Mel Choyce

  • Last Day at Automattic

    Today was my last day at Automattic, where I’ve been employed the last eight-and-some years. It feels like the end of an era, and I’ll miss Automattic dearly.

    Automattic’s been more than just a workplace for me; it’s been a place of acceptance, growth, and opportunity. I’ve made lifelong friendships. I’ve traveled across the world to places I’d never imagine I’d have the privilege to go. I’ve eaten a lot of really amazing food. And hopefully, I’ve made a positive impact on my corner of the web.

    The choice to leave was one of the most difficult I’ve made. But, I’m leaving to go somewhere exciting, where I feel like I can make a positive difference in people’s lives. (Still remote, thankfully!)

    More on that later. I’m taking a few weeks off to decompress and make some art and music before jumping into my next big adventure.

    To my a12s: much love šŸ’™

    mel

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  • Sabbatical

    Next month, I hit five years of working at Automattic. At five years, Automatticians are given a paid sabbatical. This is a time for us to relax, recharge, and come back to work refreshed.Ā 

    Five years is a long time. It’s the longest time I’ve ever been anywhere since, well… my elementary school, where I did Pre-K through 3rd Grade. Prior to this, I maxed out at four years at any particular place. Since joining Automattic, I’ve even lived in four different apartments.

    Externally I’m stoked for my sabbatical, but internally, I’m all like…

    Quite honestly, I’m scared of my sabbatical. I’ve spent so long defining myself by my work and measuring my success by my productivity, what does it mean when I’m not working? What does it mean to take off three months and just… exist?

    My colleague Alex sums it up perfectly:

    Take time for me. Even writing those words scares me. What happens when all the work stops? What do I do if Iā€™m bored? I wonā€™t have a default work to go to, so how will I spend my time? Is too much time on my own something I can handle?

    Preparing for Sabbatical ā€“ Five Years with Automatticļ»æ

    I feel like I’m being given a tremendous opportunity for reflection and self-growth, but I’m going to squander it. That terrifies me.

    I’m terrified I’m going to waste my sabbatical. I’m terrified I’ll spend three months in my PJs, sitting on my couch, playing video games. That without the pressure of work, I’ll turn into a slug. Or a rock. Not even a nice rock, all moss-covered and finely shaped, but a gross muddy rock under which a den of centipedes dwells. And slugs.

    Alternately, I’m scared I’m going to fill my sabbatical with not-work that resembles work, and won’t have a chance to decompress.

    To combat this, I’m trying to stack my sabbatical with relaxing and fulfilling experiences:

    • I’m spending 8 days in Ireland with my girlfriend.
    • I have two back-to-back weeks of printmaking lessons scheduled, something I’ve been wanting to get back into for a while, but haven’t had the time for.
    • I’ll be coaching drums at Girls Rock Campaign Boston, which is undeniably going to make me feel vulnerable and make me feel like an imposter but fuck it, I’m doin’ it anyway!
    • I have a coupon for a cooking lesson that I’ve been hanging on to for a couple years now, and will finally be cashing in this summer!
    • Hopefully towards the end of summer, I’ll be taking another trip, this time to Colorado to check out some parks and do outdoorsy things.

    I also have some aspirational goals:

    • I will continue to work with my personal trainer at the gym every week that I’m in town for. Hopefully, I’ll also be motivated to go to the gym on my own more frequently, but if that doesn’t pan out, I’m going to give myself permission to not beat myself up over it.
    • I have a backlog of books I’ve been meaning to read. Surprise surprise. If I get through some of them, that’s awesome. If I don’t? That’s okay, too. They’ll always be there.

    Luckily, I also have my amazing girlfriend to make sure I’m not spending too much time on volunteering (like atĀ Ragtag, which you should also volunteer for!) or other things resembling work. I’m fortunate to have a partner who’ll help me from overcommitting.

    Why am I writing this? In part, Alex’s post gave me the courage to admit this. It helps to know that I’m not the only person who feels this way about taking a sabbatical. I’m also writing this because my coach is having me readĀ Daring Greatly by BrenĆ© Brown, which is all about embracing vulnerability.

    But also? I’m hoping posting this will help me stay accountable for my sabbatical plans. If I write them down, maybe they’ll be more real.

    This is for sure: if you see me on Slack over the summer, tell me to take a hike!

    Edit: some wise words from my colleague Matt Wiebe:

    The whole point of a sabbatical is to learn to be a human being, not a human doing.

