I was unfortunately affected by the recent Automattic layoffs. We had a tradition at Automattic to post a farewell message on a special message board called farewell p2. I thought I’d share it on my blog as well as many people that I’ve worked with in the last 12 years have moved on already or were part of the layoffs.
Farewell P2
I always wondered when this day would come. My very first farewell p2! Well here it is. I’m going to miss this place. It is special, because you all are here. This is not just farewell to Automattic, but Woo(Themes) as well. During my time here I had so much international exposure, travelled to interesting countries, met so many beautiful hearted people and had my mind opened to a business at scale.
In the last 12 years, I’ve gone from support engineer to leading Sensei development then, post acquisition, maintaining 100+ extensions in the 3 man extendables team. After which I moved over to the marketplace team to run a Woo store at scale, while helping out in hiring. When the urge came to move on, I joined a small team to kickstart the payments business, which led to massive expansion allowing me to take on the leadership role on a growing team. In the last 3 months I’ve stepped back into the IC roler to contribute to the core software that supports one of our higher revenue producers: WooCommerce.
Thank you to everyone who’s played a part in this journey. To those staying behind, I hope you thrive. I’m thinking of you and know that you’ll get through this tough time.
I’m zooming out. The details are blurring. Serious conversations seem to have lost their urgency. The workload I carried is surprisingly unrecognizable. The avatars remain the same. No matter how far out I zoom. I still see you and it will be you that I remember. Not our disagreements, not our work, but how you cared for me and how you helped me. Thanks for everything.
The future is full of possibilities and now that I’m kicked out of the nest, I’m excited about flying in faith again. Who knows when our paths will cross again. Till then, remember to cherish the things that money can’t buy: love, joy and peace.
Stay in touch!