For students accepted to Carleton University’s computer science program in the fall, next week is the final chance to apply to make Shopify your classroom.
The deadline for the Ottawa e-commerce firm’s “Dev Degree,” a concept launched in 2016 where students learn curriculum basics on the job at Shopify HQ, is coming up on March 16. Participants in the program are paid for their time, tuition is fully covered by Shopify and after four years they walk out with an accredited computer science degree.
CEO Tobi Lutke tweeted last week that he hopes this model becomes the future of developer education, calling it the “missing mid-point between practical learning and theoretical knowledge.”
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Computer programming is not a science or an art in the traditional sense. It’s its own thing and deserves a custom approach to teaching and learning that isn’t rote implementation of prior education models
— Tobi Lütke (@tobi) March 3, 2018
The practical angle of the Dev Degree attracted Carleton student Adrianna Chang, who spoke to Techopia in 2016 about why she participated in the pilot program.
“It was definitely a big factor, taking into consideration which program or school would prepare me for the workplace, because at the end of the day, that’s really what matters,” she said at the time.
Shopify says it’s expanding the program to a Toronto university, but hasn’t yet disclosed which GTA school is its partner.
Prospective students (with an acceptance letter from Carleton’s Bachelor of Computer Science degree) can apply online before next Friday. It’s your standard application process: past work experience, extracurricular activities, programming education.
Oh, and skill testing questions such as, “If SKU = 153 , SHIP = 156 , and STORE = 231. What is the value of UNICORN?”
They don’t teach you that in any classroom.