    šŸ˜²

    mel

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  • FireCast Presents: Paintsville Independent High School, Automattic, and AGI

    Last year, ļ»æAutomattic paired up with Paintsville High School in Kentucky to do a remote graphic design fellowship. FireCast, a traveling video podcast in Eastern Kentucky, recently filmed the students talking about the experience:

    You can learn more about the podcast and about the design fellowship on The Hollerļ»æ.

    I had a lot of fun working with both my artist, Min, and my student, Abby, and it was really great to hear how the program went from the Paintsville students’ perspectives. It sounds like we’ve opened up their minds to the idea of design as a career, and remote work.

    Too often, tech workers are pushed towards big cities in order to grow their careers and support their families. By opening up remote opportunities for work, folks in suburban and rural areas can live the lifestyles they love and still have opportunities to make great careers. This is especially important in areas where jobs are scarce and disappearing, like Appalachia.

    I really hope we get the opportunity to partner with more schools in the future, and to sustain our relationship with Paintsville!

    mel

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  • 2017 in Reflection

    For many people, myself included, 2017 has been an exhausting year.

    I started off the year in a haze of anxiety and fear over the US election ā€” a haze that only really stopped when I very intentionally stepped back from social media for a little while and tried to give myself some space. I donated when I could, and voted in my local elections, but otherwise feel like I didn't give enough or do enough to counteract all of the awfulness going on in my country. I've felt powerless and paralyzed. In 2018, I want to find sustainable ways to empower myself and my communities.

    Improving my mental health was a focus of 2017. I was, quite honestly, a disaster in the beginning of the year. I experienced multiple panic attacks. After a significant amount of time and effort, I was finally able to see a psychiatrist. (Seriously y'all, why is it so hard?) For most of my life I've been opposed to medication (for myself, not others), but my anxiety meds have made a world of difference for me. My stress and anxiety are manageable, and actually reflective of reality, rather than high-key all the time for no reason. I feel like going out and being social again. I haven't had any more panic attacks. It took a lot of work, but getting the mental health support I needed was worth it.

    My family went through a lot of pain and strife this year, which took up a great amount of mental and financial resources. I think ā€” hope? ā€” it brought us closer together, and we made it through the year intact. I'm considering that a success. I hope next year brings some much deserved peace and prosperity to my family.

    Work was pretty intense this year. I took on a lot more responsibility than I thought myself capable of handling. In a lot of ways, I was right ā€” I made a lot of mistakes this year. I got mired in details that didn't matter as much as the bigger picture. I learned and grew quite a bit. I led a WordPress release and it actually went pretty well. I learned a lot about my work habits (and my brain) that I'll be able to put to good use next year. I'm starting out 2018 with a professional coach, to help keep myself on track and focused, and to learn even more about how I can make the best use of my skills. Better late than never, eh?

    A lot of people supported me this year:

    • My partner Kelly, who was with me every step of the way. Thanks for always supporting me, cheering me on, and being patient with me despite many of this year's hurdles. Thanks for listening to me rant, and helping me deal with the enormous work and family stress I was under this year. I hope I can always be as good a partner for you as you've been for me.Ā 
    • My older brother Chris, who saw our family through some incredibly tough times this year. Thanks for your composure, your leadership, and for making sure our family got through the year with a roof over everyone's heads. This year would have been a whole lot harder without you.
    • My coworker and friend Tammie, who was my cheerleader the whole year. Thanks for the check-ins, the support and confidence, and for checking my work to make sure I was showing my best.
    • My team lead Josepha, who helped me through many difficult situations and worked hard to find the best way to support me. Thanks for listening, and for keeping me on-track.
    • My WordPress release buddies Weston and Jeff. I couldn't have made it through the year without either of you. We did it together.
    • All my wonderful internet friends. I love you all ā¤ļø
    • My therapist. Paying someone for professional emotional labor is the shit, y'all. A++ would recommend.

    2017 was hard. Damn hard. I hope that it's made me stronger, more resilient, and a better friend, coworker, and partner.

    Here's to 2018.

    mel

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  • Remembering my first month at Automattic

    Every year, Automattic comes together in one place to do a company meetup. This year is my fifth time attending our company meetup (called the “Grand Meetup”). During this week, we have the choice of taking a class or working on a project.Ā I was lucky enough to get admitted into the Art of Writing class this year! My first assignment is to write about the most valuable lesson I learned during my first month at Automattic.

