For the most part, the process was fun. I enjoyed talking to the recruiter, as well as going through a technical pair programming exercise and a technical deep dive session.

I won't comment on the above meetings since my experience was quite positive.

Initially, I applied for a Senior Software Engineer position, but it turns out Shopify's compensation structure is not very attractive at all. Also, I'm currently in the process of being promoted to Staff, so it made sense for me to push for the L7 band.

For this, they scheduled a system design round. I was actually well prepared for it. My prior experience working with complex architectures gave me a lot of confidence walking into the interview. I probably know more about system design at this point than most developers I interact with.

Unfortunately, this doesn't mean a system design interview will go well. Several negatives affected the outcome of the interview.

First of all, I was given a very lengthy writeup. The interviewer went over it almost word for word. Of course, it's impossible to understand it in detail in just one reading, so I had to read it again. Now, let's factor in the time it takes to do introductions and ask generic questions at the end. I think I had something like 35 minutes tops to finish the interview. Finally, Shopify doesn't use a proper third-party tool for system design rounds. You will be given a poorly-written Google tool and keep wondering how to draw even the most primitive shapes and interactions.

The problem itself wasn't difficult at all, but the interview setup made it impossible for me to finish it within the allotted time window. Also, the feedback I received was that I went deep on explaining certain parts of the system instead of focusing on the high-level design. The funny thing is, in the past, I received the opposite feedback from other companies, as the interview board was looking to know whether the candidate deeply understood why they would use what they were using.

Finally, the offer they made for a senior role was laughable at best. Many mid-level developers I know have similar compensation packages. Shopify needs to rethink its compensation structure if they want to hire the best talent.

Won't disclose out of respect for the hiring community.