Co-op students make a big impact at Shopify

In the current age of technological disruption, Waterloo students are striving to understand the needs of the business world and tackle the biggest challenges they face. Leveraging the University’s world-class co-op program, students gain valuable experience working at one of more than 8,000 employers connected to Waterloo. 

At Shopify, the leading global commerce company, Waterloo students are solving problems behind the scenes to make the merchant experience stress-free for millions of retailers on the platform. From developing infrastructural efficiencies and designing new features to enhance the merchant experience, co-op students also create internal tools for data analysis and workflow enhancements.  

Simply put, Waterloo co-op students’ work covers a broad spectrum of possibilities and innovations.  

Recently, four Waterloo alumni shared their experience transitioning from co-op students to developers, engineers and mentors, and the role they now play in mentoring the next generation of talent.  

Moving projects forward 

“Waterloo co-op students significantly contribute to our teams at Shopify. Their enthusiasm for learning and applying new skills helps propel our projects forward, adding fresh perspectives and vitality,” says Graham Cooper (BCS ’18), staff production engineer. 

“A memorable project that comes to mind involved a significant overhaul of our Redis caching infrastructure, undertaken by a Waterloo co-op student. This student developed a sophisticated system to dynamically manage configuration and network settings, which greatly improved our infrastructure’s efficiency and flexibility. Projects like these demonstrate the critical role co-op students play in our continual push for better systems and solutions,” he adds.

Left to right: Graham Cooper (BCS ’18), staff production engineer, and Selena Latchman (BSC ’20), a senior developer at Shopify.

Selena Latchman (BSC ’20), a senior developer, appreciates the range of skills and expertise Waterloo students bring to their work at Shopify. “Students work on various platforms for web and mobile with various technologies like Ruby on Rails, GraphQL and React. They also work with various end users like merchants, buyers, and app developers.” 

"Having been on both sides (as a co-op student and now working at Shopify full-time for almost five years), I can truly testify to the value Waterloo’s co-op program offers for students and employers."

From mentee to mentor 

In a full circle moment, Gurpreet Gill (BCS ’19), a staff engineer, expresses how rewarding it has been to move from being a mentee at the company just a few years ago to now being a mentor to new co-op students.  

“Part of my role as a mentor is to provide technical guidance, career advice and help them navigate their professional role while developing their skills. We work on the same projects and it’s very rewarding to watch their growth and contributions over the course of their co-op term,” he says.  

“As an engineering team, our interns actively participate in coding, reviewing pull requests and other project work. The work they do is not only meaningful and challenging, but also offers them exposure to real-world applications, allowing them to make tangible contributions to Shopify's mission.” 

Left to right: Gurpreet Gill (BCS ’19), a staff engineer, and Steven Steven (BASc ’21), a developer at Shopify.

Steven Steven (BASc ’21), developer, is currently working with Sasha Barazandeh, a fourth-year Computer Engineering student. He shares that since his first few weeks that the two worked and pair-programmed together, Barazandeh, continues to make impactful contributions to Shopify’s codebase.   

“Our team typically runs multiple projects on six-week cycles, involving a few developers, a project manager, and other relevant stakeholders. Co-op students play an integral role in these projects, actively participating in all phases — from prototype to build and to release.” 

The University of Waterloo has the largest co-op program at a research-intensive university in the world, with more than 70 per cent of students gaining up to two years of employment experience during their studies. The talent we develop continues to have a significant economic impact in our region and around the world. 

Hire Waterloo talent today.