The application and interview process with Shopify is fun and unique. Throughout it I felt like I got a really good taste of what life as a developer at Shopify would be like. As someone who is not a CS major (or a recent graduate at all), it’s refreshing that they open the internship to all new devs, not just university students!
The application itself helps you (and them) try on and figure out what part of the stack you'd most like to work on. The application has some general form fields and resume/cover letter upload, but the heart of it are the code challenges, Shopify store, and Hack Day prompt. You're only 'required' to do one of those three, but like anything in life, don't just do the minimum--they want to see what you're capable of and how you think and you should take the opportunity to show them in as many ways as you can! There were different challenges for Front End, Back End, Mobile, and Data. These are real world problems, not pointless algo puzzles. As with the overall project/challenge portion of the app, they ask that you do one *or more* (do the ones that interest you, use them to figure out what team you really want to join).
If your application makes it through the first selection, you have their infamous Life Story Skype interview with one member of the Talent Acquisition team. My interviewer was super friendly and made me feel very comfortable. The recruiter actively listened as I told my story, and the follow up questions showed she got a good sense of me, what team I'd do well on and how I could grow at Shopify. You do most of the talking in this one, but don't be afraid to ask questions. It was a painful week waiting to hear back, but they told us up front the timeline that they'd be doing first round interviews and the date we'd hear back (either way).
I heard back right on time and they set up the technical interview with two developers from the team you're slated to be a good fit for (or at least from the stack you'd be working on). The recruiter I had my first interview with could not have chosen a more perfect team for me! I had no idea who'd interview me until they sent me an invite on Skype (I'm in the US, I believe Canadians who are local enough to one of their offices interview onsite). I was super nervous but my interviewer again made me feel super comfortable from the moment we started talking. After walking them through one of my side projects, we discussed how I'd approach building the UI for a page spec from the Design team.
The waiting that followed was again painful, but the timeline was clear just like the first round. They went the extra mile the whole way through, from application (that helps you present your best self) to making the offer by phone instead of just emailing. Make the extra effort on your application and take every opportunity to write or talk to them as a chance to show them who you are and what you can do. They have thousands of applicants for this internship, so be proud of however far you make it—Good luck!!
