages to happen. From the outside, that doesn't seem like the result of an environment "everyone takes responsibility, and fixes the root cause of every problem" working well, does it?

Re: What Working at Stripe Has Been Like

#130

Post by mistrial9 »

alexcnwy wrote: post #113
alexcnwy wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m in Tokyo right now for work (my startup NumberBoost won an innovation competition with NTT Japan) and it’s so wild how simultaneously forward and backward things are here. On the one hand, there are so many things they do here that make me feel like they’re in the future. On the other hand, every fifth person has a flip phone, the WiFi sucks, you can’t buy a travel SIM card at the mall, and there are CD/DVD store…

For example good luck getting mayonnaise with your fries at any of the fast food chains here. They have mayonnaise and they put it on burgers but they “CANNOT” give (or sell) it to you in a separate container for your fries.

mayonnaise has special properties regarding food spoilage, it can be legitimately poisonous when it turns bad.. which in food services, is a constant.
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