Life @ Shopify @littlemissshopify - Tumblr Blog

Shopify on Campus! End of Semester Event Lineup

It’s that time again! The Shopify Ambassadors will be hosting our final campus events at both the Carleton and UOttawa campuses in the upcoming weeks. With final projects and exams looming, you’ve probably reached the point where your wardrobe consists solely of sweatpants which you’re accessorizing with the bags under your eyes, but what better cure is there for the end-of-semester blues than an inspiring talk and free pizza? Worry not sweatpants wearers, there is no dress code for the events so we’re happy to receive you in all of your comfortably-attired glory.

First up, the Carleton Event: One of our awesome developers, Matt Helm, will be giving a talk about how we scale at Shopify and the engineering challenges we face as we experience rapid growth.

The Nitty Gritty When: November 26, 2015, 7:00pm – 9:00pm Where: Carleton University, 240 Tory Building

More details can be found by checking out the hashtag #ShopifyOnCampus, or on the Facebook event page.

Next up, the UOttawa Event: The UOttawa event will be an open hackathon. Over the course of three hours you can work on a preexisting project, or start something brand new. You can choose to collaborate with others, including some of the current Shopify interns, or you can work independently, up to you! You don’t need to finish the project by the end of the 3 hours, but we wanted to give you an outlet to bounce ideas off of each other and set aside some time to work on something you’ve been excited about for a while, but just haven’t had a chance to start yet. At Shopify, your projects are worth more than your resume, so we wanted to help you get going in the right direction. The ambassadors will be around to answer your questions and help you out if you get stuck.

The Nitty Gritty When: December 2, 2015, 7:00pm – 10:00pm Where: University of Ottawa, G0103 SITE Building

More details can be found by checking out the hashtag #ShopifyOnCampus, or on the Facebook event page.

Both events will allow time to chat and network with current Shopify interns and full-time devs while we drown our sorrows in pizza. You should come if you're interested in an internship in web development, app development, or working with data. Right now, we're wrapping up hiring for Winter internships, and will start Summer intern recruitment in December.

Everyone is welcome, no invite required :) When you arrive at the event, please sign in through this Google form so we can remember your name and grab your contact info. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Shopify On Campus! Carleton University Winternship Event

Hey guys! The Shopify campus ambassadors will be hosting an event on the Carleton campus tomorrow, and we'd love to see you there! I know its midterms season and you’re all pretty swamped, but there will be free pizza, and you gotta eat sometime right?

We’ve decided to use an AMA format for the event so you can ask all of our current and past developer interns your burning questions. We'll be chatting about the application and interview process, life at Shopify as an intern, and some of the cool stuff we've done throughout our internships. No questions are off limits (within reason people!). The interns in attendance have worked on everything from web and app development to dealing with the huge amounts of data Shopify collects every day.

You should come if you're interested in programming, or if you'd like to learn more about becoming an intern at Shopify. Don’t worry if you don’t know our stack (Ruby on Rails), a lot of our interns don’t know it starting out and they do just fine:) If you think you won’t make the cut because you’re only in first or second year, you’re not giving yourself enough credit! Here at Shopify we hire devs with no Ruby or Rails experience, people from their first year of undergraduate studies to Master’s students, people who had worked for several years between degrees, and new grads too. We open our doors to everyone so that we don’t miss a chance to work with awesome people.

As long as you have some technical chops, aptitude to learn, and a general passion and curiosity for what you do, we want to meet you.

After the AMA we'll be hosting a little pizza party and you'll have an opportunity to chat with a bunch of Shopifiers from various teams and departments. No need to bring an invite with you, like I said, we have an open door policy. When you arrive at the event, please sign in through this Google form so we can remember your name and grab your contact info. The Nitty Gritty When: Wednesday, October 14, 2015 from 7:00-9:00pm Where: Carleton U Campus, Azireli Theatre, room 101 More details can be found by checking out the facebook event page (https://www.facebook.com/events/902692856485447/).

We’ll be checking Twitter for your questions, so make sure to get yours in using the hashtag #ShopifyOnCampus.

Can’t wait to see you all there!

UOttawa Campus Event Recap!

Hey guys!

For those of you who weren't able to make it out to our campus event at OttawaU on Tuesday, I thought I'd give you a quick recap.

