As we continue to improve our user experience for our creators and their patrons, we wanted to give a behind-the-scenes look at the people building Patreon. In this series, you’ll meet the Mobile Team led by Shannon Ma.
Up next in our series is iOS engineer Yifan Peng. Having spent almost a decade at Meta/Instagram, Yifan brings a breadth and depth of experience to Patreon as we look to ship best-in-class mobile products for our members. Learn more about Yifan and her experience here.
Tell us three fun facts about yourself:
- I never had pets growing up, but I got two pandemic pets in the last year.
- I’m originally from China and I’ve lived in New York for the last 10 years.
- I make pottery in my neighborhood ceramic studio.
What excites you most about your role?
As an iOS engineer on the Mobile Team, there are a lot of opportunities to improve the user experience on our app. I am excited about building a first-class Patreon iOS app for both creators and their patrons.
What is a day in the life at Patreon like?
I spend a portion of my time keeping my head down coding and working on projects, and another portion collaborating with the Mobile Team and extended team. We’re currently working on a hiring initiative, so I provide input there as well.
Coming from Big Tech, what drew you to Patreon? How is it different?
I joined Patreon after nine years at Meta and Instagram. I was drawn to Patreon by both the mission and opportunity. Patreon honestly operates behind its mission, and there are a lot of growth opportunities for the company and creators. Leadership here has top-down transparency that I find refreshing. I like how open our leadership is and that they’re not afraid to answer tough questions and not afraid to think big.
As a mobile engineer, what challenges do you enjoy the most?
I am excited about building a first-class experience for both creators and consumers, and I enjoy working with cross-functional teams to develop the best product for our users. Creators have the option to use a variety of formats on our platforms, and I’m excited to take on the challenge of supporting those formats that allow creators to build their own content.
What do you enjoy most about working on the Mobile Team?
The people. I really enjoy working with my team and I learn a lot from them. In terms of collaboration, we’re all relatively new. Everyone has many years of experience and expertise working on agile mobile apps. This brings different perspectives, and they’re all helpful and passionate about helping others. As a team, we also have the ability to define and develop internal processes for Patreon. To come in and realize that we have that opportunity is exciting.
