software engineer

support advisor

senior software engineer

support specialist

client advisor

Shopify

Any entry-level customer service role within Shopify is mentally and emotionally challenging. You work straight through each 8-hour shift without much more than a 30-minute break. To be successful in the role, you will need excellent social skills to navigate many difficult conversations (either due to technical issues or your own personal lack of knowledge on a given subject). 

The role also requires an equal amount of technical know-how, as your support covers (but is not limited to): shipping, taxes, inventory, fulfillment, reporting/analytics, third-party apps, Facebook advertising, Google shopping, products, marketing, payment gateways, point of sale and the list goes on. (Just have a quick look at their Help Center.) Never expect to become an expert within your role, because things constantly change. Shopify does its best to keep you in the loop of these changes, but there simply is no way to keep up with it all unless you study outside the regular working hours. Ultimately, your biggest learning experiences come from the interactions you've completely bombed, because you'll make sure never to slip up like that again.

The people you speak to over the phone are generally nice people, but when things go wrong for the customer, conversations escalate quickly. When a person's site goes down and they are losing thousands of dollars by the hour, you'll be the person they are contacting. And when you aren't doing phone calls, you are doing three live-chats simultaneously. It is very difficult to juggle 3 chats with varying topics at once, even after several years of working there.

If you are expecting to find a fun work culture at Shopify, forget about it. There is barely time in the day to talk with your peers and the majority of the time you will feel very isolated and on your own. Shopify boasts an excellent work culture, but unless you work in one of their multi-million dollar offices, the culture they speak of is non-existent.

I started in general customer support and after 3 years was able to move into a Shopify Plus (enterprise level) customer support position at no additional pay. I did a lot of extra work to try and move up in the company, and was unable to after 4 years of giving it my all. I went as far as taking online courses but ultimately there is always someone better than you applying for the same role, because every role is remote and anyone can apply. Unless you have 5+ years direct experience in a related field, you can not move out of support roles. I grew extremely tired of the support role I was in, and when management began to recognize it I opened up to them about my burnout, only to be let go without cause and given severance. It was a very cold way to be let go after so many years there, but I guess people in tech are expendable.

I worked at Shopify for 4 years, which is far longer than any other job I've had, so that says something. I enjoyed many days of my job as I liked the freedom of remote work and the daily challenges I had to overcome. If you get bored of jobs like me because of the menial repetitious tasks, a job like Shopify will keep your interest. You will need an equal amount of social prowess and technical know-how to survive, and it is difficult to become emotionally invested in the company without being let down time and time again.

The benefits, perks and pay were decent for an entry-level job, which is probably why I stayed there as long as I did. (I refer to it as the "golden handcuffs"). But boy am I relieved to be out of there.

I was really excited about this job and was determined to work really hard and do well in this role, but I had no idea what I was in for. Shopify’s Junior Support Advisor position is predatory. They pay $17 an hour (only 0.25 over minimum wage in BC) and have absolutely no benefits or time off. You even work on Christmas. The work is extremely stressful and demanding. During a chat shift, you are expected to take 3 chats simultaneously, which often involves some amount of complex and technical troubleshooting, all the while not allowing more than *3 minutes* to go by in any of your 3 simultaneous chats, without checking in with the customer you’re speaking with. While all that’s going on, you may also have to reach out to internal teams and search documentation for answers for the customer as you frantically troubleshoot customers issues as fast as you possibly can.  “Fast paced” doesn’t even begin to describe it. If the job itself wasn’t hard enough, the customers you’re speaking with are often really upset and extremely impatient. I’ve been called all kinds of horrible things in this job. Since you’re just a faceless representative behind a keyboard, it’s not uncommon for the customer to take their frustration out on you. And oh boy, do they ever. In this role you will also be graded on your tickets (chat and email interactions) and the grading is extremely inconsistent. It completely depends on the person who is grading you, and you never know which grader you’ll get. I have been told by one grader that they liked that I said xyz, and be given feedback by another grader that I shouldn’t say the exact same thing that was previously praised for saying. It’s very confusing and difficult to know what you need to do be be successful in this role. Throughout your time as a JSA, you are encouraged to continue to work hard for the *opportunity* to be invited to work as a full-time support advisor after your JSA contract is up, where you will begin making a more fair wage. However I don’t know a single JSA who has made it to the “full-time” position. Every single person I know who was in this role was let go when their contracts were up, despite positive feedback about their performance from leads. 

