Automattic Meetup 2016

This year, Automattic went to Whistler, British Columbia, my first time in Canada for more than a layover. We had almost 500 employees spanning the globe, suddenly just spanning 2 hotels for the week. It’s always great, if not perhaps just a tiny bit overwhelming, to see everyone in person once a year, and it’s wonderful to build great things in person.

A fair amount of such great things were indeed built, so keep your eyes on the WordPress.com Blog, Jetpack Blog, and WooCommerce Blog for news. Meanwhile, here’s my customary chunk of photos.

For more photos, visit colleagues Stephen McLeod Blythe, Lisa Schuyler, Kathryn Presner, Dan Hauk, Naoko Takano, Ryan Cowles, and Pam Kocke. If any of this looks interesting to you, we’re always hiring!

Photo by Stephen McLeod Blythe

Automattic Meetup 2015

This year, Automattic went back to Park City, Utah! The big difference this time? Our “almost 300” has grown to 400 employees spanning the globe, many joining us from the WooThemes acquisition earlier this year. With so many colleagues from around the world, it’s great to see everyone at least once a year, and build great things in person.

Some aforementioned great things were indeed made this year, keep your eyes on the WordPress.com Blog and the Jetpack Blog for news, but perhaps more interesting (or at least more fun) was the introduction a live band made up of some of my more talented colleagues. I don’t think the band will be producing any albums, but it sure made for a fun night! 🙂

For more photos, visit colleagues Adam Heckler and Greg Stewart, and don’t forget that we’re always hiring!

James and Greg

Doobies Inc. at House of Blues

Sarah and I, plus a few of our friends, had a great time last night catching good friend Lawrence Tamez (saxophones and percussion) with Doobies Inc., a Doobie Brothers tribute band, at House of Blues in Anaheim. I figured I might as well share a few photos here, because stage lights are cool. If there’s a Doobies Inc. show in your neighborhood, you absolutely must go!

Sequoia National Park Trip

My wife and I felt it was about time for a vacation, so we took a few days to drive up to Sequoia National Park. On the first day, we took the easy Crescent Meadow Trail and somehow wound up on the far-less-easy Trail of the Sequoias (lovingly referred to as the Trial of the Sequoias) and all the trails we then had to take to get back to where we started. On the second day, we planned to visit Moro Rock, but wound up on the much longer trail to Moro Rock instead.

We certainly made a few mistakes along the way, but those mistakes lead us to some amazing views that we would otherwise have missed. We look forward to returning next year for everything we had actually planned to see this year. 🙂

Team Rads in Malta

Two weeks ago, Team Rads of Automattic met in Malta to focus our efforts on launching the inevitable WordAds 2.0 and to investigate unique marketing opportunities. We are an ever-growing distributed team, with three of us in California, one in Australia, one in Iceland, one in Portugal, and our newest team member in Italy, so we try to get together a few times each year to work out things that can’t be done over email, o2, and Slack.

Malta is an amazing country, and I really hope I can go back some time in the future to enjoy it as a vacation rather than just a business destination. We toured the island by bus and boat, and even visited the famous Blue Grotto. I also managed to take a few photos along the way.

Does any of this look interesting to you? Then I have some great news for you! If you want to work at Automattic, we’re hiring!

WordPress Logo MacBook Pro

Working at Automattic comes with a lot of benefits, but at the moment, none are cooler than the one pictured above. After four years of employment, Automattic employees are allowed to have their next computer customized by ColorWare.

This particular model is a mostly black retina MacBook Pro with a glowing WordPress logo in the center, and it’s ready for four more years with me at Automattic.

Deconstructed Apple Pie

Sweet puff crust, black tea ice cream, dehydrated persimmon, cider poached apple, and Grand Marnier whipped cream, on a bed of pecan streusel, at Newhall Refinery in Newhall, California.

Team Rads in Cairns

Last week, Team Rads of Automattic got together in Cairns to work on improvements to WordAds along with a few other surprises. We are a globally distributed team with three in various California locations, one in Iceland, one in Portugal, and our newest team member in Australia, so it’s nice to get together in person a few times each year.

Cairns was lovely in November, and we managed to swim at the Great Barrier Reef, explore a few of Australia’s rainforests including the Daintree Rainforest, and visit a wildlife sanctuary in Kuranda. I also managed to save a few photos from the trip.

Does any of this look interesting to you? Well, if you want to work at Automattic, we’re hiring!

Automattic Meetup 2014

This year, the Automattic company meetup was in Park City, Utah. We are a globally distributed company with almost 300 employees, so we pretty much have to get together annually to see faces, hear voices, and build great things. We’re putting the finishing touches on many of the things we build last week, so keep your eyes on the WordPress.com Blog for announcements. Some are actually already live now on WordPress.com, but since they haven’t been officially announced yet, I won’t spoil the surprise. 😉

Here are a few more photos from the meetup. The majority are a from a short hike on the mountain high above our hotel.