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What Working At Stripe Has Been Like

kalzumeus.com

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Re: What Working At Stripe Has Been Like

#131

Post by holoduke »

room500 wrote: post #105
ping_pong wrote: post #87

One of my friends worked at Stripe but left because she said that management is made up of young OGs that don't know how to manage but they've been at Stripe for so long they are rich and think they know what they're doing. It's hard to get real work done because of this from what I've heard.

To be fair, this can apply to a lot of young companies. Fundamentally, the job to work in a startup is different from the job to work at a large company. The people that grew a company when it was small might not be the best people to grow a company when it becomes bigger. I saw this at a previous company where the OGs were convinced they were untouchable because they created the entire technical solution with a hand…

Although sometimes they are right as well. It's often layers of people with many different lines between them slowing down the overal pace of development. I don't buy the argument that ensuring scalability equals long processes. But I do believe that when the product grows in terms features, components etc, the pace also decreases. Even in the perfect multilithic software solution.

Re: What Working At Stripe Has Been Like

#132

Post by singhrac »

mchusma wrote: post #122

I mean this in the most constructive way possible. As a stripe customer for 6 years, I effectively only care about reducing transaction costs. Period. Stripe's core business is being a part of a "credit card sales tax" that is substantial. Much of this is the fault of Visa/Mastercard/Amex, but that is the problem-space they exist in. Payments are transferring bits, and should be effectively free. If they want to "mak…

This is another phrasing of what jackdeansmith says, but this is not right:

> Payments are transferring bits, and should be effectively free.

Payments is taking on a short term risk that the (slow) transaction between a customer's bank and a vendor's bank will not settle, because of (a) fraud, (b) chargeback-like issues, (c) insolvency. This isn't exactly right, but overally its not quite 0 risk without crypto, which people don't trust (from a UX perspective).

And all kinds of risk-taking charges for it: loans, mortgages, etc. If you want to shoulder the risk yourself and save the fees, pay with a debit card.

Re: What Working At Stripe Has Been Like

#133

Post by holoduke »

ffggvv wrote: post #25

why would you work at a company that may never go public and even if it does, already has such an oversized valuation you’ll likely not make much from it? it seems predatory and abusive to employees to stay private this long

What you mean it's all about the money? Come on there is more than that. Everyone started at stripe should have known the implications of their options.

Re: What Working At Stripe Has Been Like

#134

Post by arrel »

mchusma wrote: post #122

I mean this in the most constructive way possible. As a stripe customer for 6 years, I effectively only care about reducing transaction costs. Period. Stripe's core business is being a part of a "credit card sales tax" that is substantial. Much of this is the fault of Visa/Mastercard/Amex, but that is the problem-space they exist in. Payments are transferring bits, and should be effectively free. If they want to "mak…

It seems like a lot of people are defending credit card pricing, but the idea that they’ve been charging the same % since before the internet and are still absorbing the same “cost” of fraud protection is absurd.

I would love Stripe to start advocating for lowering credit card fees, either through regulation or providing more avenues for competition.

Re: What Working At Stripe Has Been Like

#135

Post by o_class_star »

novok wrote: post #53
iooi wrote: post #16

This is one of the few blogs where I'll always read the entire article, consistently great writing and thought-provoking ideas. I agree with the other commenter regarding the Stripe application process. I've applied 2-3 times starting in 2015 and as recently as early 2020 and have never heard back, it's been the only company that never gets back to me! Everything worked out, since I've landed some great positions at…

It's such a basic thing too for a recruiting process. As soon as you get a no, send an automated email at least!

The theory is that it's better not to respond at that point, because if they change their mind in 3 months, they'd rather not have rejected you so they can say "sorry we were slow".

Re: What Working At Stripe Has Been Like

#136

Post by lumost »

arrel wrote: post #134
mchusma wrote: post #122

I mean this in the most constructive way possible. As a stripe customer for 6 years, I effectively only care about reducing transaction costs. Period. Stripe's core business is being a part of a "credit card sales tax" that is substantial. Much of this is the fault of Visa/Mastercard/Amex, but that is the problem-space they exist in. Payments are transferring bits, and should be effectively free. If they want to "mak…

It seems like a lot of people are defending credit card pricing, but the idea that they’ve been charging the same % since before the internet and are still absorbing the same “cost” of fraud protection is absurd. I would love Stripe to start advocating for lowering credit card fees, either through regulation or providing more avenues for competition.

There are many costs that remain stubbornly fixed as a portion of GDP (Ads has been 2% of GDP for > 100 years). Fraud as an industry, and corresponding fraud protection services likely fall under this umbrella barring substantial technological innovation.

Re: What Working At Stripe Has Been Like

#137

Post by cyral »

OliverGilan wrote: post #31
_corym wrote: post #12

Kind of crazy how all these articles come out about what it's like working at Stripe and how to apply. Everyone I've talked to who has applied has not received a response from their application. Even in my most recent experience I wrote a cover letter, reached out to multiple Stripe recruiters. Most of them either ignored me, or said that they were not working on that role and said my status is still "pending". I ima…

I applied for a new grad position two months ago, did the coding challenge and passed all test cases with clean code and time to spare and haven't heard a peep from them since. It's a shame considering how I only hear good things about the company and the recruiting process but almost all the big companies I've applied to have at least had the decency to let me know they aren't moving forward

I applied for the new grad position too a couple months back, having a previous FAANG internship and starting (and selling) my own startup during college. Never heard back or even got the coding challenge. I’ve used Stripe in my own projects a few times and have also heard good things so I’m bummed too.

Re: What Working At Stripe Has Been Like

#138

Post by zuhayeer »

biztos wrote: post #119
zuhayeer wrote: post #2

"You minimize (and regret) nuisances like incorporation, setting up payroll, and the gigantic productivity tarpit that is fundraising" Basically the exact work of Stripe Atlas

I find Atlas really interesting and may yet use it, but how does it reduce the need for fundraising?

Mainly the former things, but also from the article:

"Sometimes this involves scalable writing such as the Stripe Atlas guides. Sometimes I work with a single founder to get their B round accomplished."

Re: What Working At Stripe Has Been Like

#139

Post by zJayv »

debunn wrote: post #125
ihnorton wrote: post #99

I've heard several times about the Stripe "Library" and "written culture", both in previous patio11 posts [1] and elsewhere. I understand part of that comes from the top and screening for writers. But I'm also curious about the basic mechanics of the library; wordpress? big ol' mediawiki? git repo of markdown docs? custom software? How has the library process (if any) itself changed over time? I've worked at non-star…

I may be mistaken here, but I think Patrick may be referring to the library of Stripe Press published books, which are available internally (and externally, if purchased)? https://press.stripe.com/

Believe they're referring to:

"Stripe is a celebration of the written word which happens to be incorporated in the state of Delaware. We produce prodigious amounts of it internally, most of it widely visible within the company." - https://www.kalzumeus.com/2019/3/18/two-years-at-stripe/

Re: What Working At Stripe Has Been Like

#140

Post by cyral »

biztos wrote: post #117
ping_pong wrote: post #87

One of my friends worked at Stripe but left because she said that management is made up of young OGs that don't know how to manage but they've been at Stripe for so long they are rich and think they know what they're doing. It's hard to get real work done because of this from what I've heard.

I'm sorry, but isn't "young OG" a contradiction? How can someone be "OG" (Original Gangster, i.e. really old school) in a very well-funded company founded ten years ago? Am I misunderstanding something?

OG in terms a group of people means the group that initially started it (the originals). In this case a bunch of young engineers.
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