How challenging is it to transition roles or teams internally at Stripe? For example, if you start off as a product manager and want to roll over to SWE work, would this be possible? What would you need to make it happen? #swe #team
I heard it is the opposite. They encourage team transfer after 18 months pro actively. And team transfer is as simple as talking to the new HM. Is it not the case ?
No it isn’t. You’d better have the new team’s manager on your side at the time you break it to your manager, as there are many reports of managers have taken the question to transfer badly, resulting in a sudden “doesn’t meet expectations”, PIP, and out. “We haven’t won yet” captures our whole leadership situation very well. (apologies to my colleague managers who are good; but you all know who you are)
Oh wow. This feels Amazonian
This is not what I was expecting from stripe. Isn't it better to retain an employee by having them transfer internally than lose them?
You can't randomly transfer whenever you feel like it at Google either, especially when you're brand new, or if your manager has turned sour. That's not to say it's impossible. It's just hard. And it's harder at Stripe than it is at Google. My advice: (1) If you want to change ladders, do so before you leave Google. There are established ways to go from e.g. SWE to PM, and having the title at Google will make it easier to get it somewhere else. (2) Make sure your team at Stripe will be an excellent fit. Don't assume that anyone else will do this for you. Don't assume it's easy to fix a mismatch. (3) Don't assume Stripe is much like Google. It's not. Stay at Google if you like Google. (4) Go through the transfer process a few times at Google. Transferring, like interviewing, is a skill that you can improve with practice.
Thanks for the helpful replies! Definitely changes my approach. I'm interested to hear on (3) if you have any additional items to share. I did sort of assume since they'd pulled in Claire, the structure and processes might be similar. The culture described in interviews also seems to encourage open, thoughtful discussion and employee growth, is this also not the case?
Q for OP: why would you want to go from PM to eng while already at Stripe: - Our PM interviews are harder than eng interviews - eng gets better offers
- Education shouldn’t matter for interviews. “shouldn’t” - I’ve seen hiring managers who do take it into account more than they should do - Sounds like regardless of you interviewing as eng, or doing a ladder transfer after joining as PM, it would come with a lower level, and a substantially lower pay. Inform yourself on what that might look like comp wise and whether you’d be OK with that. (joining at a higher level (PM for you ?) might come with a higher initial equity grant. No guarantee as the numbers I’ve heard for eng vs pm strongly favor eng)
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What happens when most of your team is Indian?
Team transfers are generally much harder at Stripe than they are at Google. No idea about ladder transfers.
Is there an official process in place or do you have to network your way into a new team?
There are guidelines for team transfers, but the process is less self-directed than Google's. You usually need to have your manager's blessing to start it.