Shopify's CEO offered a retired pro gamer an engineering internship based on his accomplishments in 'Starcraft'

• When retired professional gamer Ryoo "SeleCT" Kyung Hyun turned to Twitter to find a software engineering job, he got a direct response from Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke.
  
• Lütke told SeleCT that his past performance in "Starcraft 2" was enough to qualify him for Shopify's internship program.
• Kyung Hyun stopped competing in "Starcraft 2" about five years ago, and is now a study in the University of Washington's computer science program. He said he's still has a few interviews to consider, but he's leaning towards accepting Lütke's offer to work for Shopify.
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It turns out that being one of the world's top professional gamers could help you build a resume for other careers too. At least according to Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke, who offered retired "Starcraft 2" player Ryoo "SeleCT" Kyung Hyun an internship based on his past accomplishments.

SeleCT stopped playing video games competitively in 2014 but he won more than $80,000 playing "Starcraft 2" and "Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War" before the age of 25. These days he's a senior in the University of Washington's computer science program, and he recently posted to Twitter seeking a software engineering internship for the summer of 2020.

Lütke responded directly, offering SeleCT a place in Shopify's internship program. Lütke said SeleCT's Starcraft career was enough evidence to secure the job, and esports fans celebrated the offer on Twitter and Reddit. Lütke followed up with a response on Reddit, explaining that he had won a "Starcraft" tournament in the late 90s and was a longtime fan of the game.

"It's insanely hard to become a pro in Starcraft, significantly harder than it is to get a degree. So I feel like this should be highly valuable on a CV. My offer to bring in ex pro players is more general than my offer to select for an internship," Lütke wrote on Reddit.

He continued, "Shopify has a history of bringing in people in by alternative proofs of doing something difficult. We've got some chess GMs, Olympians, etc. It's a huge privilege to work with dedicated and driven people like that."

Lütke went on to discuss his excitement about the growing esports industry and Shopify's recruitment tactics with fellow posters. His Reddit post history shows that "Starcraft" may have had a role in helping him launch one of the most successful ecommerce websites on the planet.

"Everything I know about business comes from playing Starcraft and Poker," Lütke posted back in 2016.

SeleCT said he's leaning towards accepting Lütke's internship offer, but he still has some other interviews and opportunities to explore first. While the former pro gamer said his focus has been on completing his college program, he's looking forward to streaming "Starcraft 2" for his fans once he graduates.