Three year stripeaversary

An adaption of a Stripe internal blog post I wrote to mark my third work anniversary.

I joined Stripe because of its reputation. I wanted to challenge myself to excel in a new domain with lots of potential for impact. I’d be dishonest if I said that the impact came quickly. I did not have prior experience spinning up as a remote to draw from. I also had never worked in a company as large as Stripe. But, I did have great teammates and mentors.

I came to Stripe thinking that I’d get to learn Ruby from the masters. Ruby at Stripe, with its use of Sorbet, is like English with a New Zealand accent compared to American English - it takes some getting used to, but is charming nonetheless.

What I ended up learning from a technical perspective was how to operate within an acute fog of war. In the real time strategy video games of my youth (Warcraft II, Starcraft), areas of the map you haven’t explored are black and mysterious. So it is with our systems. Any one of us can only keep so much context in mind at any given time.

To deal with the technical unknown, it is best to keep changesets small. Make sure it is dead simple to tell if something is working or not. Creating a new package can help isolate your change in the case of a new project. Using a feature flag to rollout your change is a must. Do technical pushups to keep in shape.

Of course, we can embody our principles not just through code. Writing has been a new found pleasure and invaluable tool for moving with urgency and focus. Now, when I’m stuck I start writing. I have a new appreciation for a meticulously crafted doc.

Craft is the theme of this year for me and probably the principle I least understood when I joined Stripe. Craft is “work that is thoughtful and thought through,” (Malthe Sigurdsson).

I’ve contributed to a number of ships in my time at Stripe. If you're curious what I’ve been doing in between these ships, don’t worry. I take public notes, post status updates, and keep a public stack rank.

I’ve had some impact on Stripe, but Stripe has also had an important impact on me. For the past three years it has enabled me to send my kids to a nearby private school.

For that reason I take our hiring process quite seriously. Each candidate is trying out for what will likely be a life altering career move. I’ve conducted many interviews this year. I’m also closing in on a goal I set earlier this year of writing a new interview question.

I came to Stripe to learn from the masters and I’m not done learning. As I start my next year, I remain open to feedback - I am far from having Stripe figured out. At the same time I’ll look for every opportunity I can find to expand and accelerate my learning and impact.