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.
View over Lisbon, Julia Amosova
Life, Professional

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

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Life, Professional

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

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Life

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?

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Geekiness, Life

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?

Continue reading “I shaved my head and it was awesome.”

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Life, Professional

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”

Hannah Swain32 Comments
Geekiness

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”

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Geekiness

Embracing Colemak’s caps lock as backspace

I used to joke that I was really fast at typing because I could hit the backspace and fix my mistakes really quickly. Backspace is an inefficient key, if you’re looking at distance travelled when typing. Part of the Colemak layout involves mapping the caps lock key to be backspace: it’s much more efficient and how often do you really use backspace?

Continue reading “Embracing Colemak’s caps lock as backspace”

Hannah Swain2 Comments
Crafting, Knitting

The Great Sock Rush of 2016

I wanted a nice, thick pair of raggsockor so I knit myself a pair. And then I cast on another pair, yet another and finally one more. I’d waited a week or so to write this post, just to see if the rush was over, but I’m eyeing that grey-marled yarn for another pair… these socks are addictive! They’re soft, warm, fun and they knit up ridiculously fast.

The weather here in Sweden has been wet and hovering just below zero. Spring is starting to peek around the corner, but there’s nothing as cozy as a thick pair of socks – unless it’s a thick pair of socks with a cup of coffee.

Continue reading “The Great Sock Rush of 2016”

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