Welcome to Automattic Women—conversations with some of the remarkable women working all over the world to design and develop Automattic software and make the web a better place. Today’s interviewee, engineer Anne Mirasol, talks to us from her home workstation in the Philippines.
Who are you, and what do you do?
I am Anne Mirasol, a software engineer for Automattic. My team is currently working on bringing P2, Automattic’s homegrown remote collaboration platform, to the world.
As a software engineer (or a code wrangler, as we sometimes call it internally), my job is to implement new features, maintain existing ones, and just basically keep P2 running as it should.
What’s a typical day like for you?
I’m a big fan of slow mornings–easing myself into the work day. Even though at Automattic, we work from home, I try to keep my work hours fairly consistent. I find that it personally helps me maintain a healthy work-life boundary.
My work day typically begins in the afternoon, which is also conveniently the time that most of my teammates start their day. We don’t have a lot of face-to-face meetings over Zoom, but we do communicate a lot via Slack and P2.
Whenever I need to step back and do some back-burner work, I go for an ice cream break at the small convenience store near my place. It’s never-ending summer where I am, so every day is a good day for ice cream.
What drew you to Automattic and what keeps you here?
My best friend introduced me to Automattic. She said that it was her dream company, and encouraged me to apply. I valued her opinion a lot, so I was intrigued. It then turned out that the more I learned about the company—by reading all the articles and employee blogs I could find—the more her dream became my dream as well.
I was hesitant to apply at first, since I didn’t know anyone at the company personally, and I thought it just sounded too good to be true. I’m truly thankful for that one Sunday morning where I told myself to stop overthinking, sat up, booted my gaming computer, and just sent in my application. I can say that the company has far exceeded my expectations, and I’m glad to be part of it.
What I like most about Automattic and what makes me stay is the opportunity to work with extremely kind and talented people without having to move to another city or country. It feels like a bigger world has been opened to me, and I didn’t have to leave my family and friends.
What’s your favorite non-work activity?
Before the pandemic, I loved spending the weekend with my twin sister and her dog. She teaches literature at my alma mater, and stays at a housing facility for faculty, so I would regularly spend a night or two with her, and we’d drive around the campus and eat street food, walk the dog, and read paperback fiction while sitting on the university library stairs until after sunset.
Now that I can’t go out as much, I’ve been sampling hobbies and interests and just seeing what holds my interest the longest. To my neighbor’s dismay, I’ve also started learning to play the violin again, working my way through a first-grade book.
That’s it for this edition of Automattic Women. Follow Developer Resources and Automattic Design to meet more great women of Automattic. And if you’d like to do more than just read about these great people, consider working with us!
