Pros: The pace was good, and the problems were interesting.

Cons: Work is isolated, and sometimes you feel disconnected.

Pros: It’s all good fun until…

Cons: Under the surface, your manager is toxic and will hide, plot, and be two-faced. Under the surface, there are meetings about meetings, and nothing will suffice. Under the surface, the politics will get you drained, like everyone else. Under the surface, grandiose lies and wanting to be as big as Zuckerberg. Under the surface, copying and looking at FANGs and being jealous. Under the surface, the company is crumbling, eaten by incompetents. Under the surface, massive entitlements, and instead of being real, wanting to be famous. Under the surface, toil and red tape, and being stuck doing reviews. Under the surface, smoke and mirrors on borrowed time and funds. Under the surface, chaos is loose, and each head talks up their favorite dev tools. But wait! If we could state our plans and expectations, maybe we could have some taste and realizations. Maybe we could find truth and consolation and be kind and help each other and the world, and not get laid off. But there's so much that's bad and filthy, and it's growing, it's glowing until it all blows in… the end.

Pros: Beyond the obvious pros of remote work and competitive Canadian compensation, I appreciate that Shopify isn’t held back by norms or the past. They’re willing to experiment with radical new approaches, and willing to back down when they don’t work. The work itself varies largely by team, but given the scale of the company, there are plenty of hard problems to tackle. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working at Shopify and recommend it to others.

Cons: Frequent changes result in churn and frustrations over lost work. Opinions of senior leadership often arrived too late and caused issues, though this has been steadily getting better with their new review processes.