Open Vacation Policy? Does that mean Unlimited Vacation?

By: Tish
Remote Work, , , , , , , , 1 Comment on Open Vacation Policy? Does that mean Unlimited Vacation?

The company I work for, Automattic, has an open vacation policy. What does an “open vacation policy” even mean? Before I started at Automattic, I had no idea what to expect. I had heard about how some open vacation policies end up with employees taking very little vacation time out of peer pressure. My friends thought…

Read More

Automattic’s 2017 Grand Meetup in Whistler

By: Tish
Remote Work, 1 Comment on Automattic’s 2017 Grand Meetup in Whistler

Automattic had their 2017 Grand Meetup in Whistler back in September (if you’re not sure what a Grand Meetup is Read this). This will be my third GM (it’s crazy to me how time flies), and Automattic’s biggest one yet as we’re now at over 600 employees. I feel like this year’s Grand Meetup was just…

Read More

WordCamp Orange County Presentation: How to get Started with your Business Website

By: Tish
WordPress, , , , , , , Leave a Comment on WordCamp Orange County Presentation: How to get Started with your Business Website

WordCamp Orange County has a special place in my heart. It was the first WordCamp I ever went to. It was the first WordCamp I ever volunteered at. It was the first place I ever heard of Automattic. So I knew I wanted it to be the first WordCamp I ever spoke at. A few…

Read More

So You Want to be a Happiness Engineer, Huh?

By: Tish
Remote Work2 Comments on So You Want to be a Happiness Engineer, Huh?

Originally posted on Sandy McFadden:
Since joining Automattic (and to the annoyance of some people, I’m sure) I tend to go on about how much I enjoy my job and the company itself. I’ve often been asked what it takes and what you need to know to get the job. Especially since I called people…

Read More
First Day and first lunch at Automattic

Celebrating 2 years at Automattic

By: Tish
Happiness Engineer, Remote Work, , , , , 9 Comments on Celebrating 2 years at Automattic

Today is a really cool day because it marks my 2 year anniversary at Automattic. In many many ways… it still feels like I just started a few months ago. I still feel so new in that I’m always learning and have brilliant challenges ahead of me. In other ways, I feel like I’ve grown…

Read More
Sparta using Zoom

Video Calls in Remote Work: Does hiding your own video make you more effective?

By: Tish
Happiness Engineer, , , , , , 2 Comments on Video Calls in Remote Work: Does hiding your own video make you more effective?

I was recently listening to this podcast called what Virtual CoWorking can teach virtual teams. One of the points that I found completely fascinating was that a small study was done, and showed that by hiding your own video on your display- makes you more effective/less distracted in video calls. If you’ve never done a video…

Read More
Automattic Remote Team Meetups

An Inside peek into a Remote Team Meetup

By: Tish
Happiness Engineer, Remote Work, , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments on An Inside peek into a Remote Team Meetup

My favorite days of remote working aren’t the days when I get to work by a pool, or even when I get to stay home all day working on my couch in my favorite sweatpants (as a really strong introvert, that’s saying a whole lot there). My absolute favorite days are when I’m on a…

Read More
WordPress Sunglasses in Black

My favorite WordPress Swag items

By: Tish
WordPress, , , , 3 Comments on My favorite WordPress Swag items

I happen to wear a ton of WordPress swag, not only are they super comfortable- but useful as well! I always get asked about where I get these items from, so I figured it was time to write a blog post about it. Most people don’t know that you can purchase swag items directly from the…

Read More

Best Coworking Spaces in Newport Beach & Irvine

By: Tish
Life, , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment on Best Coworking Spaces in Newport Beach & Irvine

Need a great place to cowork while you’re in Irvine or Newport Beach? Here is my inside guide to the best coworking spaces for Remote Work in Newport Beach, CA. If you’ve ever worked remotely or from a coffee shop you know it takes some time to find the best coworking spots in a city.…

Read More

2016 Automattic Grand Meetup

By: Tish
Happiness Engineer, WordPress, , , , , , , , 1 Comment on 2016 Automattic Grand Meetup

I posted a ton of pictures of last year’s Grand Meetup here and posted my thoughts here. And just realized that I forgot to post them for the Grand Meetup we had back in October of 2016 (which was around 5 months ago). Wait, so what is a Grand Meetup? Automattic is a remote company, which means…

Read More

A Day in the Life of a WordPress.com Happiness Engineer

By: Tish
Happiness Engineer6 Comments on A Day in the Life of a WordPress.com Happiness Engineer

This post is part of a series describing what Automatticians do on a daily basis. You can read more posts like this by following the tag #a8cday on WordPress.com and Twitter. Hi! I’m Tish, and I work as a Happiness Engineer at WordPress.com. I get asked a lot what it means to work from home, on…

Read More

Lessons Learned from The Customer Survival Kit

By: Tish
Happiness EngineerLeave a Comment on Lessons Learned from The Customer Survival Kit

Awhile back I was reading a book called The Customer Survival Kit. It was FANTASTIC! I highly recommend it. Several months ago I ended up writing an internal p2 post about it and sharing my favorite takeaways with my team at Automattic. But I was recently talking to a friend who also works in support…

Read More