I work at PayPal and find that the set of problems we have to solve here is both quite interesting and challenging. How come?
From the outside, PayPal seems simple - a multi-channel, global payment platform.
Consider this, however - every government in the world forcefully imposes and continuously tweaks the rules governing money movements.
Typically, financial institutions have separate operating units in every market, with independent software/systems implementing those rules as well as market-specific product features. Sometimes, you even find major financial institutions with entirely separate systems serving different regions within US - so much so that in at least one instance an account registered on the East Coast could not be accessible under the same set of online credentials as accounts established on the West Coast.
Not so for PayPal: As a true Internet company, PayPal relies on a single code base and (distributed) infrastructure that serves all customers around the world. The benefit to customers is that you can instantly pay anyone globally. The flip side is a highly complex code base that has to support constant and rapid evolution and significant requirements flux.
This presents an interesting problem set in the areas of software engineering & architecture, otherwise rarely found on such a scale. And because of its phenomenal growth, PayPal has the wherewithal to tackle these problems and aggressively pursue innovation.
From the outside, PayPal seems simple - a multi-channel, global payment platform.
Consider this, however - every government in the world forcefully imposes and continuously tweaks the rules governing money movements.
Typically, financial institutions have separate operating units in every market, with independent software/systems implementing those rules as well as market-specific product features. Sometimes, you even find major financial institutions with entirely separate systems serving different regions within US - so much so that in at least one instance an account registered on the East Coast could not be accessible under the same set of online credentials as accounts established on the West Coast.
Not so for PayPal: As a true Internet company, PayPal relies on a single code base and (distributed) infrastructure that serves all customers around the world. The benefit to customers is that you can instantly pay anyone globally. The flip side is a highly complex code base that has to support constant and rapid evolution and significant requirements flux.
This presents an interesting problem set in the areas of software engineering & architecture, otherwise rarely found on such a scale. And because of its phenomenal growth, PayPal has the wherewithal to tackle these problems and aggressively pursue innovation.
