Category: Automattic

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Art Automattic Travel

BCN

I had the opportunity to visit Barcelona for a team meetup this month. Amazingly, bits of Spanish from my long-ago university days somehow managed to re-emerge in my brain, ocasionally even forming sentence fragments that seemed to be at least partially understood. For various reasons, I didn’t take as many photos throughout the week as I’d planned, but during our last day, we played tourist and the camera came out in force as we explored two of Gaudí’s masterpieces, the Sagrada Família and Parc Güell.

 

 

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Automattic

Spotlight on Happiness Engineering

Kathryn holding up iPhone

If you’ve ever wanted to know more about what it’s like to work at Automattic or are curious about the role of a Happiness Engineer, check out this short video for a peek at what my workday is like. And if you’re a feline fan, watch for a brief cameo by my most camera-friendly cat, Finnegan.

I was honoured to be part of this Career Spotlights series for YES Montreal, an organization that provides resources and encouragement to English-speaking Montrealers looking to build a career in this city.

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Automattic Travel

A GM in Canada

Bear side-eye
This bear is very real

This year I got to experience an Automattic Grand Meetup in my homeland for the first time. Granted, it took place in Whistler, British Columbia, 5000 km away from where I live, but it was still Canada! It was fun to watch nearly 500 of my colleagues encountering everything from poutine to the stunning Coast mountain range for the first time. They were even struck by small things I take for granted, like the ubiquitous Canuck politeness, in the form of “sorry” and “please” on signage.

The week was jam-packed, even more so than my last four Grand Meetups. (Has it really been five already? Seems impossible!) Highlights of the week include a class on WordPress plugin development taught by code wrangler Jennifer (I made something! And it’s on GitHub!); icebreakers and brainstorming with my theme division-mates; organizing an afternoon of painting for my colleagues, who blew me away with their creativity!); spotting a black bear (OMG!) munching on foliage by the side of the highway; swooping across mountaintops in the spectacular Peak to Peak gondola; and attending a thought-provoking workshop about diversity and inclusion by an outstanding facilitator, Y-Vonne Hutchison. And of course, countless chats with friends/co-workers from all over the world and a lot of good food. Oh, and I invented a cocktail that was one of three chosen to to be served at the closing party. (Automojitto! It was blue and yummy!)

As we’re a company full of bloggers, many of my colleagues have posted accounts of their week in Whistler as well. You can check out some of them under the #a8cgm tag on WordPress.com.

This bear is not real
This bear is very real
So is this one
painting in progress
Blank canvases
Zealous Art activity
Zealous Art activity
Zealous Art activity
Zealous Art activity
Zealous Art activity
Zealous Art activity
Zealous Art activity
The Theme Team
The Theme Team

This year’s company photo was the most epic yet – check out my colleague Donncha’s account of how he pulled it off!

company-photo-sm

Categories
Automattic

Hack Day? Yay!

Screenshot after remake

A couple of times a year at Automattic we have a “Hack Day,” during which some of us work on a project that might not be part of our regular day or duties.

This year I rather spontaneously decided to join my teammates David Kennedy and Laurel Fulford — with input from a couple of our colleagues — in working on a remake of ThemeShaper.com, our team’s public blog devoted to WordPress theming.

It was loads of fun, and I love the result. We plan to keep iterating, as they say, but I’m pretty pleased with what we were able to do in about a day and a half. Hooray for Hack Day!

Before

before screenshot - ThemeShaper.com

After

after screenshot - ThemeShaper.com

Categories
Automattic Travel

Theam in Vancouver

Theam in a Frame

My team at Automattic is the Theme Team, and I love that we’re more commonly known by our portmanteau, Theam. We got together in British Columbia this month for our team meetup, and it was great to hang out in person with the people I chat with every day online.

We collaborated on the next iteration of the exciting Components starter-theme generator project and didn’t let the mostly grey, wet weather stop us from enjoying some of Vancouver’s nature, food, and cultural highlights.

indoor-garden

We took advantage of a break in the weather to brave heights at the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. While I’ve been here several times and it’s admittedly touristy, I always love coming with new people and seeing their faces when they first catch sight of the narrow, wiggly bridge — and then the Cliffwalk!

One of the things I love about working at Automattic is that my colleagues are also my friends. I’m so glad I got to spend some time with you in person, my friends, and in my own country to boot. I hope Canada treated you well. Sorry about the weather, eh?