We had an awesome turnout of over 60 students, which meant we didn't even need our fall sweaters to stay cozy! We started the night off right with Omosola giving her workshop on machine learning. There were lots of examples involving cute animals, which were obviously a crowd-pleaser. Omosola's slides were basically what your internet history looks like when you're on a procrastination bender and you end up in a downward spiral of kittens and puppies. If you don't believe me you can check them out here (you might also want to look at them to learn a little something about machine learning).

After Omosola finished her awesome workshop, the pizza arrived and all of the vultures assembled (Note to self: student events require double the amount of pizza as normal events). Once everyone was fed and happy, we spent the rest of the night mingling. Over a dozen folks from Shopify made an appearance to chat about what they do and learn a little more about some of the projects that you students are working on these days.

Overall, we had a blast and we can't wait for the next on! Keep an eye out for the next facebook event posting, it'll probably be up sometime in November :)

Here's some advice if you're looking to apply to the Winternship 2016 posting:

Include the link to your github so we can see what kind of side projects you like to work on and what you're passionate about outside of school

Make sure your application has some personality and character! A piece of paper can only reveal so much.

Don’t worry if you don't have previous work experience. An internship is all about learning new things. As long as you have an aptitude to learn, passion, and some transferrable skills, you'll be alright.

Shopify On Campus at UOttawa!

It’s that time of year again! That’s right, winter is coming. Not to fret though, the Shopify Ambassadors have the perfect cure for your winter blues. An internship at Shopify, of course! The amazing people, work environment, and delicious food are sure to cure even the worst case of seasonal affective disorder (insert legal disclaimer stating we are not medical professionals here). If you’d like to find out more about interning with us, and meet a few of the awesome people who work at Shopify, you should attend our event on the Ottawa U Campus next week!

There will be an introduction to machine learning workshop given by one of our incredible devs, Omosola Odetunde.

During the session, Omosola will work to demystify machine learning for you. You’ll learn some of the basics of ML including a few simple algorithms, its applications, some common pitfalls when getting started, and how to evaluate success of your models.

In addition to the workshop, there will also be a chance to mingle with other students, current Shopify interns, and Shopify veterans. There’s no need to bring along a stuffy resume, but feel free to bring your laptops if you'd like to show off a project or piece of code to one of our devs or designers. The event is open to all, so don’t worry about a ticket or an invite:)

This wouldn’t be a student event if we didn’t offer you sustenance of some kind, so there will be an abundance of free pizza to tide you over.

If any of this has piqued your interest (it was the pizza that got you, right?), show up at the SITE building, room C0136 at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, September 29.

You can find more details on our event page, and we’ll also be live-tweeting the event using the hashtag #ShopifyOnCampus, so be sure to check it out!

If you want some more background on intern life at Shopify, or our interview process, check out some of the older Little Miss Shopify posts or our Interviewing @ Shopify website!

Looking forward to seeing you there!

#Shopify #intern #internship #lifeatshopify #UOttawa #students #workatshopify

Shopify Intern Open House - Winternships are Coming!

Hey all!

Fall is here, which means you will soon be bombarded by an abundance of pumpkin flavoured food and beverage items, but more importantly, winternships are coming! Last week Shopify hosted its very first intern open house. It was an awesome opportunity for potential interns to come by and talk to some devs, hear some awesome talks by current Shopifiers, and gorge their faces on pizza.

If you weren’t able to make it, but you’re interested in being an intern at Shopify, here’s the highlight reel for you:

Simon Eskildsen - Infrastructure, resiliency and web scale at Shopify

The first piece of advice Simon offered was to always be curious, and to seek out opportunities to learn. Try to really take time to think about how things work. The second piece of advice surrounded the issue of starting. Starting can be scary. Imposter syndrome starts creeping in, and you feel like you don’t know what you’re doing. Simon went through this, but eventually he realized that his fellow Shopifolk just had more experience and context than he did. He spent a long time trying to find a good solution that was both fast and easy to understand. The people with context had already tried out many different options, and that's why they were faster. His third piece of advice was about mentorship. Mentorships are relationships you earn, not just ask for. You have to show that you are worth mentoring by getting shit done, working hard, and constantly trying to learn and improve.

