Automattic turned 20 this year.
That alone is worth celebrating — it’s rare for a tech company to make it this far, let alone one that’s been fully distributed from day one.
For me, it’s also a personal milestone: I’ve been lucky enough to spend the last 16 of those 20 years working to make the web a better place.
I joined in 2009 after meeting a group of talented folks on the internet (as one did in those days), then somehow found myself at Matt’s house for a WordPress “upgrade party.” That was the beginning — I never imagined it would turn into this kind of journey.
Over the years, I’ve had the chance to work in many parts of Automattic, from WordPress.com, to Jetpack, and WooCommerce, and to grow from a hands-on engineer into roles leading engineering, product, and now the entire Woo business. Today, I get to help shape a powerful, modern commerce platform on top of WordPress, with a focus on craft, scale, and design-led excellence.
People often ask me: why have I stayed so long?
It really comes down to two things:
- Constant growth — my role has never stopped evolving, which keeps the work interesting, challenging, and fulfilling.
- The people — I get to work with genuinely good, motivated, brilliant humans every day. That makes all the difference.
It’s been an incredible 16 years. Congratulations to everyone at Automattic — past and present — on 20 years of building the open web, together.