Shopify Distinguished Eng (L10) on Principal+ Engineering, Career Story, Regrets

Ilya Grigorik grew to a Distinguished Engineer (VP-level role) at Shopify and I asked him what it took to get there. We covered his full career including the behind the scenes of his startup getting acquired by Google, his growth to Director at Google, and what it means to operate like a Distinguished engineer.

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:
• Transcript: developing.dev/p/distinguished-engineer-at-sho…
• Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/0MX9PyeCzDhdlyRv6slwIX
• Apple: podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod…

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:45 - Thoughts on Waterloo
00:04:36 - Starting his own company
00:08:40 - Google acquisition story
00:14:04 - Joining Google
00:20:28 - Switching back to IC
00:26:42 - Principal+ Engineering at Shopify
00:40:09 - Career regrets
00:44:53 - Top career-impacting book
00:46:59 - Advice for younger self

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗹𝘆𝗮:

• YouTube: youtube.com/@igrigorik
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/igrigorik
• X/Twitter: x.com/igrigorik
• Personal Website: ilya.grigorik.com

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: developing.dev
• X/Twitter: x.com/ryanlpeterman
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman
• Threads: threads.com/@ryanlpeterman
• Instagram: instagram.com/ryanlpeterman
• TikTok: tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman