What to expect in a Patreon Software Engineer interview: a recruiter call, a timed HackerRank-style coding screen, and, for one candidate, system design in an onsite. Based on three candidate reports.
$200K
Avg. Base Comp
$300K
Avg. Total Comp
Not reported
Typical Rounds
Not reported
Process Length
Candidate reports for Patreon's Software Engineer interview point to a coding-heavy start. Two candidates describe a recruiter conversation, and two describe a HackerRank-based coding stage. One, who interviewed for an internship, got a HackerRank assessment with two LeetCode-style problems, including a 3Sum variant. Another got a single 50-minute problem. It asked for a nested org-chart dictionary to be analyzed, returning whether a person is a manager or an individual contributor plus their direct and total report counts. The prompt came with little context and no starter code, so asking clarifying questions about unusual cases was part of the task.
The internship candidate also described a one-hour live coding session on object-oriented design, building a grocery cart system, followed by a behavioral conversation with the hiring manager that felt rushed. A third candidate said the phone screen coding question was very hard and that system design came up in the onsite. They could not recall the number of rounds or the exact format.
Practice recursion and tree or hierarchy traversal in Python, medium-level array problems, and small class-design exercises involving state, such as carts or checkout flows. Rehearse asking clarifying questions before coding, and keep a few concise behavioral stories ready. One candidate mentioned scheduling friction and a rushed final conversation, so be ready to adapt. Outcomes in these reports were two rejections and one unknown result.
Synthesized from 4 candidate reports by our editorial team.
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Real interview reports from people who went through the Patreon process.
I just finished my onsite at Patreon earlier this week, and honestly, the whole process has been a bit of a whirlwind. Going in, I was nervous — I'd been unemployed for a few months after a layoff, so this felt like a real opportunity I couldn't mess up. The phone screen was brutal. They hit me with an extremely tough coding question right out of the gate, and I remember literally sweating through it. I wasn't even sure if I nailed it, but I pushed through and apparently did well enough to move forward.
The onsite itself was structured but I didn't get super detailed notes on every round beforehand, so I was kind of flying blind on what to expect. I know system design came up — that was something I was worried about going in — but the specifics are still a bit fuzzy on exactly how many rounds or the precise format. What I do know is that it was comprehensive and they were testing depth across the board.
Now here's the weird part: I finished my interviews a few days ago, and I'm still waiting to hear back. Then today I opened Blind and saw that Patreon just went through layoffs. I'm assuming my interviewers got their feedback in before everything hit the fan, so hopefully that means something, but honestly, I have no idea if the role I interviewed for even still exists. It's surreal — I finally make it through what felt like a gauntlet, and now I'm wondering if the finish line even matters. I've got other offers in the pipeline and a few more final rounds, so I'm trying not to put all my eggs in this basket, but it's definitely thrown me for a loop.
Prep tip from this candidate
The phone screen coding question was genuinely difficult, so focus on practicing hard algorithmic problems under time pressure before that first call. System design is definitely part of their process, so don't skip that even though it's easy to underestimate going into an earlier stage interview.
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Sourced from candidate reports and verified by our team.
Topics based on recent interview experiences.
Featured question at Patreon
Select the 2nd highest salary in the engineering department
| Question | |
|---|---|
| Empty Neighborhoods | |
| Top Three Salaries | |
| Merge Sorted Lists | |
| Random SQL Sample | |
| Closest SAT Scores | |
| Subscription Overlap | |
| Top 3 Users | |
| Monthly Customer Report | |
| Find Bigrams | |
| Duplicate Rows | |
| Upsell Transactions | |
| Longest Streak Users | |
| Rolling Bank Transactions | |
| String Shift | |
| Customer Orders | |
| Size of Joins | |
| Find the First Non-Repeating Character in a String | |
| Comments Histogram | |
| Minimum Change | |
| Get Top N Frequent Words | |
| Last Transaction | |
| Raining in Seattle | |
| Google Maps Improvement | |
| Find the Missing Number | |
| Scrambled Tickets | |
| Address Schema | |
| Flight Records | |
| Download Facts | |
| Prime to N |
Synthesized from candidate reports. Individual experiences may vary.
Candidates report an initial recruiter conversation. One described it as a smooth fifteen-minute call, and another as about five minutes of introductions. Scheduling may not always be tidy, as one candidate said interviews were rescheduled several times because of conflicts on the team's side.
Two candidates report a HackerRank stage. One internship candidate had two easy-to-medium LeetCode-style questions, including a 3Sum variant. A full-time candidate had a single 50-minute problem about a nested org-chart dictionary, with minimal context and no starter code. Expect to clarify edge cases yourself.
The internship candidate reports a one-hour virtual live coding session designing a grocery cart system, a medium problem involving object-oriented design and state. A separate candidate described the phone screen coding question as extremely difficult. Difficulty may vary by role and interviewer, so practice both design-style and algorithmic problems.
One candidate reports completing an onsite where system design came up. They did not recall how many rounds there were. The internship candidate reports a final behavioral conversation with the hiring manager that felt rushed. Prepare concise stories and a basic system design approach, though the exact format is not clear from these reports.
