Farewell, Automattic
In hindsight, making my title “Release Candidate” when I joined the company seven years ago may have been a mistake.
All the “worst” things that have happened to me in life have turned out to be gifts I had no idea I needed until long after I received them.
The last one of these gifts was in July 2023, when my wife collapsed in our driveway from internal bleeding after an IVF procedure. Ninety minutes later she was in the OR having a lifesaving operation, and I was given 2 1/2 hours (an eternity) to wonder if it would be successful. There is an irreplaceable gift of perspective to be given a window into fully considering what your life would look like if your spouse died today, and then be able to walk away from that window and resume your life. For me, it shattered any illusion that I can make the world safe for the people I love; the only thing I can offer is that whatever happens, we’ll do it together. It’s that knowledge that gives me the greatest sense of peace as I start this new chapter.
From that same IVF procedure, we ended up with one usable embryo – which is not a good outcome for IVF, unless that embryo works out and turns out to be your daughter.
Now when I hold her at night and she’s crying because she has a runny nose and she wants me to take it away – I tell her I understand it’s very hard to be a baby; all that soul jammed into a little body. And I tell her, whatever happens, we’ll do it together.
If there was ever a time when the world needed a company who would plaster on the homepage of their website “We are passionate about making the web a better place”, I would say it would be now.
At a time in the world where feelings of scarcity and tribalism are on the rise, I leave you with an encouragement to take the opportunity to be the counterbalance, focusing your attention on opportunity and togetherness. And the best way to change the world is to start with yourself. Whatever you do, do it together.
There are many things that I am grateful for over the last seven years, but the biggest themes that come to mind are:
- Spending my time with people who want to learn as much as I do
- Working on weird problems that made the world a little bit better by being solved
- Being afforded the opportunity to build teams centered around building up from the best in people
Until we meet again,
Your friend,
RC