Last fall, as I started plotting my next move, I compiled a list of companies that I considered to be “dream jobs”. This list was primarily based around a few characteristics that would make a company/team ideal for my needs:  flexibility, culture, leadership, and impact. The companies on this list had varying marks for each of the characteristics, but one company held strongest in all of the above: Automattic.

Automattic is the company behind WordPress (which powers roughly 27% of the internet). It is led by one of the world’s most influential and respected CEOs, Matt Mullenweg and is widely known as a company with an amazing culture built around a fully distributed workforce.

Hello, Automattic!

So as you can imagine, when I got an email asking if I was interested in interviewing for a product designer role, I naturally dropped everything I was working on and jumped at the opportunity. After a lengthy and productive interview process ¹, I’m thrilled to say I am joining the Automattic family as a product designer! I start in April and I could not be more honored to have the opportunity to work at such a wonderful company on some impactful products with some of the most talented people on the planet!

Why Automattic?

Culture & Team

For years, I have heard that Automattic was one of the best companies on the planet, with a warm, open and inclusive culture and community. I found this to be 100% true from the get-go through the end of my trial process and beyond. Teams are flexible, supportive and anyone at any level can have a positive impact. Maybe most importantly, they’ve also done an incredible job hiring not just the best people, but the right people. I’m looking forward to working with some of the best designers in the world on some challenging problems.

Leadership

Matt and team have done an incredible job of laying out the vision and culture in a way that is immediately obvious when starting to work with the company (even as a Trial-er, you have clarity into the goals, guidelines, etc.). I’ve found this to be crucial, and can quickly become troublesome to a company that doesn’t do a good job of establishing clarity.

Flexibility & Travel

Being a fully-distributed company, anyone can work anywhere that they’re most comfortable and productive. Teams are spread across the globe, so we are encouraged to have in-person meetups from time to time in addition to a Grand Meetup once a year, where the entire company gets together. Ultimate flexibility and travel, ftw!

Products

Having built a good part of my consulting business on WordPress, I’m thrilled to be a small part of teams working such a meaningful product as WordPress. To start, I will be focused on mobile, but I’m thrilled about the future (and impressive past) of all of Automattic’s products (many of which are open source)!

Personal Growth

Taking on this role is also a huge personal opportunity for personal growth. I’m looking forward to taking everything I’ve learned in the past and learning from some brilliant designers. I have many personal goals set for myself, but above all, I will be attempting to soak in and learn as much as I can, as quickly as I can.

Onward and Upward

My level of excitement for the future couldn’t be higher, but for now I’m just counting myself lucky to be along for the ride. I’m going to attempt to write a bit more and be more active in the community by sharing my time and thoughts as I continue to learn and grow. Onward and upward!

PS: If you’re interested in following along, I will be blogging as much as I can on this blog and will be posting snippets of what I’m working on to my Dribbble account! You can also follow our team on Dribbble!

I will never stop learning. I won’t just work on things that are assigned to me. I know there’s no such thing as a status quo. I will build our business sustainably through passionate and loyal customers. I will never pass up an opportunity to help out a colleague, and I’ll remember the days before I knew everything. I am more motivated by impact than money, and I know that Open Source is one of the most powerful ideas of our generation. I will communicate as much as possible, because it’s the oxygen of a distributed company. I am in a marathon, not a sprint, and no matter how far away the goal is, the only way to get there is by putting one foot in front of another every day. Given time, there is no problem that’s insurmountable.

– Automattic’s creed