Some of you have asked whether l was affected by the layoff a couple weeks ago. I’m sorry to have to report that the rumors are true: after over 11 years, Automattic and I have finally parted ways.

It is bittersweet consolation to find myself in such good company in an unfortunate circumstance. Joining me in sudden unemployment are 280 of the best engineers — and the best people — I have had the privilege of working alongside and learning from over so many years.

It’s strange to realize that 280 is nearly the size of the entire company when I first joined in 2014 (this post’s featured image is the entire company at my first Grand Meetup!), and that I have spent a full quarter of my life working on Automattic’s super cool stable of projects: Simplenote, Day One, the Gutenberg block editor for WordPress.com, and the first version of the WordPress.com API, among others. One reason I stayed so long is I truly felt that I had multiple jobs over the years. I was even able to take on a leadership role for a few years, and while I ultimately missed being hands-on with the codebase, I learned so much from that experience that continues to serve me even as an IC.

Though I’m sorry it’s ended this way, it’s been a wild ride and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Still, eleven years is an awfully long time to do any one thing, and I’m excited to learn what the next chapter holds.

I still think Automattic is truly unique, and I mean this genuinely: I hope that they are able to come out the other side of this stronger than before. I want to believe that the values of open source can and will win out in a world increasingly full of walled gardens. I hope all of you still at the company know that I’m rooting for you from the sidelines.

Signing off before I cry! With eternal gratitude to my mentors in OPW who encouraged me to apply to my dream job: George Stephanis, Justin Shreve, and Jen Mylo. And a toast to all of my colleagues, past and present, but especially my teammates on Firebird, Phoenix, Lannister and I/O. I’m so proud of every single thing we built together. Beep beep boop forever ❤️❤️❤️

Let’s stay in touch! I’m on the a8c alumni Slack and on LinkedIn, or you can drop me a line at kat@codebykat.com.