John Duff

John Duff is an experienced technology leader currently serving as the Head of Engineering at Onward, a position he has held since October 2022.1 Here are some key details about his professional background:

Career Highlights

Current Role:

• Head of Engineering at Onward (October 2022 - Present)1

Previous Positions:

• Technical Advisor at Invest Ottawa (September 2018 - Present)1
• Contract Software Developer at Shopify (October 2017 - September 2021)1
• Director of Engineering at Shopify (July 2013 - April 2017)1
• Engineering Team Lead at Shopify (February 2012 - June 2013)1
• Software Developer at Shopify (March 2011 - January 2012)1

Skills and Expertise

John Duff has extensive experience in:

• Software development, particularly with Ruby on Rails
• Engineering leadership and management
• Technical advising for startups
• Full-stack development
• Product engineering
• Data platform engineering

Notable Achievements

At Shopify, John Duff:

• Led the Product Engineering group of approximately 150 developers1
• Managed the Data Platform Engineering group of about 40 people1
• Developed and implemented engineering ladders for managers and individual contributors1
• Created mentorship and coaching programs for engineering leads1

Education

John Duff holds a Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering from Carleton University (2002 - 2006).1

John Duff is known for his expertise in scaling Rails applications, having given talks on "How Shopify Scales Rails" at major conferences like Big Ruby and RailsConf 2013.1 He is also active on social media, sharing insights about software development and engineering leadership.2