Beyond building codes, Waterloo students are accelerating the company’s customer growth and retention, while supporting the local economy
Leveraging Waterloo’s renowned co-op program, students are making a significant impact in the business and technology sector with transformative innovations.
As more consumers choose to support local shops over big-box chains, Waterloo co-op students at Faire — an online wholesale platform connecting independent retailers with unique brands — are helping build tools that strengthen local economies and empower small businesses to thrive.
Faire is one of more than 8,000 Waterloo co-op employers who enable more than 70 per cent of students to gain up to two years of employment experience during their studies.
From building scalable content management systems to crafting innovative mobile experiences and prototyping new user-friendly features, Waterloo co-op students have made measurable improvements to the performance and reliability of Faire’s backend systems. Their work directly impacts customer growth, retention and the overall success of the platform.
“We treat our co-op students as full members of the engineering team, entrusting them with ownership of real product features, infrastructure improvements, and customer-facing experiences that ship to production,” says Mark Widish (BCS ’08), an engineering lead at Faire.
Widish, a University of Waterloo Computer Science graduate, completed several co-op terms at startups and larger tech companies across the Kitchener-Waterloo area — including Blackberry. He credits those experiences with shaping his career path and fueling his commitment to mentoring the next generation of co-op students.
“Waterloo co-op students bring fresh, valuable perspectives to our teams,” he says. “These fresh eyes help us challenge assumptions and evolve our product with greater creativity and intentionality.”
One standout example is Blair McAlpine (BCS ’25), who completed three co-op terms at Faire and made exceptional contributions to the engineering organization. Widish explains that McAlpine didn’t just assist with side tasks — he took ownership of key technical initiatives that delivered real business outcomes.
“Blair led the implementation of early head streaming with NextJS, a performance optimization that resulted in a measurable increase in order volume on Faire,” Widish shares. “He also conducted in-depth research to improve our engineering quality and authored documentation that’s now foundational for onboarding new engineers.”
Widish emphasizes that McAlpine’s impact extended beyond code. He actively supported teammates and contributed to internal learning channels focused on NextJS. His leadership and technical excellence earned him a full-time role at Faire following his graduation in 2025.
“Waterloo co-op students continue to be a key source of high-growth talent at Faire. Their strong academic foundation, combined with hands-on work experience, enables them to hit the ground running and take on meaningful challenges early in their careers.”
Faire’s multi-billion-dollar platform does more than drive financial growth — it creates meaningful opportunities for Waterloo students and graduates across the Waterloo region. Across Faire’s engineering teams, former Waterloo co-op students have gone on to grow their impact and advance into senior roles. Their curiosity, drive and eagerness to learn make them an essential part of Faire’s long-term hiring strategy.
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