{"id":9083,"date":"2018-04-11T13:11:50","date_gmt":"2018-04-11T17:11:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=9083"},"modified":"2025-10-10T15:29:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T19:29:54","slug":"shopify-springboard-for-students","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/shopify-springboard-for-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Shopify Springboard for Students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Shopify Springboard for Students\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Owen Craston was signed up for Computer Science<\/a> at Carleton University and received an email from the program\u2019s director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laura Aubin was planning to study a different subject in another faculty when a high school mentor told her about an exciting new opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lulu Sheng heard about it from a friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Niko Kouloufakos started down this path when he was in Grade 11. He was summoned to a meeting in the principal\u2019s office, where his computer teacher suggested that he drop the class and, instead, apply for a co-op placement at a rapidly growing Ottawa-based commerce company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the routes they have taken vary, all four of these Carleton undergrads are enthusiastic participants in Carleton\u2019s unique Dev Degree<\/a> internship partnership with Shopify<\/a>, where students split their time between campus and the company\u2019s downtown headquarters, getting tuition covered and earning a salary through their four-year degrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This experiential learning<\/a> program gives Computer Science students real-world experience that can springboard them into rewarding careers and, at the same time, helps develop the tech talent that Ottawa and Canada need to remain competitive in the global knowledge economy.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Students<\/figure>\n\n\n

Working with a world-class partner<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shopify, which has more than 3,000 employees, is the world\u2019s leading cloud-based commerce platform for small- and medium-sized businesses. Business owners or merchants can use the software to design, set up and manage their stores across multiple sales channels, including web, mobile, social media, brick-and-mortar locations and pop-up shops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Launched in September 2016<\/a>, the Carleton partnership is several months into its second year, and though all feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, Shopify\u2019s education team refined the program before the new group of students arrived in September 2017. Those adjustments will pay dividends when a university in the Greater Toronto Area starts a similar collaboration next September at the company\u2019s Toronto office, the first step toward a possible larger rollout across Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom day one, both Shopify and our partners knew we were building an extremely ambitious program that would require close collaboration and the ability to adapt to constant feedback,\u201d says Jean-Michel Lemieux, Shopify\u2019s senior vice-president of engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause of this feedback loop, we were able to focus on improving two integral areas: building a stronger foundation of development skills, so students are equipped with the right knowledge to make an impact on their teams, and enhancing the personal growth of students. We know there\u2019s more to working on a team than just technology and tools, so we\u2019re working to build out those skills in our students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThrough our founding partnership with Carleton, we\u2019ve been able to validate a work-integrated learning model that works,\u201d he adds. \u201cOur goal, by the time our first cohort graduates, is to have over 100 students enrolled in the Dev Degree program and to share a blueprint of our work-integrated learning model with other universities and companies in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Owen<\/figure>\n\n\n

Shopify internship a perfect fit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Craston, one of 10 Carleton students in the second year of the program, knew about Shopify as a teenager growing up in Ottawa. He was introduced to programming in a Grade 10 class, bought a book to teach himself more and, after deciding to study Computer Science at Carleton, the opportunity to do a four-year internship during his degree seemed like a perfect fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first year was challenging,\u201d Craston says about trying to balance university course work and his immersion into Shopify, which included joining a software development team after four months. \u201cI didn\u2019t even know what type of questions to ask. But even getting things wrong, I learned so much \u2014 and I really enjoyed the process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the key changes made by Shopify over the summer was to delay the students\u2019 deployment onto development teams until September of their second year, so they could have more time to acquire the skills they needed to contribute. Those development team hours were replaced by a skills development path featuring training with web, database, development tools, and other essential technologies. Students also collaborate on a student app-building group project and other training modules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, Shopify added some job shadowing and pair programming with a staff developer, as well as regular sessions with a \u201cLife at Shopify\u201d wellness mentor and with a \u201cStudent Life Producer\u201d (who focuses on soft skills, HR matters and budgeting) to help students find firm footing.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Laura<\/figure>\n\n\n