Michael Lutaaya - Software developer intern at Shopify, student at Carleton University

Michael’s advice for other interns is to use interviews as a learning opportunity. Learn about the company, the role, the people you’ll get to work with. Ask questions. When you start working, keep asking a lot of questions, and don’t be afraid to ask for help if you get stuck. People are really supportive at Shopify, and they’re always willing to help, or teach you something new. Michael also talked a bit about what he was working on in iOS over the summer. If you’d like to know more about what he worked on, shoot him a tweet @MichaelLutaaya, or tweet your questions using the hashtag #shopifyoncampus.

Jonathan Smith - Software developer intern at Shopify, student at the University of Ottawa

Jonathan talked about how he loves working for a company where he gets to solve real problems for real people. He talked about how its easy to identify with Shopify’s mission and how he’s passionate about making commerce better for everyone. Shopify is a place where you’ll find meaning in your job.You get to help entrepreneurs and small businesses all over the world make money doing what they love. It’s definitely a job you’ll be proud of.

For more info about our internship opportunities, check out the Winternship 2016 job posting here :)

To stay up to date on Shopify’s intern program and campus events, check out the #ShopifyOnCampus hashtag on twitter!

Beyond the Code 2015 - Powered by Shopify

Hey folks!

As the school season descends upon us, and midterms loom on the horizon, there is still one bright spot on my calendar. September 21st is Beyond the Code!

Beyond the Code is a one day, Shopify-hosted conference that aims to broaden the view of the tech industry by showcasing minority groups in tech and talking about topics both within and beyond the code. Geared towards those in technology, business or both, attendees will have an opportunity to listen to speakers in the industry and learn hands on skills in a variety of workshops.

Women today are still underrepresented in numbers in the “fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), with the exception of life sciences (though not when it comes to higher-tier positions). Only 9% of USA top technology executives are female, and in Canada women represent only 11% of registered professional engineers" (http://www.scwist.ca/tag/stem/). At Beyond the Code, we’d like to start a dialogue to address the ways we can change those numbers, and hear from some women who are performing at the highest level in their respective fields. We want to bring together the best minds in computing and increase visibility for the contributions of women to computing.

Why you should be there:

You’ll meet peers and mentors with diverse backgrounds and experience

You’ll build new connections and relationships that can support you throughout your career

You’ll learn new skills in our hands-on workshops

You’ll hear some of our industry’s brightest talk about how they’ve made positive changes to their communities (like Hilary Mason, Jen Myers, and more!)

Who should show up? Anyone interested in diversity and technology. You should also join us if you’re:

Interested in the tech industry: you’ll make new connections and learn how to navigate potential workplace challenges.

Just getting started: you’ll attend hands-on workshops designed for early career tech professionals, and meet new peers and mentors.

An experienced technologist: you’ll hear expert advice on managing the unique challenges of established careers.

The nitty gritty:

Where: The Shaw Centre in Ottawa (55 Colonel By Drive) When: September 21, 2015 from 9:00am-5:00pm Tickets: Buy them here! Use the discount code LMS-BTC10 to get 10% off your ticket if you buy before Friday, September 18th!

For more info, head to http://beyondthecode.io/.

It’s going to be an awesome day! Hope to see you all there :)

Jess

Go Kart Tracks and Gourmet Food

Recently CTV visited our Ottawa HQ to do a profile on Shopify. This was followed by a lot of my friends and family members telling me how lucky I am to work where I do. Trust me, this fact is not lost on me. I love my job, I love Shopify, and, as you probably figured out by now, I love free food. Shopify really is an amazing place to work. CTV pointed out a lot of the things that make it so amazing, like our incredible office spaces and our gourmet lunches, but I thought I’d talk about some of the more intangible elements that make life at Shopify so great.

Shopifolk are probably the most humble and kind bunch I have ever met. I think their humility stems from the fact that they invent solutions when they can’t find any. They’re never entirely certain if something is going to succeed, but they experiment anyway. They take risks and they try things, and occasionally they fail. They don’t always have to be right and they don’t hide their lack of knowledge, but when they do fail, they always learn something. It’s pretty cool to immerse yourself in an environment like that. You learn so much more when you’re not trying to pretend that you already know everything.

