B-san's Blog

Once again, hello! Welcome to my blog.

A couple of months ago, I applied to Automattic, trying out for the Happiness Engineer (HE) position. As it turns out, they didn’t offer me a job. I plan on documenting my application process on another day, but in short, I went through the first project and interview, but failed after the practice set of questions. I didn’t move on to the Trial period.

To be honest, I was disappointed, as I had to muster up a bit of courage to apply for the position in the first place. I thoroughly enjoyed the projects they gave me and was starting to think about my work with them in concrete ways. I was reading different blogs written by Automatticians, learning about customer service and enjoying it all, almost as a hobby. So, when I was told that would all stop, well…

But after a careful review of what they told me in their final email, I realised they hadn’t closed the door on me completely. They had given me practical points to work on and even hinted at the possibility of my reapplying in the future. After reading around a bit more online, I have found this is a similar path other Automatticians have also followed. Of course, there are those who are accepted on their first application, but there are also those who are accepted on their second or even third application. Automattic seems to value self motivation and eagerness to learn, so a reapplication is not out of the question. In fact, perhaps they even encourage it?

In my final mail from Automattic, they gave me to distinct points to work on.

1. Spend time answering questions in the WordPress.com forums. It’s a great way to gain more direct experience and to see if full-time support at Automattic would be right for you. Regular and consistent involvement can help develop an eye for trends, support styles, and more.

2.[Spend] time considering the philosophies and goals of great support. There are a few industry standard books like “Delivering Happiness” or “Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit” which, if you haven’t read them already, are a good starting point in developing your own support philosophy.

I thought I would go one step further and blog about my journey working on these points using WordPress.com, too! What better way to improve my understanding of their services then by using them even more!

So, that is how this all got started. Thanks for reading! I will be back with more as the journey begins…