Coding questions
Stripe Online Assessment
Overview
Here is how public prep guides and student write-ups describe the Stripe online assessment. This is not an official company brochure.
Bug-squash round on a real-style codebase is a signature Stripe interview format in this report.
Usual selection rounds
Rounds students usually mention: Online assessment → Phone screening → Virtual onsite (advanced programming, bug squash) → Managerial
| Item | From student reports |
|---|---|
| Platform | Online assessment |
| Online test summary | Cited new-grad account: OA with one coding question to start. |
| Eligibility notes | Not stated in cited post |
| Branches (reported) | Software new grad |
Online test sections
| Section | Questions | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 1 | - | - |
Extra notes from sources
- Check your college placement email for the platform, section order, and timing.
Sample practice question styles
These are practice questions for speed - not claimed to be from a real Stripe live paper.
Coding Q1: Coin change (min coins)
Problem: Given coin denominations and an amount, return the fewest coins needed to make that amount, or -1 if it is impossible.
Approach: Unbounded knapsack DP: let dp[x] be the minimum coins for amount x. For each coin, update dp[c..amount]. Initialize dp[0] = 0 and the rest to a large sentinel.
Complexity: O(amount × coins)
Stripe tip: Restate the problem, sketch a brute-force idea, then tighten it. Call out edge cases (empty input, single element, overflow) before you write code.
Coding Q2: Binary search
Problem: Given a sorted array of distinct integers and a target, return the index of target or -1 if missing.
Approach: Maintain lo/hi. Compare mid with target and shrink the half that cannot contain it. Careful with overflow-free mid and empty arrays.
Complexity: O(log n) time
Stripe tip: Restate the problem, sketch a brute-force idea, then tighten it. Call out edge cases (empty input, single element, overflow) before you write code.
Coding Q3: Move zeros
Problem: Move all zeros in an array to the end while keeping the relative order of non-zero elements.
Approach: Two pointers: write non-zeros toward the front, then fill the remainder with zeros. Or swap zeros as you scan.
Complexity: O(n) time, O(1) space
Stripe tip: Restate the problem, sketch a brute-force idea, then tighten it. Call out edge cases (empty input, single element, overflow) before you write code.
Coding Q4: Rotate array
Problem: Rotate an array to the right by k steps. Example: [1,2,3,4,5,6,7], k = 3 → [5,6,7,1,2,3,4].
Approach: Normalize k %= n. Reverse the whole array, reverse the first k elements, then reverse the rest. That yields the rotation in place.
Complexity: O(n) time, O(1) space
Stripe tip: Restate the problem, sketch a brute-force idea, then tighten it. Call out edge cases (empty input, single element, overflow) before you write code.
Prep tips from those student reports
- Multi-part progressive problems
- Practice debugging unfamiliar large codebases
- Language fluency under pressure
Sources
These notes come from public reports and can differ by campus, year, and role. If your college placement email or the official careers/notification PDF says something different, follow that.
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