Senior Software Engineer applicants have rated the interview process at Shopify with 2.6 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 35% positive. To compare, the company-average is 45.5% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Senior Software Engineer roles take an average of 31 days to get hired, when considering 51 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Shopify overall takes an average of 33 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Shopify as a Senior Software Engineer according to 51 Glassdoor interviews include:
Phone interview: 31%
One on one interview: 24%
Skills test: 17%
Presentation: 11%
Personality test: 6%
Background check: 6%
IQ intelligence test: 4%
Drug test: 1%
Other: 1%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Shopify (Calgary, AB) in May 2021
Interview
Since Shopify get so many candidates, you don't start with a 1-1 with recruiter. It's all self serve booking where first you book an interview for a coding exercise then if you pass you book for a Life Story interview. Now rest of the process you can find documented on their website. I just want to share my experience with their Life story interview. I was so excited that a company take this kind of approach so I had high hopes for an authentic conversation with the Recruiter. However, what I got was a cold, egoistic and unprofessional recruiter who feels like do this back to back all day and is over the whole tell me you story thing. She basically asked me to start with my resume from bottom up which is nothing really Life story like. She was 5 minutes late and didn't even feel bad about which is okay but this ego became very apparent when later she asked me a question that "Why Shopify". In my answer I said my bit and I said also I'm hoping they would convince me to take the job today; she literally raised her eyebrows and said,
"and why would we do that". I explained it's also because I have another offer to compare against but in my mind I was thinking isn't it a two way street for you guys. Isn't it supposed to be us both interviewing each other. Anywho, I do think this might have been a one off bored recruiter but I did want to document it as this may happen to others as Shopify is expanding fast and mind be taking on recruiters that don't stand up to their previous name.
I passed LRU cache coding in first interview
I had four more interview.
1. pair coding again LRU cache I did what I did in previous one
2. system design I desinged staff level architectire
3. Technical deep dive I explained my current technical structure
4. life story he asked what we talked first screening
I got rejected .
Important part All I had interview was native speaker. None has accent.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Library Rare Books
Goals
Design the core systems to drive check-in and check-out flows. It should involve a web app (schema/APIs), a job system, and a file storage system.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Shopify in Apr 2026
Interview
I recently completed the interview process at Shopify, which spanned about three weeks. The stages included an initial online cognitive assessment and a pair programming round, followed by a virtual onsite featuring a second pair programming session, a technical deep dive, system design, and a "life story" interview.
Overall, it was an excellent experience. The interviewers were professional and highly engaged throughout. I found the technical problems to be very practical, and notably, the use of AI coding tools was encouraged during the pairing sessions. While the system design requirements were quite lengthy, the complexity was manageable as long as you remain calm, think out loud, and clarify expectations early on.
Had an initial recruiter call, very friendly. Then had a life story interview, very friendly casual conversation as well speaking about past work experiences and how it led to where I am. Was scheduled for a 75 mins coding round, but I dropped since I landed another offer
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
More about why are you interested in Shopify and how I work