Yesterday, three years ago, I started my Happiness trial at Automattic.
Today I’m at the start of my third Automattic Grand Meetup.
Over the past three years I’ve visited the US and Canada twice, as well as Scotland and Portugal. I’ve given a talk at a WordCamp that inspired someone else to become a Happiness Engineer. I’ve learned stuff I never thought I would, and I’ve made hundreds of new friends from all around the world.
Thanks, Automattic, for letting me be part of making the web a better place!
I need to find a new reason for blogging. See, I recently realised that I’m not blogging for the sake of the writing. I started blogging as an escape from studies, a career and a life that was going nowhere. I started blogging because I was unhappy, and being silly and meeting new people online helped me forget that. I started blogging as a distraction.
For that same reason I started volunteering in the WordPress.com forums, but quickly came to love it and, one day late in 2015, decided to make a career out of it. And that’s how I came to be a Happiness Engineer at Automattic.
The most commented post was On the day job with 46 total comments.
As of today if all else fails… has 539 followers and the Facebook page has 45.
And I’ve answered over 8,750 threads on the WordPress.com support forums (5,000 of those before I started getting paid to do it).
Looking back on it like this I realise it’s been a great 4 years blogging on WordPress.com. I’ve met some great people and made quite a few friends around the world. To all of you, thanks for joining me in this journey and making it worthwhile with your comments, your post likes, your encouragement when I posted about going through tough spots, and your sharing in my joy when I celebrated the good things in my life.
Today is the first day of spring, and exactly one year since I switched the design on my blog from Twenty-Eleven to Franklin. I thought I’d take a look back at how if all else fails… looked before the facelift, you know, for the sake of posterity.
Really. I thought that was clever branding? Thank goodness my taste has developed over time.
Not that there’s anything wrong with Twenty-Eleven. I still think it’s one of the best and most versatile themes we have on WordPress.com, and I regularly recommend it to people. But I think I’ll be sticking with Franklin for a while 🙂
Yesterday, three years ago, I started my Happiness trial at Automattic.
if all else fails...use a hammer 