    This was quite a while ago ā€” my first month at Automattic was over four years ago! ā€” so it’s taken me some time to recall my initial impressions. Thinking back on it, I had a pretty cool first month.

    Every new Automattician spends their first three weeks doing customer support. (I’ve written more about this topic in the past.) My first couple weeks were a little different than most new Automattician’s. I spent two weeks doing my support rotation, in which I learned a whole ton about WordPress.com and our products.

    However, the team I was joining after my support rotation had an in-person meetup planned during my third week. To give me a chance to meet my new teammates in person, I was lucky enough that I got to interrupt my support rotation and head to Chicago for a week!

    After the meetup ended, I returned home for my last week of support, filled with excitement about my new job.

    Throughout that busy first month, I learned thatĀ my coworkers are the most important resource I have at Automattic, and I should go to them for support and help whenever I needed it.Ā Every time I felt lost or confused, my amazing, friendly coworkers were there to help me through my problem.

    During my support rotation, I’m sure I was super annoying (I asked so many questions) but everyone I received help from was incredibly patient and kind. When I got stuck, they’d walk me through the problem I was tackling in a way that helped me find the answer for myself, rather than just giving me the answer. It helped me learn how to find the right answers myself.

    During the week of my team meetup, I plunged into the deep end. Suddenly I went from learning all about our products and how to help customers, to needing to learn how to interact with our product from the development side. I needed to learn about how to set up and use my sandbox, commit code via SVN… it was overwhelming, to say the least.

    As a designer, my experience working with command line and sandboxes was extremely limited. My teammates were incredibly patient with me and helped me learn how to use these new development tools. Without their help, there’s no way I would have been able to even get started. They helped me set up my development environment, provided a bunch of tips and tricks I’d need, and encouraged me when I started to get frustrated by the whole process. My teammates turned what could have been a very overwhelming experience into something I could handle with my limited development knowledge and skillset.

    I’m thankful that I have such amazing coworkers, and that helping each other is built into the Automattic creed:

    I will never pass up an opportunity to help out a colleague, and Iā€™ll remember the days before I knew everything.

    In my experience, every Automattician takes this to heart. I’ve never worked with a better group of folks.

    Does this sound awesome? Automattic is hiring! Come join our team of helpful heroes.

    mel

  • Reflections on An Event Apart: Seattle

    This week, I attended An Event Apart Seattle with a handful of coworkers. It was the first time I had seen any of these particular coworkers since October (and in the case of one coworker, it was the first time I had met her). Getting a couple days to hang out in a conference setting with my coworkers was amazing. I’m constantly reminded of how passionate, talented, and dedicated they are. I get pumped just thinking about hanging out with them, and I can’t wait to get together with my team in New Orleans in a couple weeks.

    AEA:S itself was fantastic ā€” from a learning and development standpoint, it was definitely the best web conference I’ve ever attended. I learned something new at every talk. The speakers were smart, funny, and engaging. I got to see one of my own personal design heroes, Mike Monteiro, speak live for the first time. I can’t wait for my next chance to attend AEA.

    I’m also incredibly grateful to work for a company that will let me take a few days to meet up with my coworkers and learn from some of the best and brightest minds in the industry. I love my job, and I love what I do, and I’m really excited to come back, full of energy and enthusiasm for what I’m working on.

    Thanks for a good week, AEA.

    mel

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  • The Laura Beckman story

    I was reading an article on Marissa Mayer and this particular section kind of struck a chord with me, as it perfectly describes why I applied to Automattic:

    When people ask Mayer why she joined Google after getting her masters in symbolic systems at Stanford, she likes to tell them her ā€œLaura Beckman story.ā€ Itā€™s about the daughter of her middle school piano teacher, Joanne Beckman.

    Mayer begins: ā€œLaura tried out for the volleyball team her junior year at high school. At the end of the tryouts, she was given a hard choice: bench on varsity, or start on JV.

    ā€œMost people, when theyā€™re faced with this choice, would choose to play – and they’ll pick JV. Laura did the opposite. She chose varsity, and she benched the whole season.

    ā€œBut then an amazing thing happened. Senior year she tried out and she made varsity as a starter, and all the JV starters from the previous year benched their whole senior year.

