Hi, I’m Kevin! I’m a graphic designer turned front-end developer based in Toronto, Canada.
It’s almost a cliché but I feel like I was born with an attention to design and detail.
Throughout high school, I was well on the path of going into computer science. It wasn’t until almost the last minute when I decided I would go into graphic design instead.
I aspired to be able to design something that would have an impact on people’s lives. I thought graphic design had a better chance of that than computer science.
So I went through that adventure, picked up invaluable design knowledge and experience, as well as photography.
I had interned at a world-renowned design studio, I was ready to graduate, land a dream job and change the world with my ideas!
How naive I was, lol.
It took me almost a year to find a job and in the end, it was an in-house designer at a recruiting agency. The opposite of changing the world.
I did end up learning a lot at that job and realised I didn’t need to create something famous to have an impact on the world. Even the little things count.
From there I learned about web- and front-end development and this intrigued me. I could potentially have a huge impact on designing and building the web, something everyone uses daily.
Kevin works at Shopify as a front-end developer. In 2020, this e-commerce company introduced the Digital by Default approach allowing their employees to work from anywhere. “Office centricity is over,” tweeted Tobi Lutke, the CEO
So I quit my design job, enrolled in a 9-week boot camp and after completing that I landed my original dream job but as a web developer. I worked at an agency for just over four years with a focus on marketing and e-commerce.
This let me have the opportunity to work with clients including the likes of Audi, TSN and Ecobee to create a lasting impact on the web.
I also did some freelance work on the side helping small and medium-sized businesses start and grow their e-commerce storefronts on Shopify.
Working on these freelance projects as well as the clients at my work helped me see the impact I had on helping them redefine their web experiences.
Last year I joined Shopify as a front-end developer.
I believe I can have an even bigger impact working on the platform that has helped bring so many businesses onto the web.
Shopify also moved to a completely remote workplace so I’ve had the opportunity to design and put together my perfect work setup.
I moved into my new house around the same time I switched to a remote job.
So my home setup didn’t exist before and everything now is brand new. The whole office space is still an ongoing project and it’s been about six months to get it up to its current state.
