Asking for a friend who ran out of time on part 3.
Acknowledge that Stripe values both problem-solving process and code quality, so partial completion can be acceptable if you demonstrate strong reasoning and communicate trade-offs. Focus on delivering a working solution for the parts you complete, and for the unfinished part, outline a clear plan and discuss potential edge cases.
Pro tip: During the interview, proactively ask clarifying questions and prioritize the parts that best showcase your API design skills; often, a well-justified partial solution with clean code and tests is more impressive than a rushed full solution.
Ask the interviewer about time allocation and whether partial completion with explanation is acceptable. Confirm the priority of each part.
Quickly assess the parts and decide which to implement fully. Choose parts that demonstrate core skills like API design, error handling, or integration patterns.
Write clean, well-structured code for the chosen parts. Include tests and handle edge cases to show production-level thinking.
Verbally walk through your approach for the remaining part, covering data models, API endpoints, and potential pitfalls. Be specific about trade-offs.
Conclude by summarizing what you completed and what you would do next. Highlight any assumptions and how you would validate them.
AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.