The JSA position is alright if you need a job for three months between finding a better job, don't expect job security or a contract extension. Here's the breakdown of the JSA position:
You're by yourself, your team lead is never there and your team is usually too busy to socialize, and there's no such thing as a manager or management 
You pick hours when you apply but your start times are completely random and you have no say, no stability at all, you can work 7-3 one week and 11-7 the next
You're expected to answer 3 tickets an hour yet your whole job is based on 3 tickets a month and you're usually graded on badly reviewed tickets which is out of your control because people using Shopify are usually angry and blame you 
The ticket grading system is all based on opinion, one person will tell you to do your job this way then someone else will tell you not to do that a month later since it's a different person grading you every month which leads to a lower score which leads to no contract extensionn
You are the front line of support meaning you deal with the most frustrated people and you're expected to get harrased for basically minimum wage 
No benefits unless you survive a year and a half, no vacation time and you'll probably be denied any days you request off
You have to go to the "mentors" just to communicate with the other teams or get approval to escalate tickets, and let me tell you these mentors will treat you like a peasant and waste your time with their questions that make you feel like an idiot, not productive or inclusive at all 
A lot of the problems merchants face are with third party platforms which we're told we don't have to support but guess what? You'll still have to provide as much information as you can and even reach out to the developer for the merchants 
Don't get me wrong, the job was interesting at first but if you can't handle high stress situations then don't even bother because Shopify cares more about the people paying them then the people they pay in this position



This company does not care about their employees at all! They will cut you off as soon as they get a chance, and do not care about the employees health. They run on autonomy and will micro-manage you every second, breathing down your neck. You are required to tell them if you're going to the washroom, lunch, etc. The hire ups do not give you any support or empathy and only care about if the company is making money. You can overperform the whole time working there, but the second you make one mistake they will replace you within seconds.

1. A typical day at work: Live-chats in the morning/afternoon for about 3-4 hours, with frustrated merchants who throw baggage and stress on you. You will need to take 3 chats at one time and reply to each person within 2-3 minutes of each message, and then also make sure that you are being friendly and help them grow their sales while juggling a bunch of things at once. If you are dying they will still expect you to reply to the chats within 2-3 minutes or else they will flag you in QA. Then you will take a lunch and be put onto emails for the rest of the shift, and you are expected to answer 2-3 emails per hour, however, you have to read through several previous email threads, and sometimes the third-party low cost labour workers will mess up several times and you have to fix all their mistakes.

2. What you believe you learned: That they don't care about you and will sell you a dream and set the expectations that they care about you and will help you succeed - but will drop you the chance they get to save money.

3. Management: Terrible. They do not care about you and will micro manage you every second.  If a customer is toxic to you and speaks to you disrespectfully, they do not care and then criticize you on how you could've gotten them to calm down.

4. Workplace culture: Can be good if you have good co-workers, however, you're not allowed to rant about a customer that was rude to you, or you'll be flagged.

5. The hardest part of the job: The high expectations that they set and that you're alone in everything. 

I worked in the support advisor role, but in my opinion the role was much more focused on sales than support. Management had clear sales-related targets they wanted us to hit, but were never able to articulate what behaviours they wanted us to engage in to achieve those results. In fact, there were many instances where I was told not to do something during training, only to later have a different person in management tell me that I should start doing it. Their lack of consistency in messaging was incredibly frustrating, and seemed largely based on their subjective preferences or feelings at the time rather than any sort of formal guidelines. 

They also regularly acted as though they were a small start up with a handful of employees worth nothing, counting on everybody being there out of a passion for the company. The reality is they are one of the most profitable companies in Canada, with thousands of employees, and they need to start behaving like one when it comes to employee guidelines and rewards/incentives. Getting a pat on the back and a good job emoji doesn't help me pay the bills. 

My lead at Shopify was also wildly unqualified for the role, having no tech or computer experience whatsoever. If you work for a tech company, specifically in the department providing support to customers, you would expect a base level of computer literacy, however this was NOT the case in my experience as I found my lead regularly struggled to make use of programs like Zoom or Google Docs effectively. 

The company likes to say the "right" thing, but rarely seems to follow through. I was told there would be plenty of opportunities for growth and raises, however after they laid off thousands of people midway through the year management could no longer even tell me when I might be eligible for a review for a raise, let alone when I might get one. 

In summation, the job has good benefits and competitive pay, but has many many issues stemming from the top down. Your voice will not be heard unless you are telling them something they already want to hear. 

I’ve been using Shopify for a while now, and overall it’s been a solid experience. Setting up the store was surprisingly straightforward, even without much technical background. The dashboard is clean, intuitive, and doesn’t feel overwhelming, which makes day-to-day management easier than expected. Adding products, tracking inventory, and processing orders all feel well integrated in one place.

One of Shopify’s biggest strengths is its flexibility. There are countless themes and apps that let you customize your store to match your brand and scale as your business grows. While some apps can get expensive over time, the variety means you can usually find a solution that fits your needs. The built-in analytics are also helpful, giving clear insights into sales, traffic, and customer behaviour without needing extra tools.

Customer support has been mostly positive. The help center is detailed, and live chat responses are generally quick and helpful when issues come up. That said, certain advanced features require higher-tier plans, which can feel limiting for smaller businesses just starting out. Transaction fees can also add up if you’re not using Shopify Payments.

