10 Questions with Amber Feng
Head of Financial Infrastructure at Stripe
Amber Feng is Head of Financial Infrastructure at Stripe. She has been at Stripe for the past 7 years, where she’s seen the company grow from 10 to 1,000+ employees. Amber has worked on everything from designing APIs and products to building the systems that move money around the world. She has led various areas within the company, most recently the Financial Infrastructure engineering group. Amber loves learning about anything and everything, whether it’s related to tech (e.g. game development) or not (latest hobbies include pottery and figure drawing).
- When did you know that you wanted to work in tech?
My dad is a software engineer so I got into the basics of web development very early on with his encouragement. My first projects were centered around styling my Neopets shop (!) and building a clone of Neopets (for horses, I’m not really sure why). One thing led to another and I found myself taking courses in high school, building side projects, and applying to college as a computer science major. Building software continues to be the most addicting thing I’ve ever done.
2. Who is a role model that you look up to?
I’m not the kind of person who always had one idol or role model that I wanted to be exactly like. Instead, I have been influenced by the people around me — classmates, friends, acquaintances, or people in the community — who were *really* good at what they did. I have a ton of different interests and hobbies that are always shifting, and I’m really inspired to become better at those by the people that surround me.
3. Where is your hometown?
Sunnyvale, CA
4. What is a struggle that you’ve faced and how did you handle it?
The best part about being at a hyper-growth company is the sheer number opportunities, roles, and challenges that you get to step into. During Stripe’s growth, I’ve gotten a chance to stretch myself and my abilities far beyond what I ever would have thought possible. While that does provide incredible learning and satisfaction, it also comes with a hefty number of challenges.
When we rolled out managers at Stripe for the first time, I was part of the first cohort. My team, which was responsible for all of Stripe’s products, was also in a relatively unique situation where it had been rebuilt from the ground up. I had never been a manager before, nor had I even *had* a manager before, so building and growing that engineering organization while I was only a year and a half out of college was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. There weren’t a ton of resources or support from within the company, so I spent a lot of time talking to the engineering and product leads at other companies to try to figure things out. It was grueling and stressful. I made a ton of mistakes and I doubted myself.
“I had never been a manager before, nor had I even *had* a manager before, so building and growing that engineering organization while I was only a year and a half out of college was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”
It’s often in these types of situations where we learn and grow the most, and knowing that I’m stepping out of my comfort zone and accelerating my learning so much is what keeps me going. In hindsight, given how critical those teams were to Stripe and how much we’ve built on them in the years since, it was also one of those (nearly) once in a lifetime opportunities that I’m very happy that I got to experience.
5. What is something that you are immensely proud of?
More broadly, I’m most proud of how Stripe has grown overall in the time that I’ve worked here. I joined Stripe in 2012, when we were around 10 people and we’ve grown 100X since then.
It’s been immensely satisfying to look back and see that I was a huge part in building the product, culture, and organization. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how we continue to grow for the next few years and beyond!
“It’s been immensely satisfying to look back and see that I was a huge part in building the product, culture, and organization.”
6. What’s something that’s been on your mind a lot lately?
Outside of work, I’ve been thinking — as many people are — a lot about education and misinformation, particularly in today’s political climate. In high school, I barely paid attention to what was going on in current events or in government/economy classes, but they’re hugely applicable to me and many others today.
I think it would be really interesting to explore different vehicles for delivering this type of education (maybe through game development, if you think of games like Civilization or city/colony builders).
7. Favorite food?
Taiwanese beef noodle soup that we make at home (such a comfort food for me!) Fun fact, I once ate leftovers for 9 days in a row.
8. Favorite book?
Mac (PC for gaming, though, of course.)
9. If you could try another job for a day, what would it be?
If it were just for a day, something that’s completely different than what I do today but would teach me a lot about a particular domain: being in a White House war room, architecting a complex building, or something along those lines.
10. If you could give your 18-year-old self a piece of advice, what would it be?
Hard work compounds. It is slightly controversial to tell people to work as much as possible, but I’m *really* glad I worked as hard as I did in college and the first couple of years at Stripe.
I’m not saying to ignore warnings from your body or the people around you, but learning as much as possible and proving yourself early can change your future trajectory significantly. Particularly if the company is growing quickly, you’ll be more likely to be in the right place at the right time when critical opportunities come up to stretch yourself.
