My application for a position as a Code Wrangler at Automattic, the company started by WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg.
Good day
I’ve written this email in my head about 5 times, one for each year since 2010, when I first became aware of Automattic. Each time I never actually sit down, type it up and send it. I’ll do my best to explain why below. I apologise in advance for the length of my story, but it takes some time to explain.
Since 2006 I’ve been developing in PHP and I started blogging with WordPress in 2009. In 2011, I left full time employment to assist my wife in her family’s business. The business supplies data to estate agents and as such we work full day Saturday and Sunday until quite late. To keep involved in web development (which is my first passion) I took a position with a local development agency who were flexible enough to give me an on site position that matched my availability.
That worked well for about 4 years. However last year I decided to resign (mostly for personal reasons but mainly because I was becoming frustrated with the in-house CMS system that we worked with) and I am back to looking for a position which fits my specific availability, working remotely for up to 21 hours a week. The main reason I’ve never sent this application to Automattic was because I assumed that this would be a restricting factor.
I’m the kind of developer who,when tasked with writing a form submission script, will first spend half an hour asking other members of my team if the framework we are using has it’s own get_request_vars() type function (or looking through the docs and code for one, if no one knew) instead just using $_REQUEST or writing my own. I love solving problems through code, from making a script which converts .xlsx files to .xls for my wife (don’t ask, don’t tell) to building larger complex eCommerce stores. I have a huge respect and passion for good written documentation, so much so that I got involved with the new WordPress HelpHub project after WordCamp Cape Town 2015. I can think of nothing more exciting than building/improving a product that is used by people around the world.
Finally I believe that as a developer I am only as good as the rest of my team, so supporting my team (both in mentoring where I can or just keeping spirits high) is almost as important to me as my own work. How this passion for people would fit into a remote work situation I have yet to discover, but I’m excited to find out.
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