A Tale on becoming an Happiness Engineer at Automattic P2: The Trial

This is a long overdue post about my Trial process as a Happiness Engineer at Automattic. If you’re wondering how I got there, check the first part of this amazing tale!

First things first: I celebrated 🙂 I then allowed myself to dream about the role and the company. I started reading EVERYTHING i could get my hands on regarding this process and the role.

Before you read on, as I don’t really want to build up the suspense, I will fast-forward to the end of the trial to say that: I passed! I was invited to work full time at Automattic and am now a Full Time Happiness Engineer!!

Getting back to the trial preparation, there were a couple of areas I decided I wanted to prepare before it started:

Logistics and Security items for my Happiness Engineer Trial

There were a couple of things I really wanted to set up before the trial started

1. I wanted to make sure I had a place to work from with a good internet connection and with no interruptions. Also, and as I was working part-time in my day job, I knew I needed a place that imposed no schedules
2. Productivity / organization – as some of you know I am a kind of a productivity obsessed person. Not a productive person – but one that is obsessed on becoming one 🙂 You can see what I did in this front here
3. Setup daily routines – onw thing I know about myself: if I don’t have schedules and routines I will procrastinate which will later turn into working late hours to make up for lost time. There was no way I was going to let this happen here!
4. Install and setup important and needed software – NordVPN, Grammarly, TextExpander, Wox, …

Skills for a Happiness Engineer Trial

There are lots of great posts out there about important skills to have for a successfull trial, but if I had to choose one, I would choose this one: “So You Want to be a Happiness Engineer, Huh?” . I don’t think I could add anything to that great list 🙂

Now that I am writing this article I realize that I read many times without knowing who the writer was.. And it turns out he is now my Team Leader at Team Jupiter! How amazing is that!?

To be completely honest, I don’t know yet how it is possible to have time passing so slow and fast at the same time. The truth is, before I could realize it, the Trial was starting… and ending!

Again, there are so many posts out there with the trial process description that I will not go into that. I will, however, share the most important things I learned and realized during this amazing journey:

It is possible to love your job 100%

In my previous jobs I have always been told that every job will come with tasks I will not like or want to do. I just had to accept that and do them. It would be great if those tasks I didn’t like were less than the other ones – but there would come a time when doing someting I hated was inevitable. That too would pass and better times would come.

Well.. This trial was the first time I felt I loved my work 100%. I couldn’t find a time or task I didn’t like or I felt wasn’t really useful for the company as whole. There was a space for me there and I was determined to get it!

Photo by Charles Etoroma on Unsplash

I am my own competition

A great thing about trialing at Automattic is that the idea is to find a fit there. Yes, the company will be watching your moves to see if you fit but, more than anything, you should be watching them. This process is one of the most amazing “soul searching” exercise I did – and I have done lots of them in the past years. It will make you search inside yourself for your strengths and faults and use them all in your (and ultimately the company) advantage.

If I am being completely honest – there were times (plural!) where I doubted myself. When I really thought I wouldn’t make it or wasn’t cut out for it. It is a highly demanding process! But every time I did something right I got amazed at the amount of things I had learned to get there. I also found out that the things that were holding me back were mostly habits I had picked up at old jobs – the only ones I knew so far. It took a great amount of introspection to identify and break them.

Photo by Marija Zaric on Unsplash

When you strive to be your best self – the best will walk along you

I have never seen such a huge amount of amazing and great people in an environment. Note that I haven’t actually seen them – but I certainly interacted enough to be able to say this. There are many people to whom I owe this success – many of them I have never met and are possibly living in another corner of the World.

It feels like this company manages to find the Outliers out there who don’t really fit in the social norms or ways.

Photo by Zany Jadraque on Unsplash

I love working from home

This was one realization I had during my trial. Although I have worked remotely on some ocasions and projects – working in a remote setting is a whole new thing! Part of me was excited and the other part was really afraid. I tend to procrastinate a lot and a work that allows that it seems like a death sentence.

The funny thing is – I like what I do so much that I just get in the flow for hours straight. If my amazing boyfriend didn’t bring me water or tea I wouldn’t remember to drink or eat during that time.

I know that some people like and need the whole office environment and open space settings – but since I read “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking” by Susan Cain _i knew those shenanigans weren’t for me. It took me a while to get here but I can now say that I love working from home. I need a whole lot of discipline and I will certainly address that in a later post – but when you love what you do nothing will keep you from it!

Photo by Lastly Creative on Unsplash

Further Reading

Fully Automattic – Joining the WordPress.com Family
How I became a Happiness Engineer at Automattic
How I became a Happiness Engineer at Automattic Part 3: Paid Trial at Automattic
Part 2: Journey to Happiness Engineer at Automattic! Becoming an Automattician!
I’m a Happiness Engineer at Automattic!
My experience on Trial at Automattic

Final Note: While I do realize this job and company aren’t for everyone: I do believe there are many amazing people out there who would fit right in and would love it as I do! If you also believe this and you’re thinking “Hey, I feel like I would be a great Happiness Engineer!”, then check our Jobs page: we’re always hiring!