The Peterman Pod Shopify Distinguished Eng (L10) on Principal+ Engineering, Career Story, Regrets
45 snips
Oct 24, 2025 
Ilya Grigorik, a Distinguished Engineer at Shopify with a rich history that includes founding PostRank, discusses his remarkable career trajectory. He shares insights into the acquisition by Google, emphasizing how company dynamics can shape integration processes. Ilya reflects on the importance of being a Principal Engineer, highlighting the value of a unique talent stack and the dangers of over-polishing work. He also advises young professionals to embrace their unique combinations of skills and to be brave in pursuing their passions.
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Co-op Rotations Produce Pragmatic Engineers
- Waterloo's co-op rotations teach pragmatic engineering through repeated short industry sprints.
- This loop gives students low-stigma chances to try many roles and discover what fits.
PostRank: Social Signals As Modern PageRank
- Ilya built PostRank to rank posts by social engagement as a modern PageRank variant.
- The launch overwhelmed his servers and the product's traction led to investor interest and company formation.
How Google Found And Acquired PostRank
- Google approached PostRank after a conference demo and discussed teaming up to accelerate social analytics.
- Google valued the team's experience and IP to fast-track integration into Google Analytics and Google+ efforts.