Another cool thing about Shopify is that everyone genuinely cares about and supports the people they work with. People are inclusive and they go out of their way to help others, or to just brighten their day. No one sits alone at lunch, no person is off limits to talk to, and there are no cliques that wear pink on Wednesdays (we don’t have any Mean Girls here but that doesn’t mean we don’t indulge in the cult classic once in a while).

Shopifiers are generous in how they collaborate, and they're not stingy with their praise. Our workplace is a meritocracy. We give people the freedom and the tools to do what they do best, and allow them to define what their best work looks like. People are rewarded for their awesome achievements, and they’ve got the Unicorns to prove it.

On top of being incredibly talented, the people who work at Shopify are also great collaborators. I think this is because they're not coming from a fear-based place of only having one good idea. They don’t throw others under the bus or feel the need to broadcast all of the exceptional things they do because at Shopify, great work speaks for itself. There isn’t much competition happening here (aside from on the go-kart track). It’s a united front, so when one Shopifier does well, we all do well.

Shopify also has some really cool programs in place to facilitate information sharing, and to help employees get to know each other. Like our weekly Town Halls every Friday afternoon. Town Hall is a time for the entire Shopify team to get together and talk about what’s going on within the company over a cold drink. The theme of the Town Halls switches between AMAs, panel Q&As, executive show and tells, lightning talks, and demos.

We also have an internal app called Sidekicks that randomly matches you with someone else in the company so you can get to know each other over lunch. This happens once a week and it gives people the opportunity to interact with folks they might not meet otherwise.

So that’s kind of the gist of what makes Shopify a swell place to work! If anything I said resonated with you, feel free to check out our careers page for available opportunities :)

Jess

Interviewing @ Shopify

Exciting news folks! Shopify just launched a website aimed at helping our candidates figure out what the heck it means to have an interview with us. It’s called Interviewing @ Shopify, and you can check it out here.

I was lucky enough to be a part of building some of the content for the site. Before I tell you a bit about that, I figured you should probably know what prompted the creation of the site and what you can find there. To give you the backstory, I spoke with Callie, our brilliant Recruitment Coordinator, who helped mastermind the project along with Kayla (one of our awesome recruiters). Here’s what she said:

“Shopify’s culture was no mistake--in fact, it was carefully curated by an entire team. We pride ourselves on human interaction; on getting to know our peers and drawing on the wealth of skill we have built into our teams and across our disciplines. And with such an integrated structure it’s easy to find your footing. It’s easy to make a friend, or ten, and just like that, we forget what it was like to go through the somewhat daunting interview process. But we all did it, completed our on-boarding and then...we all promptly forgot what it was like.

Kayla and I joined Shopify this past January and actually competed for the same position. We didn’t know each other at the time and therefore couldn’t put our heads together to come up with a solution for the waiting game, so we just lived it instead. We have since been hired, on-boarded, and become great friends. In just 5 months, more than 30% of the company has started after us--an astonishing number of new faces navigating their way through the unfamiliar landscape of modern hiring. Knowing this, we saw an opportunity to make the whole thing easier for those who are attempting what we recently fumbled our own way through. What should I wear? Why are these elevators hard to navigate--am I incompetent? What did my Recruiter do before they worked at Shopify? Who are these people I am meeting? So many questions and so few resources, we realized.

And with that we set out to make the experience less of a mystery and more interactive. We found a room, closed the door, and built a tool. We believe, that with the creation of this website, we can educate people on what to expect when seeking employment opportunities with Shopify. We hope you will enjoy the site and invite you to send any feedback our way--we’re always looking for ways to build for the long-term!”

Pretty awesome, right? My role in the creation of the site was to craft all of the bios under the “Meet the Team” section. This basically just gave me the opportunity to compile all of the weird/funny facts that I’ve learned about the team over the course of my two months here...and trust me, there are plenty:P

More seriously, the bios give candidates the opportunity to get to know a bit about the interviewers they’re meeting with. This ultimately minimizes the information asymmetry that is typical of interview scenarios. At Shopify, our philosophy is to default to open whenever possible, so why should our interview process be any exception?

