You're a work of art. Celebrate it.
I got this question during my job interview at Automattic. This was years ago, but I still ask myself the same thing over and over again. Applying for a customer support position I knew empathy will make up a large part of my job, and it’s crucial to be able to exercise it in all […]
All the hairdressers I know cringe when they hear about my hair care routine. It’s rather non-existent: I wash my hair, apply a conditioner, brush it for 5 minutes, and that’s pretty much it. When it’s windy I might tie it up in a loose side braid so it doesn’t get all tangled up. I […]
My fiancé just wrote a great article about coding, responsibility, and how software development is mostly about managing egos of everyone involved. This made me think about my own relationship with responsibility, which has been so far quite complicated and confusing. I’m a highly sensitive person and an emotional sponge. Noticing other people’s emotions and […]
I used to have an irrational fear of saying “no”. I felt responsible for everyone’s feelings, and for making sure no one is upset. Any situation where I had to confront someone and tell them something is not possible, or that I’m not going to help them, would cause me dread and anxiety. Working in […]
What’s the first thing you do when someone is sad or upset? My natural instinct was always to say sorry. Even if wasn’t the least responsible for the problem, I used to think saying sorry will express empathy and show people that I am on their side. One of the first things I learned working […]
I fix WordPress sites for a living. This is obviously not the case for people who reach out to me for help. In theory, I’m well aware that our customers don’t dedicate as much of their time and energy to troubleshooting their websites as I do, and that a new WooCommerce version coming out is […]
When was the last time you spoke to customer support? Bet you didn’t reach out to them to speak about how awesome they are? Most people, myself included, only contact support if there’s absolutely no other way to get something done. I’d much rather fill ten online forms than call my bank, phone carrier, or […]
A few months ago I took the challenge to teach deep, technical troubleshooting to anyone who’s interested. So far in my team, only the folks with some coding background worked on complex technical stuff. Nobody ever taught us to troubleshoot, we kinda learned it as a side effect of coding, and trying to fix our […]