Pros: There are many lovely and intelligent people here. At times, I really appreciated the feedback I got from colleagues. It made me better. Some managers were very good about taking care of employees and covering them. I wish I would've kept the amazing manager I had.

Cons: The codebase is really poorly maintained and often lacks testing. Entire classes are untested. You will not be rewarded for trying to fix it. Instead, you'll be dealing with constantly changing requirements while also being nitpicked about everything. Nitpicking. While I value Shopify's feedback culture, it becomes impossible to keep up with all the nits. Moreover, managers are unwilling to help someone grow and address the feedback. They will write something down and create a tally next to the feedback for each time you mess up. Eventually, the feedback becomes vague and contradictory. The culture is cutthroat. If something goes wrong, rather than reflect on their overly bureaucratic and confusing processes, they'll lay the blame on an individual. Nothing improves, and working here becomes a game of hot potato where you avoid anything that can put you in the crosshairs. Constant attrition and stack ranking. A quarter of my team was cut within the first few months of my being here. Almost no one who was cut deserved it; they each brought significant value to the team. Everyone lives under the fear of a sudden termination, which they call an "exit." "Thrive on change" really isn't a value. It's an excuse management uses for their rapid mood shifts. I've often held meetings and ironed out how we'd approach a problem. Everyone would agree, but then wait until the project was close to shipping to change their minds. They won't take responsibility. They blame someone for everything and sacrifice that employee to the KPI gods. Public shaming is common here, as is dogpiling. They don't hold retros; they blame someone and wait for that person to quit or be fired. The company is unprofessional. They seem unable to iron out simple HR processes. They also force you to take a certain portion of your salary in RSUs to start and will not negotiate. They also provided incorrect information when I started about when my RSUs would be available to sell. AI as part of your mastery review. I got a bad review on this section, and my manager said, "Everyone got a bad review on that." I'd argue that this means it's not a real measure of performance. Stop it. Get some help.

Pros: - Chill work-life balance - Great perks

Cons: - Less TC than big tech FAANG companies. - Office politics heavy, depending on the team and upper management.

Pros: Great/close colleagues. Interesting projects to work on. Great learning resources and opportunities. Good WLB, depending on where you are in the organization.

Cons: The company is run by a CEO that changes his mind on a whim with little to no pushback from people directly under him. Case-and-point: he acquires a fulfillment company for $2.1 billion, only to sell it for $1.1 billion 10 months later. This is not an example of sane or prudent decision-making. I understand that successful acquisitions are rare, but I've never seen an acquisition given up on or resold less than a year later. Such whimsical decision-making does not happen with people who know how to run companies. Senior leadership outright lies. Case-and-point: in Feb 2023, the president of Shopify states that no more layoffs will happen. Then, 3 months later, a 20% layoff occurs. Even the most senior leaders of a company cannot guarantee, under all circumstances, that layoffs will not occur. So don't bother saying that they won't occur in major business news publications. This is an example of why you shouldn't take what leadership says at face value. Depending on where you are in the organization, you may find yourself on a project where you have to deliver features, quality be damned. You may or may not be okay with this approach to software development. Internal processes and communication tools change with no realized benefit. On the contrary, there have been net negative benefits from some changes. Attempts at fostering a trusting culture are laughable.