Hope you guys enjoy! Jess

Talent Tuesdays at Shopify

Hey guys! So, Shopify recently began hosting a new monthly event in Ottawa called Talent Tuesday. Basically, it's a chance for recruiting and HR professionals to get together for a night of networking and conversation. In typical Shopify fashion, there will be free beer and food courtesy of our amazing chefs.

I wanted to write a quick post about what the event is all about, and what you can gain from showing up. At Shopify, we believe that recruiting and interviewing is broken in a lot of places because it’s become this standardized, mechanical question and answer thing. Candidates come in with rehearsed answers and their “corporate persona” on, and companies come into it with standardized or canned questions, creating this really stilted and one-dimensional conversation. It’s unlike any other human interaction you would ever have. We’d rather have comfortable and casual conversations with people where we can learn about a person’s soft skills—their story and passion—rather than just the technical skills that they possess.

Talent Tuesday is an event designed to change the dialogue in the recruiting world, to start seeing candidates as human beings, rather than simply as resources that fulfill specific business needs.

We want to talk about your experiences as a recruiter and some of the problems you’re solving right now. At Shopify, we love learning new things and feeding off of other people’s knowledge, and Talent Tuesday is a perfect opportunity to do just that!

So, if you’re passionate about recruiting, you’re interested in good food, good company, and good conversation, we’d love to see you there! To RSVP, just head here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/talent-tuesday-tickets-17456196955.

Here’s the nitty gritty:

Where: Shopify HQ (150 Elgin St, 6th floor) When: July 14th, 5:30 - 7:30pm Hope to see you there!

Jess

[Intern]al Thoughts

Hey guys! Jess here. Since it’s around the time that students are accepting positions for fall internships, I thought I’d talk about some things that I’ve learned as an intern. Before joining Shopify, I had completed 3 internships (2 with the federal government and 1 with Alcatel-Lucent), which I think has made me pretty well-versed on the topic. Contrary to popular belief, I have never once fetched anyone coffee (unless it was out of the kindness of my heart...or because I was attempting to endear myself to my boss by virtue of offering them baked goods and warm beverages). Maybe I’m just lucky, and the people I’ve worked with throughout my internships saw me as more than their coffee gopher. The more likely explanation is that they realized I’m terrible at making coffee and were desperately trying to avoid the burned sludge that I was sure to deliver them. It may also be possible that the invention of the Keurig has made this part of an intern’s job irrelevant (thank god).

Now for the unsolicited advice portion of this blog! Below are a few of the things that I’ve learned as an intern:

Ask a lot of questions and don’t be afraid of making mistakes. That’s just part of the learning process! Be sure, however, that when you make a mistake you own up to it and are part of the solution.

If you have ideas, voice them. Don’t assume that because you’re young and new that you can’t add value.

Don’t assume that the way the company or your team does things is perfect. There are always areas for improvement, or ways to increase efficiency, and sometimes a fresh perspective helps bring these to light.

Speak up if you aren’t being challenged, and don’t be scared to ask for more work.

If you end up doing something you aren’t super passionate about, try to see it as an opportunity to gather knowledge, rather than a wasted experience. Never refuse an opportunity to learn.

Be resourceful. Before going to someone for help, take a few minutes to think about the problem and what tools you have available to you to solve it. Sometimes a quick fix can be found through a search of the company’s intranet.

Build relationships! Co-op isn’t just about the job or the work, it’s also a great opportunity to meet interesting people with diverse backgrounds.

And finally, you aren’t entitled to anything but there’s nothing that you can’t earn by working your ass off.

Good luck to all you interns searching out jobs! If you’re still looking, check out Shopify’s career page!

P.S. You can thank Callie (our Recruiting Co-ordinator) for the amazing title of this post. She’s a true wordsmith.

#shopify #jobs #internship #careers #lifeatshopify #developers #designers

Little Miss Shopify 2.0

Hey everyone! I’m Jess, the new intern on the Talent Acquisition team at Shopify! I will henceforth be known as Little Miss Shopify 2.0:) Anna thought this would be an awesome outlet for me to catalogue my amazing experiences here this summer and give you all some insight into what life here is like....hopefully I’ll do her proud!

I guess I should start off with a few details about myself:

I was born and raised in the lovely Nation’s Capital, in the suburbs of Barrhaven to be exact (or Farrhaven, as it has been dubbed by those who have experienced the unbearable commute).

