Our deepest fear (Akeelah and the Bee)
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? Continue reading Our deepest fear (Akeelah and the Bee)
Author: Hannah Swain
Based in Stockholm, Sweden, Hannah has wholeheartedly embraced the Nordic knitting tradition. Even as her yarn stash threatened to take over their small apartment, Hannah decided to start sewing. Her partner is very tolerant of her fiber-related addictions but does not like pins or needles.
Previously a Microsoft SharePoint consultant, Hannah now works as a WooCommerce Happiness Engineer on the payments team at Automattic.
One year anniversary at Automattic
On the 15th March 2016, I started as a WooCommerce Happiness Engineer at Automattic. What a year it has been! Continue reading One year anniversary at Automattic
When good manners and equality clash
I’ve never thought very much about all of the different angles around the concept of men opening doors for women. I mentally shrugged my shoulders, thanked people when they held the door for me, held the door for others and went on with my life. Sweden is very much into gender-equality, so it hasn’t come up. After a few days of having multiple men hold the door for me as a polite gesture, I’m surprised at just how surprised and startled I am by it. Continue reading When good manners and equality clash
CMS Africa 2017 – WooCommerce payments in Nigeria
Here are the slides for the WooCommerce payments in Nigeria presentation, that was given at CMS Summit 2017 on Friday 3 March 2017 in Abuja, Nigeria. Continue reading CMS Africa 2017 – WooCommerce payments in Nigeria
A (semi) typical work day for me, February 2017 edition
As a WooCommerce Happiness Engineer at Automattic, I spend some of my time directly helping customers. I also get to travel quite a bit, to different conferences and to meet my colleagues all over the world. I’ll focus on a day at home (just outside of Stockholm, Sweden), because the other days are anything but typical. Continue reading A (semi) typical work day for me, February 2017 edition
The experience of switching to Colemak
When I joined Automattic, I found that using different keyboard layouts like Dvorak and Colemak are common and encouraged – as are most things that will help you be more efficient.The idea is that if you spend so much of your day at your computer, you might as well be efficient at input. The idea seemed neat, so why not? Continue reading The experience of switching to Colemak
Did she fake those Fitbit steps?
Note: I’d actually hidden this post for a while, thinking it was way too personal to be sharing on the internet. And what if people were embarrassed that I was talking about this? So I’ve opened it up again. The post expresses my thoughts well and ultimately has a positive note. I’m filing this experience under “do things that scare you”. I was looking at my … Continue reading Did she fake those Fitbit steps?
I shaved my head and it was awesome.
I always wanted to shave my head. I just never dared.
At a certain point, though, I had so many reasons to. It didn’t seem fair that guys could have such an easy hairstyle, while I was stuck with a mess of curls. It never looked neat and put together, not matter what I did to it. I moved to Sweden and couldn’t quite accept the 300 sek ($40 USD) hair cut every six weeks just to keep my hair under control.
Really, though – I wanted to. Shouldn’t that be a good enough reason?
Automattic: my journey from application to hire
Hi! My name is Hannah and I’m a WooCommerce Happiness Engineer at Automattic. Automattic is the company behind WordPress.com, WooCommerce and many other products.
I successfully completed my trial for Happiness Engineer on WordPress.com. During my trial, I read as much as I possibly could about other people’s experiences. Good, bad, it didn’t matter. I was so thirsty to know more. I hope this blog post helps you in some small way.
Continue reading “Automattic: my journey from application to hire”
Results after 100 days of Colemak: 100 WPM
While I was doing my Automattic trial, I came across information about using alternative keyboard layouts – Dvorak and Colemak. if you look at the distance your fingers travel to type the same words, QWERTY is much less efficient than Dvorak or Colemak. In my typical “why not?” approach, I challenged myself to learn Colemak during Christmas and be able to type 50 WPM by the end of the Christmas holiday. As of today, 100 days* after I started, I managed to hit 100 WPM.
Continue reading “Results after 100 days of Colemak: 100 WPM”
