Are you considering joining Automattic as a Happiness Engineer and want to learn more about the work we do and what you can expect? Buckle up, as I’ll give you a hands-on guide of what a typical day looks like for a Happiness Engineer like me.

What hours do Happiness Engineers work?

The short answer is: the hours they prefer. I set my own work hours two weeks in advance, allowing me to work when I prefer. My workday consists of 8 hours, but the hours I work are up to me. I could do a typical 9 to 5 schedule. I could do 4 hours in the morning, and 4 in the afternoon. If I wanted, I could take an hour-long break after every two hours of work. It’s really up to me.

Once my 8-hour workday is set according to my preferences, I’m scheduled for work based on the following:

• 6 hours of direct support. This is the time I spend helping our customers (also called users) via live chat, async tickets or 1:1 calls. It’s worth noting that ticket blocks have a few hours of flexibility in each direction.
• 2 hours of citizenship time, during which I spend time learning, catching up on Slack (our virtual office) conversations, and P2s (our internal blog tool), working on projects, and doing guild work.

Despite the flexibility offered, I prefer having a semi-fixed schedule and typically work between 7 am and 3 pm.  I like to start my day with five consecutive hours of direct support, followed by two hours of citizenship time, and finish up with one hour of direct support, which I prefer to dedicate to ticket time. This ensures that I have enough time to follow up on all my chats from the day.

Interacting with Customers

My 6 hours of direct support time each day consists of different amounts of ticket and chat hours, based on my set preferences and the need for coverage. On one day I might do 3 hours of chats and tickets. On another day I might have 4 hours to work on tickets and 2 hours to spend in chat. On another day I might not have any chat hours at all, and spend my 6 hours focusing on tickets. As part of my Guild work, I also have the opportunity to chat with customers 1:1 (I will explain more about this below).

As a WooCommerce Happiness Engineer, I help our customers (or merchants, as we call them at Woo) ensure their online store performs seamlessly. This means I get to work on fantastic people’s awesome stores and help them sort out their unique challenges every day.

Working with My Peers

Automattic is a globally distributed company, meaning everyone works from a different location, including us, Happiness Engineers. However, this does not mean we’re not working together. Slack is our virtual office, and we use it to collaborate and work together. These sessions are great to increase our knowledge and provide effective help to our customers.

Projects and Guilds

Each Happiness Engineer is encouraged to join a guild, squad or be part of a project, which gives us a chance to learn and contribute to the work Automattic does in different ways. For example, the Docs Guild helps make sure the documentation on Woo.com is accurate and accessible to all merchants and the Videos Guild creates short videos to explain various features of WooCommerce.

I’m part of the Customer Growth Guild, where our main focus is helping small and medium businesses grow by understanding their unique goals and challenges and offering solutions. As a result, they can further grow with WooCommerce. Our Customer Growth Guild offers target customers the opportunity to talk with us 1:1. If a customer takes advantage of this opportunity, I would engage in a 30-minute call with them to understand their goals and challenges. These calls are not technical at all – they’re more about understanding the customer, so we (it’s a team effort!) can provide the best help by email.

Final thoughts

When you are a Happiness Engineer, no two workdays are the same. Not because of the various hours you spend with ticket or chat support – but because of the variety of merchants you get to work with. Each day has new challenges, keeping the work interesting while letting me work on my skills and learn new things.

Considering applying? Dive right in! There’s nothing to lose.