Stripe Product Design
I can't get even a recruiter call from Stripe, like get a rejection email within a hour of applying lol. I'm not just expecting an interview of course, and not trying to feel entitled AT ALL. but I've gotten through at Meta, Google, Atlassian, and more. Just don't understand what I am missing on my Stripe applications... Would love to DM with a current designer. TIA TC: $250~ 8 years #design #ui/ux #interviews
I’ve got a screening scheduled coming up with Stripe design recruiter. I’ve got about the same amount of experience as you. I put a lot of emphasis on visual design for the body of work in my portfolio.
Don’t feel bad, on paper I was well qualified for one of their positions (my background was exactly what they were looking for) and after speaking to a recruiter got a rejection email a few days later. Their loss though, ended up looping with Meta & Google.
Correct me if I’m wrong if you work in design at Stripe, but everyone seemed burned out or was going to churn in the weeks following my onsite interview. Bags under eyes, last minute substitutions, even PMs who straight up told me this was their last week. I’ve never seen anything bad written about Stripe design, but the signs definitely don’t look great.
It’s, um…interesting. What you describe here sounds a bit extreme but it’s directionally correct.
Let me ask this: why Stripe? Genuinely curious to hear your motivations and your impressions of what it’s like. I applied some years ago and got dinged, and they said they had very specific needs. Made sense. This time around, there was a need for someone with my experience. Stripe likes things to be beautiful, and they like it if you’ve had experience “shaping products.” Internally we have a generous definition of shipped, so you can as well. The work and presentation have to look really, really good. The stuff you’ve worked on should look complex—we love talking about the complexity of things. As for day to day life here. Well. It’s not for everyone, and I’m just waiting to see who all leaves after the next vesting date in October.
Hi, can you define what "complexity" stripe is looking for? I have an interview coming up.
I’ll give my definition of it: complexity means that the behaviors and interactions of variables within a given system are often unknown. As in, both the nature of the variables and their interactions are hard to know for sure, or simply not knowable. I realize this is vague but…you can apply it to many things. It’s not like Stripe has formalized their take on this, I’m giving you mine and what worked for me. Interest in, and experience with, designing solutions that clarify otherwise ambiguous scenarios and driving informed, confident decisions goes a long way. And make sure it looks awesome. DM with any questions!
I wouldn’t say interviewing at Meta is anything impressive. Of all the big tech companies I’ve worked at, Meta design interview candidates are the lowest quality, the recruiters and sourcers send us candidates with awful portfolios, and my rejection rate with interviews I conduct is something like 90%. I’m not saying your portfolio in particular is bad, but that I think the bar for interviewing at Meta is low. At previous companies I worked at, every candidate was competent, the recruiters had a great eye for design and sourced great design portfolios, and way more candidates passed interviews, but it also meant far less candidates even enter the pipeline. When I used to work at Airbnb, the recruiting team didn’t even put job postings for designers on their website, you couldn’t apply online, so the only way you could interview was through an internal referral or if a recruiter sourced you. At Meta, I get 2 interviews every week. Different companies will have different methodologies and recruiting resources available to hire candidates, you likely didn’t meet the bar for experience or your portfolio doesn’t meet their standard.
I would say the same thing at Microsoft. As a HM, I spent way too long digging through portfolios of “qualified” candidates. It’s like shopping at Ross: gotta go through hundreds of items before you find the one.
I think it really depends on how good the recruiters and sourcers are at screening design talent and knowing what a good portfolio looks like. At the last two companies I worked at, the recruiters had excellent design taste and knew exactly what makes a good portfolio. They were truly integrated within the design org, attended design crits, and knew design thinking. Some design recruiters even transitioned to become designers themselves after reviewing thousands of portfolios and sitting in on the interviews. Back then, I conducted way less interviews but the candidates were great. That sadly isn’t the case at Meta.