Stripe

I applied for the Stripe SDE Intern role through the company's careers portal. After my resume was shortlisted, I received an online assessment as the first stage of the process. Online Assessment The OA was conducted on HackerRank and focused on string and data manipulation rather than a standard collection of LeetCode problems. The problem was divided into multiple subtasks, where the requirements were gradually introduced. I had to parse the given information, transform it into the required format and handle different edge cases. The interesting part was that the later requirements depended on the code written for the earlier parts, so I had to keep the implementation modular enough to accommodate additional functionality. I was able to complete most of the assessment and received an interview invitation. Pair Programming Round The next round was a live pair-programming interview. Instead of simply receiving a question and silently writing code, I had to work through the problem while discussing my thought process with the interviewer. The problem involved manipulating structured data and extracting information from strings. The interviewer gradually revealed additional requirements, so the initial solution had to be modified as the problem became more complex. The interviewer paid attention to how I structured the code and how I responded when a new requirement was introduced. I was able to implement the main functionality, but some of the later requirements took longer than expected. Final Technical Round The final stage consisted of two back-to-back technical sessions, each around an hour. The first session was another pair-programming problem. It again focused more on practical implementation and data manipulation than traditional algorithmic puzzles. The second session was an integration challenge involving an existing codebase. I was given an unfamiliar project and had to understand the existing structure before making changes. The interviewer expected me to inspect the code, understand how the components interacted and then implement the required functionality. This was probably the most challenging part of the process because there wasn't a single obvious algorithm to apply. Understanding someone else's code and making changes without breaking the existing behavior required much more attention than a normal DSA problem. I was able to make progress and implement a substantial portion of the required functionality, but I couldn't complete every part within the allotted time. After completing the final technical round, I received an update that I was not selected for the internship. The complete process was: OA → Pair Programming → Pair Programming + Integration Round → Not Selected What stood out to me about Stripe was how little the process resembled a traditional DSA interview. The questions were much more focused on writing maintainable code, adapting to changing requirements and working with existing codebases. My biggest takeaway was that interview preparation for companies like Stripe shouldn't be limited to solving LeetCode problems. Being comfortable reading unfamiliar code, breaking down requirements and modifying an existing implementation is equally important.