Despite these drawbacks, Shopify does a great job of balancing ease of use with professional-level functionality. It’s reliable, secure, and trusted by businesses of all sizes, which adds peace of mind. For entrepreneurs who want a platform that grows with them and doesn’t require constant technical troubleshooting, Shopify is a strong choice. It may not be the cheapest option on the market, but the overall experience and ecosystem make it worth considering for anyone serious about e-commerce.

The Guru role is just plain unsustainable. You'd think it'd be about, y'know, helping people, but it all comes down to numbers for management. How long you spend on chats/calls, how many you completed in an hour, and how many upsell attempts you made (regardless of relevance to the person's reason for contacting support) take priority over actual customer satisfaction. And you know what? It's more than a little difficult to meet an ideal of "15 minutes per chat" when you have to juggle three of them at the same time. Turns work-life balance into an absolute joke. Half my squad and I ended up staying late working on follow-up emails every day of the week. If you manage to clear your slate one day, I guarantee you'll have 20 new messages to deal with before work starts tomorrow.

The boots-on-the-ground folks who do the actual work are wonderful. Supportive, smart, and very, very adaptable. Management, on the other hand, is wanting. Don't get me wrong, there are some good folks working their way up in this company. The one I got saddled with was a "drink the Kool-Aid" sycophant who was somewhat less concerned with helping the team grow than slinging buzzwords at us with the most insincere smile I ever saw. That was, when he was there, of course. I don't know how many vacation days managers get, but this guy was blowin' through his like he only had a year to live.

The pay and benefits are great. There are also some truly worthwhile jobs you can work your way up to if you can survive Guruland. My experience left me with no desire to explore those.

Working at Shopify has in fact, overall been a mostly positive experience- You get to speak with merchants all over the world who have very unique actual challenges, and in a weird way this motivates you to become better at your job

Where I wish there was more flexibility is the internal hiring process. It often takes 4-8 weeks to hear back, and when you do have an interview it comes down to really asinine 1% differences, then put the blame on you for not being flexible. More often than not, it's because of a popularity contest, instead of meritocracy. 

The pandemic and changes to management in the last few years, really changed them for the worst. They also do lots of saying one thing, and then not following through with it, and vica versa. They constantly preach "The Career Jungle Gym" meaning you can move rapidly into different roles; this is a facade. This can lead you to feel gaslighted when they try to convince you that the really bad thing they did, is actually a good thing.

Couple that in with the recent events of the last few years, including the class-action lawsuits, increasing the monthly prices to merchants across the board by over 40%, layoffs, angry merchants, then boasting record levels of profits: They've become a company I don't recognize anymore.

While I am very grateful to have work with them and to have had the impact I have had on the wonderful people I have interacted and met both, externally and internally, I am ready for a change in my career that aligns closer to what I want out of it.

Shopify is a great company to get your feet wet in the tech industry, and to build some practical knowledge to use in your career. The benefits package is unmatched, from stock options to spending accounts. You're given a lot of room to grow as a person, and ample opportunity to develop your own skills. The culture between teams is also good, for the most part.

Advancement in Shopify is abysmal, as is the compensation. Shopify operates internally as if it is two different companies, one side being Support, and then the rest of the company on another. Support is often excluded from the rest of the company, and the benefits package is significantly less enticing. Shopify advertises a fair wage, but you will find that this isn't the case. Colleagues in support make far from industry standard with no real room for compensation adjustments, and other teams make varied wages, with external hires making significantly more than internal hires.

There's very little opportunity to grow, and significant favouritism with internal hiring. Managers often have little to no leadership experience, and move quickly, requiring you to play the "who you know" game to move around internally. As the company grows, the internal culture and equality among employees is diminishing quickly.

My time at Shopify was incredible. It is a LOT of work and I'd reccomend having at least a solid call center / sales job prior, but you get what you give! Pay is good to start (imo it should be at least 5K more based on my own experience and where I live), the health benefits and perks are verrrry nice, and the culture is wonderful. 

There are weekly company wide meetings, where all are encouraged to participate and a real sense of community (the guru role was always remote) even during the pandemic. 

Career advancement and planning is discussed almost immediately after training, and this can, at times be daunting (the learning curve at the beggining can be both steep and overwhelming lol), but is ultimately there for your own good with a lil bit of perseverence. 

After a few months you really start to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and the merchants you speak with are nothing short of geniuses. It can be extremely inspiring as well.

So if you're into hard work, ecommerce, troubleshooting, marketing, tech, becoming an entrepreneur in a fast paced environment, and have the tenacity and will to go far, the company will totally support you. 

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Software engineer 44 salaries reported	$113,130 per year
Support advisor 8 salaries reported	$47,088 per year
Senior software engineer 20 salaries reported	$212,550 per year
Support specialist 11 salaries reported	$59,773 per year
Client advisor 12 salaries reported	$49,475 per year

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