I have two sisters and a brother who are the same age as me, actually we’re quadruplets! (For those of you who are not mathematically inclined, this is the equivalent of twins times 2)

I’m currently a 4th year business student at the University of Ottawa, specializing in Marketing (only 1 semester until I retire from my career of academia and enter the “real world”:S)

Unlike Anna’s very interesting and meaningful passions, running and flying (check them out here), my two passions in life would be better described by the words Netflix and Bacon. Both excellent in their own right, but truly magical when consumed at the same time.

Anyway, I think that’s enough about me for now. I thought I’d use this post as an opportunity to answer a question I’ve been getting a lot since I got my internship here, which is “how did you land such an amazing job??”.

In all honesty, I was a little dumbfounded by this question prior to starting at Shopify. I had mostly chalked it up to Doug (the head of Talent Acquisition) and Bronwyn (a super awesome recruiter), being fans of my particular brand of endearing awkwardness. After having been here a month though, I have some more insight into the process.

So, if you want to land a job at Shopify, here’s what you need to know about the people we hire:

They’re crazy passionate and enthusiastic about what they do.

They know who they are and aren’t afraid to be their real selves.

They get shit done! And they do it well.

They thrive on chaos, and welcome disruption in their routines.

They are self-starters. They see a problem and jump in to fix it, unprompted and with little instruction. Shopifolk know how to hustle!

They are curious by nature, they love to learn new things, and they are constantly reevaluating the way they do things

They are resourceful and can draw the f***ing owl (see here)

That’s all for now folks! I can’t wait to share more of my Shopify adventures with you as the summer progresses:)

Until next time,

Jess

#lifeatshopify #intern #talent acquisition #shopify #developers #designers

Cube Competition for CompuCorps

With help from local Rideau-Vanier city councillor Mathieu Fleury, some hustlers from Shopify will be hosting a one hour rubik's cube competition in Ottawa's Byward Market at 12pm on February 28th, 2014. The competition will bring the local community together to raise money for CompuCorps TECHYOUTH which provides children in low income families the opportunity to learn technology skills, and eventually get jobs in the technology field! It will take place outside, on George St. between William and ByWard St., in front of the ByWard Market Building.

Dress warm and bring your lunch. We'll have warm drinks and music to keep you cozy.

Shopify's best cubers will be ready to take on anyone brave enough to compete on the "rubik's stage".

Anyone who can solve a scrambled cube faster than our Shopify cubers will win either:

A deluxe speed cube (bilingual instructions included) or;

An official tangly snake cube (a hot commodity in the cube world).

All other competitors are welcome to make a $10 donation to CompuCorps in return for a free cube!

Come enjoy your lunch hour with us and help us to support CompuCorps!

The Shopify Effect: Living to Learn

One question I am constantly asked is "how do you describe the people at Shopify in one word?" At first I came up with a number of answers - passionate, hardworking, engaged, exciting, fun, smart. While all of these are undoubtedly true, I've since started to reflect on the common denominator; that one thing that all Shopify employees have. Of course, everyone has unique and varied experiences but every single Shopify employee possesses one common trait. Enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is described as a "strong excitement about something: a strong feeling of active interest in something that you like or enjoy." The excitement and interest that the people at Shopify have for the work that they do is infectious.

Where does it come from? I attribute this enthusiasm to our love to learn. Everyone is eager and excited to learn something new. I try to leave everyday knowing just a little bit more than when I got there. I think this is true of everyone who walks through the doors of 126 York, 241 Spadina, and 3575 St. Laurent. I call it the Shopify Effect.

Cross-pollination between teams is encouraged. What I mean by this is that no one is prohibited from participating in or engaging with other teams and the projects or products they are working on. We work hard, but because we all possess an infectious pursuit for knowledge, it often doesn't seem like work. You bring something to the table that the person next to you doesn't, and vice versa. We can all learn something from one another and if a sharing of this knowledge continues to be encouraged, we'll all win.

