Any engineers working at shopify/hootsuite? How would you compare working as sde in these smaller conpanies vs. Google, MS etc. (Top US tech giants) offices in Canada. Looking for feedback on quality of tech, learning opportunities, work culture, growth opportunities, salary. Thanks!!!
Shopify is 180 - 200 CAD TC at the higher end for SWE. At Shopify, technical skill varies hugely depending on team, make sure to vet this properly. Technical skill in some orgs is top notch, in some is very poor. Make sure you’re on a team that will not grind you out and leaves you with enough slack to enjoy the Shopify environment.
Hey, thanks! Please mention the teams and orgs that are good for engineers? And which to avoid. I will be interviewing. There are some openings for core team and shipping teams I am thinking to apply. How are those?
DM me - are these roles in Ottawa or Toronto?
Google > Amazon > Shopify . Google doesn't have a big office thought but both Amazon and Shopify do. Amazon is tier 1, really high bar, the smartest people. Shopify is good but their interview process is shit and their culture is a hit chaotic. CEO still wants to code sometimes, anybody can become a manager even fi they are bad at it, inconsistent tech bar. If you can get Amazon go for Amazon, you will not regret
Google TO hires engineers? Thought it was mostly a sales office
Waterloo has engineering office
Why do you want to move to Canada? Do you have plan to comeback? You may want to consider all factors. Amazon pays more than Microsoft in Canada.
I used to work at HootSuite quite some time ago (in 2013). TC was a joke then: no bonus, only base, which for a senior software engineer was 75K a year. Also tried to sell me options that were expensive, had no secondary market and would have made my tax obligations go way up.
Thanks. Are you still in Canada? What other software tech employers do you recommend there (better that hootsuite)?
Vancouver house prices were 35% of current values in Vancouver back then. So if I do the maths correctly, that would mean Hootsuite would need to pay 214k CAD for that role now, to bring this into perspective.