An amazing space to work and study in<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe people here have been amazing,\u201d says Aubin, one of Craston\u2019s classmates. \u201cIt was shocking, coming from high school and meeting people in industry and having them talk to me like a peer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGoing from high school to university can be a scary experience, but the people at Shopify have helped make it really comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProgramming and software development are taught so late in life \u2014 in comparison to math or science \u2014 which creates a gap between entry into the workforce and impact on a team,\u201d says Lemieux. \u201cWe\u2019ve shortened the distance to impact on a team with the Dev Degree program, which means this new education model is working and will continue to grow with our feedback loop. Our education team works with the students and mentors to provide better documentation and support to ensure each student is contributing back to the program for future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aubin is working on the coding for the system that Shopify uses to give its merchants cash advances. As a second-year student, she\u2019s taking on more high-level tasks, which is helping her become a better software developer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet despite these heightened expectations, she\u2019s finding that it\u2019s now easier to find the right balance between her Carleton course work and intern responsibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am spending more time than I have to at Shopify,\u201d she says, noting the funky workspaces and delicious (and free) catered meals and snacks in the building just off Elgin Street, \u201cbecause it\u2019s such a great place to study.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Lulu<\/figure>\n\n\n

Students tapped for their potential and passion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Grade 12, Sheng taught herself to code by \u201cjust fiddling around\u201d on her computer. A friend told her about the Shopify internship \u2014 and it seemed like an ideal match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis type of program didn\u2019t exist anywhere else,\u201d says Sheng, one of the 14 first-year students. \u201cThey were looking for potential. You can always teach skills.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheng\u2019s first few months at Shopify were fast paced and demanding, but there was a strong support system, including a low instructor-to-student ratio. \u201cIt was a conversation,\u201d she says. \u201cI could talk about what I was passionate about and what I wanted to explore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Half of the two dozen Carleton interns at Shopify and most of the instructors are women, which supports the program\u2019s goal of bringing more gender equity to a traditionally male-dominated career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no secret that the tech industry needs to do more to increase accessibility and diversity,\u201d says Lemieux. \u201cIn fact, we noticed in our initial outreach in 2016 that the response was predominantly from men. To fix this, we revisited our application and built (in) more inclusive language to increase the diversity of applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile the program is also diverse in other ways, including nearly 20 per cent of students identifying as members of the LGTBQA+ community, there is still more we can do to successfully engage other communities that have been historically under-represented in tech.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Niko<\/figure>\n\n\n

A real-world mix of theory and applied creativity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of Sheng\u2019s fellow freshman, Kouloufakos \u2014 who had started at Shopify as a high school co-op student and quickly had his sights set on the internship \u2014 loves the program\u2019s combination of applied creativity with the purely theoretical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first product he created \u201ccrashed and burned,\u201d he says, so he fixed the coding and hasn\u2019t made the same mistake again. And he\u2019s been able to build tools that Shopify merchants actually use, such as a patch that facilitates free shipping to American military bases from U.S. addresses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re learning and starting to understand so many new things,\u201d says Kouloufakos, \u201cand at the same time, building things that look good and work well. Plus, we\u2019re surrounded by people who want to help us out as much as they can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe intention of this program is to give top students from across Canada and the United States an opportunity to fast-track into high-end development jobs,\u201d says Doug Howe, director of the university\u2019s School of Computer Science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Students get the Computer Science fundamentals from Carleton and apply them at Shopify, one of Canada\u2019s top employers of elite software developers,\u2019\u2019 he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In Computer Science, one of the best ways to learn the academic material is to get immersed in using it to solve practical problems. Because students will be at Shopify year-round, they can get deeply involved in a variety of long-term projects at the same time as they are doing their academic studies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Carleton<\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Owen Craston was signed up for Computer Science at Carleton University and received an email from the program\u2019s director. Laura Aubin was planning to study a different subject in another faculty when a high school mentor told her about an exciting new opportunity. Lulu Sheng heard about it from a friend. Niko Kouloufakos started down […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":9171,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[28,25],"cu_story_tag":[],"class_list":["post-9083","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-community-partnerships","cu_story_type-student-experience"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/9083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/9083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98138,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/9083\/revisions\/98138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=9083"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=9083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}