What I find really interesting about the Shopify Effect - our enthusiasm and love to learn - is that it transcends all aspects of life. I sat with Tobi last week in the lounge while he was restringing his guitar. Last April he decided that he wanted to learn to play. Since then, he's picked up the guitar (two actually, one for the office and one for home) and has learned everything on his own... And I mean everything. He's not only learned to play but he's also learned the types of guitars, strings, tuning, amps and is now learning musical theory. He didn't stop when he figured out how to play his first few songs, he wanted to know everything he could. That thirst to learn it all is not exclusive to Tobi. I meet people everyday who are learning to code, learning to ski, learning to sing, learning to build, learning to cook, learning to brew, learning to take pictures and learning to make.

People everywhere have a love to learn but their enthusiasm is sometimes stifled by the environment they are in or the people they are surrounded by. I'm so glad that the place where I spend most of my time encourages the pursuit of knowledge in all forms.

Who encourages you to learn? Where do you feel the most comfortable asking questions and taking on new challenges? If you don't feel good about the answers to those questions, come try the Shopify Effect on for size. You'll learn something, I promise.

LMS

The following photographs were taken by Mark Dunkley: Product Manager - Themes at Shopify. Just another example of a real enthusiast and an excellent photographer.

#designers #artists #photography #jobsinottawa #careers

The Comback

Here we go! We are back in action and I'm excited to show & tell some of the incredible growth since my last intern post in the Summer of 2011. There has been exponential growth in just over two years. We've moved into a new office in Ottawa, opened two more in Toronto and Montreal, hired 300 people, acquired two companies and 50,000 more customers...oh and we have a slide. We process payments, offer a POS system and help 75,000 businesses sell their products online.

This and tons more in two years. TWO YEARS! What I like most about Shopify is its transparency. It does not matter how big the company grows, leaders at Shopify are open and honest about our roadmap, success, failures and exciting milestones. We are in the loop, we know what's going on and we are encouraged to voice our opinions. Every Friday we hear from one of our team members. An exec, a Director, a team lead or a colleague. We have lightning talks where we learn something interesting about a member of the Shopify team. Whether the person be presenting about a problem they solved, a feature they shipped or a new kind of beer they brewed that weekend, everyone learns something and we feel connected. We have AMAs (Ask Me Anything) and Panel Discussions where questions posted to our internal voting system are answered from the horses mouth. No bullshit. THIS IS SO RARE. I know that some of us take for granted how incredible and unique it is to be included in so many discussions about the current state and future of the company. Shopify literally has a giant team meeting almost every week. This is an environment that encourages tough questions and interesting ideas. Our questions are answered, complaints addressed openly, and ideas challenged and often executed.

We have been able to maintain this transparency throughout an extensive, and seemingly unending, growth phase. This is super duper badass.

I'd like to try to extend that transparency to Shopify supporters and enthusiasts everywhere.

LMS

#shopify #careers #jobs #developers #designers

Communication: Stand out and make it meaningful

Tweets, emails, Facebook and LinkedIn - there are tons of ways to get through to individuals you'd like to work with. When you're competing with 100's of other people you need to make your dialogue meaningful in order to stand out.

A couple weeks ago a story was launched on Fast Company about Shopify and its proprietary bonus system. The unique system Tobi named Unicorn was the focal point of the article.

Unicorn has grown along with Shopify thanks to employees dedicated to quality internal tools. Daniel Beauchamp and Serena Ngai spearheaded the latest updates. Check out more details on Shopify's unicorn from ultimate blogger Joey Devilla.

Lately I've taken an interest to PR. Trying to reach out and grab the attention of journalists, big shot writers and reps from the media seemed challenging and fun. I didn’t know much about PR so one Friday afternoon I decided to do a little research and see if I could grab someone's attention.

I checked out Wired and Fast Company for articles that were related to culture. I found an article in Fast Company from FC Blogger Shawn Graham. The article articulated the importance of creating a culture of innovation and how an office space can facilitate that.

With Shopify’s move to a new office I thought it would be really neat to chat with someone who appreciates a strong culture and who has seen some of the coolest offices in the States.

I reached out and he responded. He was initially interested in hearing about my experience at Shopify, so I went with it and we exchanged emails about my internship, what I’m learning, why I like Shopify, etc. We then exchanged ideas about maintaining culture through growth and some of the things Shopify does to facilitate that. Our conversations slowly progressed from his interest in chatting about culture and internships to the possibly of him writing an article on Shopify.

