Welcome to your interview.
The question is on your right: Design Patterns for Maintainable Software. Take a moment with it first.
Talk your thinking through with me if you like - when you're confident, submit your answer and I'll grade it like a real screen (7/10 or better passes). Discussion and graded submissions share your five interviewer interactions, so spend them well.
At companies like Stripe, engineers often work in codebases that must evolve without becoming fragile. Design patterns matter because they provide proven ways to structure code for change, testing, and collaboration.
Explain the role of design patterns in building maintainable software.
Address these points:
The interviewer expects a practical software engineering explanation rather than a memorized catalog of patterns. You should discuss trade-offs, give 2-3 concrete examples such as Strategy, Factory, or Observer, and connect them to maintainability concerns like extensibility, testability, readability, and change isolation.