Author: Simon

Two Years at Automattic

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My first day as a full time employee at Automattic was July 29, 2013.

I would have missed it, except I was working on a spreadsheet that contained start dates, and calculated peoples’ number-of-years with the company, out to six decimal places or something. Naturally, the one whole number stood out, and sure enough, it was me. It felt like I forgot my own birthday.

Working at Automattic has brought me to many things I would not have found otherwise. I found a real appreciation for in-person brainstorming, with post-it notes and everything. I had the opportunity to run a multi day brainstorming session with some of our Happiness Engineers in Barcelona.

I’ve gone to two Grand Meetups, one in Santa Cruz, and one in Park City Utah. I’ve been a team lead and a team member. I’ve worked on hospitality teams, I’ve worked on a product team. I have been consistently impressed by the ingenuity and generosity of my coworkers.

I’ve had times I wanted to quit. I’ve looked at job listings and sighed wistfully out the window. I’ve gotten unsolicited job offers. What has kept me on board the Automattic train has been the realization that my frustrations with the job were not coming from Automattic as an organization, but from my own approach, from my own assumptions about how the job should be, rather than finding positive and productive ways to navigate the sometimes bizarre and fluid world of remote tech work that is Automattic.

That, and the knowledge that even though it can be insane, it’s insane like me. It’s my preferred flavor of madness. Being able to set my own course, both in terms of where I’m working and what I’m working on, has been so valuable  to my personal growth and my ability to be impactful within the company.

Here’s to two more. At the very least!

(Yes we’re hiring. Yes I’ll talk to you about the job.)

7 Weeks of Hop Growth Data

7 Weeks of Hop Growth Data

Since the very end of May, I’ve taken weekly measurements of the height of all of the first year hop bines in my test yard. Here are the results, by location and height:

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Like any pile of data, we come away with more questions than answers: are there significant differences between the locations that grew better and those that grew worse? Is there a variable at play that isn’t described by the graphic? In this case, I can tell you I hope not; they’re all watered automatically and at the same rate – I tested! They also all have nearly exactly the same amount of sunlight per day, due to the location and alignment.

However, it is neat to notice how the different variety of hop plant are growing differently: you can see that B2 and B3 are far outgrowing the others (at 85″ and 93″ respectively, versus a yard average of 41″ for this week) – these plants are both of the Chinook variety, described by my friends and yours at Hopunion as “A high alpha hop with acceptable aroma.”

We can also see that the two laggards (A1 and B1) are both Centennials (“Very balanced, sometimes called a super Cascade.”) – while I know that the first year’s growth is not necessarily indicative of any plant or variety’s long term success, it will be interesting to see how these trends correlate to yield in future years – it’s possible that the Centennial plants are pushing out more substantial root stock than the others, which may make this apparent first-year laziness in fact an investment in greater long term success.

Ain’t data fun?

Milestone and New Project

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This week my little web log hit 200 WordPress.com Followers – plus two email followers (Thanks Mom!) – what a shock that is to me, and I am humbled and excited to know you all are out there. Thank you so much for following me, and I hope you continue to enjoy (or at least tolerate) what I’m putting out in the universe.

Also, while I have your attention, please note in the sidebar a new Page – “Standing Invitation,” which I have copied wholesale from Patrick McKenzie – whose blog you should also follow. The invitation? If you want to talk about craft agriculture or technology, and you’re within a reasonable distance of me, I will buy you a coffee. That’s it!

Last thing: I’ve started a side project, the Hopcast. It’s an interview-format podcast where I talk with hop farmers, brewers and other folks involved in the seed-to-pint-glass chain about how we can improve the state of local agriculture in the craft beer movement. Please do follow that, if it sounds interesting.

Thanks again! You all are the best.