After a 40 minute discussion about Shopify he thought unicorn stuck out the most.

A few e mails later he'd fallen for unicorn. Tobi then took the time to give Shawn a demo. After the demo and explanation of unicorn from its inception, the article in Fast Company was published.

Things I learned from the experience:

PR has aspects that are tedious and can play out for a while.

My communication with Shawn happened over a span of 4 weeks. Emails here and there, screenshots, tweets and two calls.

Other aspects happen very quickly.

Once he decided to run the story it was published before I knew it. One call with Tobi on a Friday and by Tuesday morning the story was out.

I also learned was the importance of thoughtful communication...

Creating and maintaining human relationships is sometimes lost through the use of social media because it is time consuming and often difficult to make a meaningful connection. Get to know the person you are speaking with and they are much more likely to be interested in hearing more and helping you out. Generic emails, tweets and thoughtless communication doesn't get people anywhere. Don't blink.

Epic Shopify Time

A month ago we had YouTube sensations Epic Meal Time at the office to film one of their episodes.

Harley asked if I'd help organize the day so I came in to the office Saturday morning and set up for the mad amounts of cooking.

The boys arrived a few hours later and the rest of the day was just bananas.

We went shopping for supplies. 3 different places to get enough meat.

The cooking commenced, the people arrived and the party started. Shopify folks, the Epic crew and a few outside fans took over the office and had a great time.

The next 8 hours was filled with Jack Daniels, Bacon, roof top fun, video games and broken BBQs.

Mark and I saved the day by rolling a BBQ down the market streets when our rental one wouldn't start up.

In one of the video shots a Shopify rep was needed in the background. Initially the not so politically correct Epic crew asked if I'd stand in the background and do the dishes.

Well this did not bode well with me. I asked for a drink and told them that sipping some JDs leaning against the dishwasher was as close to public dish doing that I would get.

My 10 second cameo is a hilarious addition to the array of different tasks I've done at Shopify.

From learning about and practicing HR, trying out PR and marketing, starting my first blog, learning about programming to building shelves, editing videos, and hanging in the background of a youtube video with over 2 million hits, my experience here has been anything but ordinary.

One week left, who knows what I will get up to.

Shopify on Shopify

We launched our own Shopify Swag store today. Yep, we're using our own product to sell our merch.

Kicking it all off was a team effort that helped us to better understand what our store owners go through each day. As a newbie to the set up and maintenance of a shopify store it was super beneficial to get some insight on exactly what goes on from signup to launch of the store.

First off, the creation of the Shopify store was easy peasy! 3 minutes and you're done.

Alex MacDonell then did a fantastic job designing the storefront.

Remember a while back when I started at Shopify and was tricked into doing a Shopify photo shoot. Well, he used some of those pictures.

As the store set up and maintenance is so easy, I'll lay out the things that could not be done through the Shopify store...note there aren't that many!

1. Your Product - Find something you love to do and make a business out of it! There are tons of different products and services you can sell online.

Create an original product of your own

Use an existing product and come up with accessories or features to compliment it.

Design merchandise that represents you or your company and sell it on your online store (eg. Shopify and EpicMealTime )

If you have a service, get it online for people everywhere to enjoy.

2. Count and organize the inventory you have to sell

In our case t shirts and sweatshirts

3. If you are going to use a fulfillment center to ship out your product then create sku numbers for all the items and indicate the skus and desired fulfillment center warehouse in your shop.

eg. SHPFYHDYSM (Shopify Hoodie Small)

4. Verify your inventory is being tracked by the fulfillment center and place a test order to ensure the shop is also connected.

5. Ensure you have enough of your product to sell before you launch, if you're unsure then order or create more.

We placed an order to american and alternative apparel and got them printed and sent to Shipwire with the rest of our inventory (we don't want to run out of cool swag in our warehouse when all the celebs start wearing it).

6. Choose a payment gateway for your transactions.

Eg. PayPal, Authorize.net, Moneybookers etc.

6. PROMOTE PROMOTE PROMOTE

We rolled out our swag store today. Marketing wrote a wicked blog post, tweeted and got people excited!

So here it is, Shopify using Shopify.

Now get yourself some of our cool Shopify Swag.

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