I’ve joined Automattic as a Happiness Engineer! I’m beyond excited because I’ve been working with WordPress for years… so to work at WordPress.com, is a big deal to me.
As excited I am about this new chapter as a Happiness Engineer at Automattic, I’m bummed to be leaving my good friends over at Talent Evolution where I’ve been working as an Interactive Project Manager for 3.5 years now. Jared, John, and Matt have been such a pleasure to work with and I’ve learned so much from them. They’re great guys and I’ve enjoyed being a part of the company. This also means I’ll no longer be taking on any website design projects.
I put together a quick little FAQ to answer most of the questions I’ve been getting on this new change.
Who is Automattic?
They have some of the most innovated software on the web. Their most popular service is WordPress.com. I’ve been working with WordPress for 5+years now to create websites and blogs. In my humble opinion, it’s the best way to create a website. WordPress is kinda like the foundation of a website- making it easier to edit and add features. Currently WordPress powers over 23% of the web (no other single platform comes even close to that- Joomla powers 3% of the web). Some really amazing sites are built off of it including CNN, NBC, TechCrunch, and Time.com. Automattic’s mission is make the web a better place by democratizing publishing. Meaning, if you have something to say- use our Software to say it.
Also if you’re into handy dandy charts like I am- I think the one to the right speaks for itself.
Why is working at Automattic my dream job?
I’m passionate about making the web a better place. I’m also passionate about helping others build an online presence. While I work really hard, I’m also really big on having a work/life balance and having a flexible schedule. Most jobs are 9-5 and are anything but flexible.
Here is how Automattic is different:
- Open vacation policy. They encourage employees to take whatever time they need for a vacation, develop interests, or just to spend time with loved ones. There is no set numbers of days per a year. In addition, every 5 years you’re encouraged to take 2-3 months off, paid.
- The team is distributed. Meaning, everyone works from their own home or office from all over the world (United States, Canada, Ireland, Japan, Iceland, Australia, and much much more) and sets their own hours. You spend 2-4 weeks traveling each year to work in person with your amazing coworkers at pretty cool locations (New Zealand, Belize, Spain, etc.). So in a nutshell I get to work from wherever and travel. Click here if you’d like to see one of the awesome places we’re working from.
- Since the team is distributed this allows them to hire only the best of the best. My coworkers are amazingly talented and hilarious. I’m still trying to figure out why they let me in, but frankly I’m just thankful to learn from them 🙂
- The most important perk for me is working on a product I genuinely care about working with coworkers who I already love and also for Matt Mullenweg the CEO who is really all kinds of amazing, but is just genuinely such a kind and intelligent person. It’s taking me a bit to get over my starstruckness, since he’s doing for Open Sourced Web Publishing what Steve Jobs did for MP3 players and Phones. Did I mention in 2012 he was in Forbes 30 under 30? Such a great guy, if you’d like to read more about him- Matt blogs here about WordPress and he blogs here not about WordPress.
So what is a Happiness Engineer?
As my official job title, Happiness Engineer implies it’ll be my job to engineer happiness in others. The short but not complete answer is that I’ll be helping people with their WordPress.com blogs. The better answer is that each Happiness Engineer creates their own schedule and their own day, so while the job title is the same- each person’s job is very unique. My days will be filled with helping users on Live Chat, following up on support tickets, managing the support documentation, and helping train those on a Happiness Engineer Trial or Rotation. If you’d like to read about some of my fellow Happiness Engineer coworker’s days, click here.
Is Automattic hiring?
Yep! We’re hiring.
How did you get the job?
Automattic’s hiring process is unlike anything else. While it does involve some of the “normal” Interview type of process- none of it is done in person or even over the phone. It ‘s all done online and via text chat. Why? Since communicating online will be a huge part of your job it’s important to see how well you communicate over chat. Once you make it through the initial interview process, you’re offered a paid trail. This trial allows you to work for 4-6 weeks to see if you’re a good fit. For me, it was the opportunity to get a real look inside the company, how they communicated and if this was a company I could truly be passionate about working for. Let me tell you, I had pretty high expectations and they blew me away.
New Chapter
Thank you so much to Talent Evolution for their support during this transition, Automattic, my fellow Happiness Engineers and to Matt Mullenweg for creating such an awesome work culture. It’s unlike anything else I’ve been a part of. So I’m looking forward to do a whole of growing.
As for this blog & website, I’ll still be continuing the blog here, although I haven’t quite figured out what I want to do with the rest of this website. So stay tuned.
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