On Thursday, May 4th, 2023, Shopify laid off 20% of it’s staff.

Myself included.

And that’s okay. I’m okay!

I wouldn’t say I was a veteran of the company. After 19 months, I’d been there longer than about 35% of the employees (there was a website that told you that number) but it’s not like I’d been a decade-long veteran from before the IPO. I was a ‘pandemic baby’ of the rapid growth the company went through in the post-2020 world.

Am I angry at the company? Do I curse Tobi’s name? Am I seeking legal advice to demand a bigger and better severance settlement?

Nah. You see,

I like Shopify

Even after being laid off. I like what they do, their mission. I like the way they structure their goals and targets. I like that they make the most money when their customers (the merchants) make money. And I like that they aren’t trying to find more and more ways to milk their customers of every dollar.

I’m just sad to go

I like what I did at Shopify- working on experiments to help new merchants get their first few sales. Tweaks here and there, advice given at the right time, in the right way, to move the needle on shops making more sales.

It was neat. And it was helping people. We had numbers to prove it!

So what now?

Now I spend the summer just hanging out with my daughter. She’s 15 months old and starts daycare in September. Until then, we’re doing different parks around the neighbourhood every single morning. I’m walking more than I have in years. She’s having a blast. And my wife suddenly has half her time back that she used to spend trying to keep up with an energetic toddler.

Shopify’s severance was generous and exactly matches what Tobi said.

For those leaving us today, you will receive a minimum of 16 weeks severance plus a week for every year of tenure at Shopify. Medical benefits and access to our employee assistance program (EAP) will be covered through this same period.

I even had enough free time to finally make use of my domain name, this website.

… but if you’re hiring…

It can’t hurt to mention that my resume is now available on this website.