Category: Automattic

Hawaii in February

Earlier this month I took an extraordinary trip to Hawaii. The entire Automattic theme division met for its annual gathering on the island of Kauai – a meetup locale rather different from last year’s Charleston ice storm. I stayed on in Hawaii a bit longer, getting a few more days to enjoy this beautiful place.

As cliché as it may sound, Hawaii was simply magical. Sea turtles silently crawling up the shoreline on Poipu Beach, scenery as stunning as it gets, and an unforgettable helicopter ride around Kauai – including the waterfalls where the famous arrival scene from Jurassic Park was filmed. It rejuvenated my soul and provided sustenance to carry me through the rest of this vicious winter.

I can’t wait to go back some day.

eletrical wires in eerie sunlight effect

Tags Hawaii, meetup

Automattic Food

Growing Garlic Redux

While we’re contending with frigid temperatures here in Montreal (“feels like” -27C / -17F tonight!), next year’s crop of 101 garlic bulbs happily hibernates beneath the ground in my backyard.

Some of you may remember that my flash talk at last fall’s Automattic all-company Grand Meetup revolved around garlic gardening, and back in September I posted a garlic-growing guide based on the talk. The video of my talk is now available – if you’re intrigued about growing garlic and have four minutes to spare, check it out:

The original slides are here in case you’d like to watch them alongside the video:

Tags a8cGM, flash talk, gardening, garlic, Grand Meetup

Automattic Personal Travel

Hasta la próxima, Miami

I had the opportunity to spend time in Miami last week after a long time away. A lot has changed but in some ways the city seems stuck in the past. I put together a few observations.

Things I will miss about Miami

Hearing Spanish all around me
Fresh tropical fruit juices
Cafe con leche
Sun and blue skies
Palm trees
The turquoise ocean
Mojitos everywhere
Cuban rice and beans (congri)
Fresh fish
Plantain chips
Cheap parking

Things I will not miss about Miami

Styrofoam everything
Lack of public recycling bins
Pedestrian traffic lights that take forever to turn green
Needing a car to go any distance
Taxis that may or may not come
Taxis that take forever to arrive
Taxis that don’t take credit cards
Basically, taxis in general

Until next time, Miami – thanks for your hospitality.

Tags Florida, Miami

Automattic WordPress

So You Want to Engineer Happiness

Post author By Kathryn P.
Post date February 22, 2014
14 Comments on So You Want to Engineer Happiness

One of the best things about being a Happiness Engineer is telling people I’m a Happiness Engineer. Inevitably, their eyes light up and a smile inches across their face. Sometimes they let out a “For real?”

At a company where we’re allowed to make up our own job titles I’d have a pretty hard time giving up mine.

People often ask what it takes to engineer happiness all day, so I’ve compiled some thoughts on being a Happiness Engineer – or HE, as we affectionately call it. (Nearly everything at Automattic has either an acronym or a numeronym.)

What does a Happiness Engineer do?

Happiness Engineers at Automattic help users understand and enjoy the software we provide, from WordPress.com itself, to themes, to plugins like Jetpack, Akismet, and VaultPress.

What qualities make a good Happiness Engineer?

Happiness Engineers innately love to help folks solve problems and thrive on troubleshooting issues large and small. HEs think of clear and helpful communication as an art form and we are always working on perfecting it.

Here are some other qualities I think make a great HE:

word cloud

If you get impatient quickly when teaching your in-laws how to use email or have trouble explaining technical things without using jargon, this job is probably not for you.

Working remotely

Automattic is a distributed company, and nearly everyone works remotely – in 27 countries at last count. Most of us work from home, while cafés and libraries also witness their fair share of Automatticians pounding away at keyboards. Some folks craving a more office-like environment co-work from shared spaces – sometimes with their colleagues, like a group of Automatticians who co-work together in Boston.

Forums are fun

If you think you might make a good Happiness Engineer but have never helped people with WordPress-specific things before, a great place to test the waters before applying is in the support forums, whether for WordPress.com or WordPress.org. If you get sucked in quickly and find yourself spending hours answering questions just because you enjoy it, that’s probably a good sign.

Extended happiness

A few of my colleagues have written insightful posts that really encapsulate the experience of being a Happiness Engineer or working at Automattic. Check out the words and experiences of Andrew (who leads the Core Happiness team), Zandy, Steve, and Aaron.

Credo

The Happiness Engineer job page puts it well:

As a Happiness Engineer, helping people is your passion. Our goal is to build relationships based on trust which result in happy, passionate, loyal customers and colleagues through listening to their needs and guiding them to the fullest use of the products we offer.

If that description calls out to you, why not do something about it? 🙂

Happiness Engineers at UserConf in NYC

In Austin for SxSW

Tags happiness engineer

Automattic Travel

Charleston

There is something special and surreal and intense and wonderful about getting together and living with your colleagues – who hail from around the world – for a couple of weeks throughout the year.

And this particular trip was extra-memorable. Trapped on Isle of Palms in South Carolina during a freak deep-south ice storm, we battled closed bridges and slick icy stairs/streets/sidewalks, fought through weather-related transatlantic travel mishaps, cooked enough pasta for an army and barbecued All The Things in lieu of the planned restaurants, and eventually made it into Charleston to see some sights five days later than expected.

Despite challenges, it was an amazing meetup. There was a lunch picnic in front of a cozy fire, long chats about everything under the sun, brainstorming sessions, and raucous games of Cards Against Humanity. During the last few days of van rides I heard more belly laugh-inducing Han Solo/Chewy repartee than over the past ten years.

When the key bridge reopened after several false starts and we finally made it into downtown Charleston there were gluten-free bakery wonders and vegan delights. And we collectively ate more fried southern food than most of our stomachs had ever experienced before, with mixed results.

It was a week to remember forever. Thank you to my funny, smart, warm-spirited colleagues – and friends – for making it so.