Becoming a Googler

I often see tweets from people in the industry announcing major career changes; I never expected that I would be adding to this stream, but today I am. After more than 8 years at XWP/X-Team, I am starting at Google as of October 1st. I’m joining the Developer Relations team at Google to work on building a stronger web content ecosystem. In my new role I’ll be doing… many of the same things because I’m joining Google for the purpose of continuing to contribute to WordPress. While I have been doing that with the support of XWP, now I’ll be doing so with the backing of Google.

After working heavily on the WordPress 4.8 and 4.9 releases in 2017 (as well as previous core releases), I started transitioning a year ago to working on something very different. XWP started working with Google on a new phase for the AMP plugin and I led the engineering efforts. It was a refreshing change after years of working primarily on the Customizer: I realize now that I was on the verge of burnout at that time, and since we just did a major core release with Customizer improvements and because focus in core shifted fully to Gutenberg, I felt comfortable stepping away for a while to focus on AMP. After several months of working on AMP we then also started working on a PWA feature plugin which aims to bring progressive web app capabilities to core.

Working on AMP and PWA have felt like returning to my roots. Before XWP and before I was involved in WordPress even, I was really interested in open web standards. I contributed (with small acknowledgement) to the HTML5 spec by participating in the mailing list and creating a cross-browser implementation of Web Forms 2.0. I also created polyfills for CSS Transitions and CSS Gradients. I loved learning new cutting edge (progressive) technologies and then finding ways to implement them in projects, often requiring some creative solutions to get them to work in older browsers. (I used to take pride in my knowledge of IE6 workarounds.) I was an early adopter of Ajax, and I was an avid listener of the Audible Ajax podcast on the old Ajaxian blog; I loved that community that Ben and Dion created, and I loved contributing some things I hacked on. (Ben and Dion are both at Google now and I’ll be working in the Chrome team with them.)

My desire is to make as big an impact as possible. This is why I’m passionate about the open web. In publishing some project openly, I know that someone else can benefit from it and build upon it to make something new, just as I have benefited and built upon the projects of others. Everyone can contribute to building a better web. This is also a reason why I love WordPress: not only does it democratize publishing but it also democratizes development.

I’ve loved working at XWP because of our mission to build a better (open) web, and we have been doing so through WordPress. Over the years I’ve also been a big Google fan because of all they’ve done to invest in the open web. But I never thought that I’d get to work at Google, nor even that I’d want to. Nevertheless, this past year of working with Google has been a really great experience. I’ve been able to see first hand their commitment to the open web, and there was such a great alignment with XWP in having a shared mission to make it better. I’ve also been able to work with exciting technologies that serve toward this goal.

For many months I resisted the idea of applying at Google. I’ve invested many years working at  XWP and helping it to grow, and I have many relationships there which I value greatly. I’ve been able to contribute to building a better web at XWP and I could certainly continue to do so there. However, after Google I/O and WordCamp Europe I realized that at the current place in my career, I believe I’ll be able to grow more personally and have a greater impact if I start to contribute from Google while leveraging its support and resources. Additionally, there are others at XWP who can take my place and do more than I ever could to lead the company in technology and engineering; I have total confidence in them. While my relationships with XWPeople will change, they won’t end as I’ll be continuing to work with them on AMP, PWA, WordPress core, and other projects in the future. Read more about this new season for XWP.

So I’m going from working with Google to working at Google. For more see my Googler colleague Alberto Medina’s post about Web Content Ecosystems @ Google. I’ll be based out of Google’s Portland office so I’ll continue to be in PDX. I’m excited about this next chapter in my career and season in my life. Strangely enough, I’m really looking forward to taking TriMet and riding my bike each day to the office, as I’ve been working from home for the past 8 years (which I have loved, don’t get me wrong). But more so I’m looking forward to seeing how Google can build a better open web by investing in WordPress. I’m excited to be a part of it.