Blog Posts

The best feature of Shopify you've never heard of
What is a metafield you ask? It's a feature that gives you the ability to natively add metadata to things like products, orders, customers, etc. I had never heard of this feature until I joined the Custom Data engineering team at Shopify but was bewildered at how simple but powerful of a tool we had given to anyone with a Shopify subscription as the opportunities are endless.  As a simple example, you want to add a birthday for all your customers and send them an email with a discount code... Read more...
My Favourite VS Code Extensions
Today a junior software engineer asked me about VS Code Extensions and how to make the most of them.I shared with him a list of my favourite ones and thought I should share them here as well. Here they are: Remote - SSH Axe Accessibility Linter CSS Modules Filesize EditorConfig for VSCode ESLint GH Pull Requests GitLens - Git supercharged GraphQL: Language Feature support GraphQL: Syntax Highlighting Import Cost LiveShare Markdown preview mermaid support Packwerk-vscode Polaris for VS Code Prettier - Code formatter React Component generator Ruby Sorbet SCSS Intellisense... Read more...
How to Profile a Network Request
Shoutout to Brian Lyn for this one word. Speedscope. It creates an interactive flamegraph visualizer which makes it very easy to see where things are going wrong. Going to dig into it a big more but thought I'd share here in the meantime. Read more...
How Invisible Systems Drive Visible Profits
What customers see is only the tip of the iceberg. We explore how backend automations — from data syncing to automated billing — create a frictionless experience. Read more...
How Pay Less for Image Optimization
Pro-tip: If you're paying too much for image optimization, get Hetzner box, run IPX and serve it behind a CDN. Optimally, you can use it as an express middleware and set your own cache control headers.  Read more...
This Free Media Software Is Quietly Powering Multi-Million Dollar Brands
Today I learned about an open source tool called FFmpeg. You could build an application layer on top of this tool and easily generate revenue while it does all the heavy lifting. Good to know. FFmpeg is widely used by many large corporations, ranging from entertainment providers and software developers to manufacturers and even some video hosting services. Some notable companies that utilize FFmpeg include TikTok, ByteDance, Topaz Labs, and Intel. It's also incorporated into many popular software applications like VLC, Google Chrome, and Plex.  Here's a more detailed look... Read more...
How Automated Upsells Increased Our AOV by 40%
We used conditional logic and backend scripts to deliver dynamic offers post-checkout. The result? A dramatic boost in average order value without extra ad spend. Read more...
COVID and Coding at Shopify
I thought getting into Shopify was going to be the hardest part of this learning to code process considering it's the most competitive tech company in Canada and I was one out of 35 people chosen out of my 1000 person cohort.  Now there's this once-in-a-century pandemic thing called COVID going on and Shopify is closing all of its offices. So much for getting a mentor lol. Read more...
Technology Is the New Co-Founder: Why Every Modern Business Needs a Tech Strategy
If you're still relying on manual spreadsheets or ad hoc processes, you're falling behind. A code-driven strategy is not optional — it’s your next growth hire. Read more...
The 4 Levels of Competence (and Why Most People Get Stuck at Level 1)
Every skill, whether it's product, marketing, hiring, or decision-making, moves through 4 levels of competence. But most people never get past Level 1. Not because they don't want to improve. But because Level 1 feels like confidence. It tricks you into thinking you already know enough, when in reality, you're flying blind. Here's the breakdown: 1. Unconscious Incompetence You don't know what you don't know. And worse, you think you do. Everything seems simple because your worldview is narrow. This is the "man with a hammer" stage. Like Charlie Munger... Read more...
Using Technology to Plug Leaks in Your Sales Funnel
Discover how to identify and patch drop-offs in your funnel with tracking scripts, heatmaps, and personalized re-engagement workflows built using simple code snippets. Read more...
Don’t Follow Your Passion
"Follow your passion" sounds good. But for most people, it's just code for "do what's comfortable." If you're already content with where you are? Sure, stick with passion. But if you're not. If you're trying to build something bigger, change your life, or create something meaningful, passion alone won't cut it. You need to get used to being uncomfortable. And the best way to get there? Follow your curiosity. Curiosity pulls you into rooms you haven't been in before. It makes you ask questions, go deeper, tinker with things that... Read more...