Hey 👋🏽 I'm Sean Orfila
I run a web shop called Grizzly & Poppy
I’m working on Shopify solutions for a bunch of awesome clients including: The Elder Statesman, Beyonce, Modern Times Beer, The Black Eyed Peas, Cleobella, CrossFit, Deseda, Sebastian Manascalco, and more!
I’m usually writing frontend code for agencies that on-shore their web development work to me, but I also work directly with merchants solving a variety of fun problems on Shopify.
My story
The son of a C programmer, I had access to computers from a very young age (this was during the 80s & 90s - dial up modems, MS-Dos, AOL, and all that).
I built my first website back in 2004 for a non-profit. After that, I had a little hustle customizing people’s myspace profiles! Although a bit embarrasing, this gig actually taught me so much about html and css!
Later, I designed a health food product and sold it online – first with WordPress, and later with Shopify in 2012. This was when I really fell in love with Shopify as a “platform”.
In 2013, I sold my share of that company, and “officially” started a career as a web developer at a digital agency in California.
Working for that agency, I developed a better understanding of WordPress and Shopify, and practiced writing semantic HTML and CSS in a more professional environment.
After working at a couple agencies in California as a web developer for a few years, I took a break from the agency world, and in 2016 accepted a position at medium/large-size biotech company in a formal software engineering role.
Working on a team of 60 engineers helped me to learn some deeper aspects programming such as command line, git, regex, working with data & large databases, developing traditional design systems, and translating complex business logic into wireframes.
After that company went through a merger and big round of layoffs (not my fault), I returned to agency life, and in 2017 was relocating to San Francisco where I took a position working for a leading Shopify Plus agency.
I left the agency position (and the Bay Area) in 2018, founding my own tiny agency. Being my own business allowed our little family the freedom to move to a rural island in the Pacific Northwest, where we’re happily raising our kids and homesteading.
My little office (upstairs the restaurant)
I have an office in the small coastal hamlet of Langley, WA - just a ferry ride and traffic jam away from Seattle. From my window, I can see Glacier Peak, Mt. Baker, the Cascades, and the occasional whale!
Note: I’ve recently moved my office into our home due to coronavirus… hope to be working in my office again someday soon. I zoom from my kitchen. Please ignore the stack of unwashed dishes.