    ā€œI remember asking her: ā€˜How did you know to choose varsity?ā€™

    ā€œAnd she said, ā€˜I just knew that if I got to practice with the better players every day, I would become a much better player, even if I didnā€™t get to play in any of the games.ā€™ā€

    The moral of Mayerā€™s story is that itā€™s always better to surround yourself with the best people so that they will challenge you and you will grow.

    ā€œMy quest to find, and be surrounded by, smart people is what brought me to Google,ā€ she says.

    ā€” The Truth About Marissa Mayer: An Unauthorized Biography

    mel

  • Why every new employee should do customer support

    I was recently hired at Automattic as a Design Engineer. All new hires are required to spend three weeks as a Happiness Engineer, answering support tickets for WordPress.com. No exceptions.

    I know what youā€™re thinkingā€Šā€”ā€Ša designer, doing support? I wasnā€™t hired for this! Thatā€™s not my job, this is pointless!

    Thatā€™s where youā€™d be wrong. Do you know why? Doing support is awesome. Itā€™s probably the best thing you could have your new hires do. Itā€™s been tremendously more effective in introducing me to Automattic than any new hire orientation Iā€™ve gone through, and hereā€™s why.

    You learn your product faster

    Part of any new job is fumbling around, trying to figure out the ins-and-outs of your product or service. Only now, guess whatā€Šā€”ā€Šnow you get to do it for someone else! And youā€™d damn well better do it right!

    After two days of training with full-time Happiness Engineers, new employees are thrown right into the fire of support forums and tickets and oh god I donā€™t know anything about domains, I better figure that shit out asap. No sir, I have no idea why your theme isnā€™t working, guess I should set up a test blog and try it out for myself.

    Iā€™m going to be honest: when I started, I had only used WordPress.com a little bit. Iā€™ve always been a self-hosted user. The ridiculous amount of information Iā€™ve crammed into my skull during my three weeks of support about WordPress.com has transformed me into an expert. I know where everything is. I have whole swaths of support documentation memorized. I can refund a dissatisfied user in 30 seconds. Bring it.

    It creates empathy for your customers

    Unless you completely lack empathy, seeing someone struggle with a difficult task is painful. You want to help. When they succeed, you feel excited. Woohoo!

    While doing support, you actually get to experience your customers, in the wild, interacting with your product or service. You get a sense for their workflows, for their habits, and most importantly: where you fall short.

    When your customers have trouble doing something, thatā€™s your fault. But I havenā€™t even started yet! Doesnā€™t matter, still your fault. Own it. This is now your company. If thereā€™s something that needs fixing, you donā€™t shove your fingers in your ears and insist that itā€™s not your fault, sorry sir but I only just started, I donā€™t know how to help you. If thereā€™s something that needs fixing,you try to fix it. If you donā€™t have the power to fix something yet? Bug someone who does.

    I think itā€™s easy to fall into a trap as a designer or a developer where you just design and code in a vacuum. Itā€™s just you, and your product, and what do you mean other people have to use it? I can use it just fine! Doing support shows you who uses your product or service and how they use it. Itā€™s not just you anymore.

    You feel a greater sense of responsibility

    Every single day of my support rotation I had a ticket I just didnā€™t know how to answer. I tried looking through the docs, but I couldnā€™t seem to figure out how to fix a customerā€™s problem. When that happens, I descended like a starving lion on my support buddy, a full-time Happiness Engineer who was assigned to help me for my three weeks. If he was unavailable, I asked around in our support chat, feeling anxious about not already knowing the answer.

    It was kind of pathetic. But thatā€™s okay, because my buddy, and the rest of the Happiness team, are amazing. They are understanding. They are patient. They are my saviors. They are my friends. You donā€™t want to make life hard for you friends, do you? Youā€™re not an asshole, right?

    If I left my support rotation and went on to design something hard to use or broken, guess whoā€™s going to feel the heat first? Guess who will need to deal with my mess? My wonderful new Happiness Engineer friends.

    Working support instilled within me a greater sense of responsibility. My actions not only affect our huge user base, but also my coworkers. I better damn well make sure anything I push out is going to make lives easier, not harder.

    Iā€™ve officially finished my support rotation. Iā€™m pumped to start designing. I feel like Iā€™m overflowing with all this creative energy that built up over the past couple weeks of doing support. My last week of support was the most challenging, but the experience I gained will help me become a better designer.

    Iā€™m pretty damn sure that if you try supporting your customers for a while, youā€™ll become a better designer too.

    Originally posted on Medium.

    mel

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