Applied for L4, getting an L3 offer. They are saying my interviews were great but experience not good enough (not enough big scope project under my belt it seems), Few questions that could help me decide if I should accept (i am asking this question to HM also)- 1. How are L3 and L4 treated differently in Stripe? Roles and responsibilities. 2. What's the usual promotion timeline from L3 to L4 (assume I am offered a mid-higher band of L3). 3. What are the best teams to join for a backend engineer (business impact) 4. Any teams I should avoid? 5. Best time to join Stripe? When is the review cycle and how long before one needs to be in the company to be considered for performance reviews? YOE: 11 years #stripe
Yoe? Tc? What scope of projects have you previously worked on?
11 years. Do you work at stripe? Happy to answer more if this going somewhere
Are you aware of the new Stripe RSU policy? It’s designed to screw up new hires, you would feel second class citizen compared to anyone joined before 10/2020.
yes, i am aware, it sucks but feel it still has a long way to go (upside), so overall TC could still be worth it compared to other publicly traded companies. But I do agree, it sucks and definitely a de-motivator
Second class citizen at stripe > first class citizen at Microsoft
Tc and new tc?
Does recruiter provide a list of teams for you to join? Or choose the team after joining it? TC?
naah, their process has been team specific and i am negotiating to talk to other teams also. not successful yet.
L3 is the career level, which is equivalent to E5 at Google or Facebook. There is no promotion timeline, and you have to prove it that you are a L4 (staff) first by executing a huge project (6-12+ months) first. Card is probably the most important team but unfortunately it has worst WLB and leadership also.
thanks. as an outsider it's been hard to identify what is an important team. HM will obviously sell their team as the most important. Connect, Cards, Monetization, Money Movement, GPTN etc. -- all sounds important but only insiders will know which one is not :)
How about infra foundation teams? Hard for promotion?
I have been through the process and said no. 1) L4, based on my understanding, huge impact and a lot of responsibility, I think it is easy to get in as L3. 2) although the recent comp change, they are very aggressive in term of top performer with 1-3 multipler for your base stock options. So, don’t expect you will be underpay. 3) team wise, make sure to pick one that is business critical and bring this up with hiring manager and understand team growth. 4) if you are in the right team, I am sure that you can grow quickly, I see a lot of ppl with a few years experience are at a senior levels.
thanks. "1-3 multipler for your base stock options" -- you mean stopck options to be 3x the base salary? hiring manager is of a specific team, and they are being very adamant that the interview/opening was for their team only. i have not found their process to be like facebook/google, where you can decide the team later. this probably feels like a red flag that they are not willing to engage me with the manager of other teams.
My understanding from the recruiter is that: 50% of employees won’t get a refresher besides the basic rsu, which is guaranteed. Then if you meet or exceed, you can have a big multipler on rsu. Whether it is pay out over 4 years or right away, it was tbd. You should confirm with your recruiter. For me, pick a team before interview is fine. Because I can research the interesting questions and have a solid discussion. As a senior role, you should do whatever the business need rather than pick a project or a team you like(that is more for junior engineer). And lead the team towards your direction
I had a similar experience, although there have been some changes to the interview process to separate L4+ candidates. I have >15 YOE and ended up at L3 because most of my career had been spent in smaller orgs. Part of L4+ is being able to run projects with large impact or lots of cross-team coordination. Since joining at L3, I’ve run a few projects of that shape and am targeting an up-level to L4 in Q2. (You are expected to perform at L+1 for ~6 months before you are promoted.) At L3 you are pretty autonomous, but still mostly operate at the “team” level rather than the “division” level. Stripe is big on autonomy at all levels but from what I’ve seen it’s especially true at L3. You definitely won’t be a cog in the wheel. Find high-leverage work that other people don’t want and you’ll do well.
thanks for sharing the details. really helps.
When did u join as l3
I am in the same boat.
so what was your decision?
PMed
OP, Any tips for preparing for interviews?
all these companies are the same - leet code, system design, and behavorial/past expereince/culture alignment rounds. i did nothing different. if you are senior enough, make sure to have your answers well prepared around your past experience.
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Received an offer from Netflix but don't like the manager
I can’t never get an interview there
So you always interview at stripe ?