Parting #team10up

I still have a pretty vivid memory of my first Skype call with Jess a couple days before my official start date with 10up.

I had known Zack for a few months and spoke to Jake a few times during the hiring process, but that call with Jess was the first real point of contact on a real work topic. I wasn’t entirely nervous, but I still had no idea what to expect with this whole distributed workforce thing.

Fortunately, Jess has a way of making you feel like you’ve been working together for years and that call went great.

These types of interactions solidify what Team 10up is all about. Over the last two years new team members have immediately been embraced as they walk in the virtual door. It’s this sense of community that has made the team so strong. A general, mostly unspoken, philosophy of being open with each other, admitting mistakes, and being there to answer questions has gone a long way in creating an amazing bond that I haven’t experienced with any previous team. All while distributed!

Friday will be my last day with 10up. And I’m going to miss it a lot. I know that I’ll reflect for a long time on—and probably write about—the thought that while this next part is extremely exciting, leaving people hurts.

A week from today I start a new position at Washington State University, where I’ll help architect a publishing platform built around WordPress for use by the colleges and departments of the university.

I couldn’t be more excited about the work that we’re going to be doing at WSU and I’m looking forward to the impact we’ll make.

I couldn’t be more grateful to everyone at 10up for everything that I’ve experienced¹ and learned over the last year and half. Thank you all!

1. I’m batting away loads of stories right now to avoid a novel. The team at 10up knows them all well, and we are hiring, so if you’d like Helen to fill you in on the great pizza caper or Carl to explain who is responsible for that plugin, go apply!