wordpress
Very clever, guys! They messed with the search function on the Support documents so that no matter what you search for WORK WITH US comes up first. But if people have to search the Support docs, are they really the people you want to hire? Oh well, here are the specs, and one thing you will want to know is that at least for editorial and Happiness Engineer positions, they want ZERO SNARK. All the snark in the forums must be concentrated in me, apparently by Matt’s Edict.
Positions they’re hiring for:
- VIP Wrangler
- JavaScript Engineer
- Code Wrangler
- Happiness Engineer
- Mobile Developer
- Theme Wrangler
- User Interface Designer
- Growth Engineer
- Systems Developer
- Systems Wrangler
Business/Operations
And here’s some more background:
How We Work
Choose your own adventure · Everyone works from their own home or office, and we’re spread out all over the world — California, Texas, New York, Canada, Ireland, Japan, Iceland, Bulgaria, Australia, and more. We track about 70% of our projects on P2-themed WordPress.com blogs, 25% on private IRC channels, and the rest on Skype or AIM. Because of the geographic variance, we’re active pretty much 24/7. We care about the work you produce, not just the hours you put in.
Would you like to know a bit more about what it’s like to be part of Automattic? Check out Daily Tekk’s interview with Sara Rosso, where she talks about our culture, how we work, how we keep in touch, how we communicate, and how we have fun. Here’s some coverage in the Wall Street Journal.
Coming on board · When you make it past the interview stage we’ll do a project together on contract, typically lasting between 3-8 weeks, to see how we work together. When you join full-time, regardless of your position, you’ll do customer support for WordPress.com for your first three weeks. We believe this early connection with the people who use our products is irreplaceable.
Here is the link to the original posting.
I know many people who’ve applied at Automattic and some who even got hired. Let me just say; the weeding-out process is BRUTAL. You are indeed expected to work for them full-time for several weeks while they figure out whether or not you’re a keeper, which means you cannot have another full time job. I’ve heard that the work during this period is unpaid, but their use of the word “contract” might indicate otherwise. Anyway, don’t sign a contract that doesn’t specify you get paid. Once you are hired, if you are hired, they pay well and allow amazing amounts of autonomy, and the benefits are great.
So if you are snark-free and highly competent in any of the above fields, as well as familiar with WordPress software, give it a shot and say I sent you. If you’re snarky and incompetent, say Stephen Harper sent you.
Oh, and if you can’t live without BBQ, mention that right up front. Trust me on this.
raincoaster media 
Gabriel
October 6, 2013
…problem with applying as a happy person, is they have direct access to the archives of my forum comments. Not all of them are pretty. But then again, ‘thesacredpath’ got in some good zingers in the past, and they picked him up. But, then again (again) he knows what he’s doing.
raincoaster
October 6, 2013
They actually made him jump through extra hoops because of his “snark.” Despite the visibly obvious fact that he knows more than most of the staff already and would be a huge asset to the organization.
You might as well apply if any of these are your field. They certainly WILL look at your old Forum posts, but clearly they will still consider people they consider to have been snarky in the past.
captnmike
October 7, 2013
sort of leaves me out – sort of know some of the stuff but not a high end web person – so miss on that – do have a history of good customer service fixes over many decades in other areas that was in many respects second to none – still have the scars on my back from that – Two places I was at I was the only engineer / programmer that could sign off my own code – my own testing was better that the testing group could do
Visiting http://automattic.com/work-with-us/happiness-engineer/
Got me the following message
I left a comment of @macmanx’s blog about not being a coding guru and he left I think that link for me – his post was about T shirts – so I sent him a pair of T shirts from my old boat (new shirts, best J/80 T shirt in the world at the time I had it made!! so said the folks at J/Boats – be interesting to see if their mail system can get the shirts to him
Then add the little issue of pissing off Matt big time over their non-testing of features – probably end up at the bottom of SF bay
Oh well
raincoaster
October 7, 2013
You should apply. You don’t need to be a coder to be a Happiness Engineer, and with me around you look snarkless! You can always give them the link to that guy today who told me to fuck myself and then you just calmly replied to him. I’m gonna bump his threads daily, for myself, which is why Automattic will never hire me.
captnmike
October 7, 2013
Never thought about the comparisons – I did actually put up with this shit from another one of these big time consultants with a team of idiot coders and a 48 hour overdue project
http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/mapping-domain-to-blog-this-domain-has-already-been-mapped-to-a-wordpresscom-b?replies=12#post-1463346 –
told me I was some sort of an idiot – but then they were totally unable to explain what the problem was until I suggested some fixes that they did not like – then they went bat-shit and finally explained what the problem really was – me being some sort of do good idiot left them step by step instructions, which they then followed to fix the problems, no they could not be bothered to say thanks – so I left a note about the instructions working and that they were welcome for the help –
Thought about leaving a comment on the customers site telling them what sort of shits their consultant was but thought better of it –
The few times I ask for help here or at .ORG I was just so grateful that someone would try and help – if the help did not work I just went back with the feedback – never thought to call the people helping idiots –
I had to look a bit for the link you referenced – did remember leaving an answer after you got flipped off – sometimes I am cool and calm – other times a bit of snark slips in –
maybe think a bit about the job app thing – twice @macmanx suggested it, the other time I said something about one of my earlier jobs and how my stuff worked – I used to do industrial software – if I made a mistake people could get hurt or killed – here you screw up and somebody’s stats have the wrong number or something – not a big deal compared to one project I was on – the original designers messed up the design a bit and blew the sides off a building (they were designed to blow off in the case of an explosion – less damage that way) – made the 5 o’clock news with the siding all laid out like peddles of a flower – when the powdered aluminum made like fireworks when an air flow indicator was hooked up backwards – one heck of a boom
raincoaster
October 7, 2013
If macmanx is suggesting it, you’d be a fool not to do it.
I’d love to see video of that explosion. Holy shit!
And with that company, I’d have found the email for their tech department and emailed them the link to the forum thread, along with “You’re paying for that?” Poof, unemployed consultants ASAP!
captnmike
October 7, 2013
If you did work at Autommatic then they just change “Member” to staff or whatever – that would then make all your snark as official company policy!! scary thought isn’t it? :)
Maybe I could say 85% less snark?
fotoeins
October 7, 2013
L.,. thanks for the heads up the other day over pho! If I feel I don’t have a sufficient amount of daily or weekly snark, I don’t need to go over the counter at the Worst Drugstore in the World; I’ll know where to go.
Christopher Finke
October 7, 2013
Automattician here; this isn’t correct. Trials are not expected to be full-time commitments, and we can work around whatever your current employment situation is. Many (and I’d even say most) trials continue to work full-time at their existing job while applying to work at Automattic.
You are paid for any work done during your trial.
Confirmed. Working at Automattic is the best job I’ve ever had.
raincoaster
October 7, 2013
Well, I’ve heard from people who went through the trial that it was pretty exhausting and they had trouble juggling even part time external commitments but I am happy to stand corrected on the rest.