Genre: Opinion/Argumentation

The schedule of a Happiness Engineer working in live chat When I was first hired as Trial Happiness Engineer , I was concerned about the flexibility of live chat . I imagined a live chat operator being chained to their desk all day . But since this is Automattic the pioneers of remote working , how was this possible ? How was it going to work ? Now I work on as a Happiness Engineer on a team that has a primary focus on live chat . Part of what attracted me to Automattic was the schedule flexibility . I 'm happy to say I have a very flexible schedule and I do n't work the typical 9am – 5pm Monday thru Friday schedule . I 'm also anything but tied to my desk . So how does it all work ? Scheduling / Flexibility The following is my own personal schedule , but each Happiness Engineer is different . There is no one-size-fits-all schedule for Happiness Engineers . At Automattic we have a saying that communication is oxygen . Since everyone has a different schedule , part of the oxygen that allows the Happiness team to function is communicating your schedule . Since every Happiness Engineer does this , this allows for us to efficiently schedule coverage for the week . I make my own schedule . It 's flexible in that I pick the days and times that I work , which amount to 40 hrs a week . Out of those 40 hrs my goal is to spend around 25 hrs live chatting . Currently , we sign up for live chat shifts . So I pick the hours I 'd like to live chat . We have a rough estimate about how many Happiness Engineers we need per an hour . Happiness Engineers get to sign up for which hours they 'd like to work . So it 's a balance of working the hours I 'd like but also trying to work hours where we need more coverage . What does a typical day look like ? I consider my " core " work to be live chatting . So I spend between 4-5 hrs live chatting each day . I then schedule the rest of my day around my live chat shifts . Around 1 hr answering tickets Then I spend around 30 minutes to an hour catching up on p2 posts & Slack and commenting ( p2 posts are our internal blog system ) . I also try to give myself between 30 minutes -1 hr each day for time to follow up with any live chats , where I need to test something or send them a follow up email . How flexible is Automattic with scheduling ? In my personal opinion , very flexible . I 'm not a morning person . I 've found I need a few days during the week to sleep in or do errands . This keeps me happiest . So on Wednesdays and Fridays , I start work at noon . Yeah , really ... 12pm . I also tend to work Sunday afternoon-evening anyways , preparing for the week . This works out great , because I get to help out with weekend & evening coverage . So on average I work around 4-6 hours every weekend . Here is what my weekly schedule looks like : My Personal Schedule If I need to take off work a bit early one day , I would log in later in the evening or weekend to help with coverage there . I communicate with my team and my team lead about these kind of changes in my schedule often . For example , when I 'm testing changes to my schedule and trying out new hours to see what works best for me and for live chat coverage . I let them know . This communication is healthy and let 's them know when I 'm around in case they need me . I never felt like I had to jump through hoops to get what I personally feel like is my dream schedule . I feel like Automattic trusts me to work the hours that I need to work , and that I find a schedule that keeps me happy , productive , and contributes to my team's goals . While I choose my own schedule , I try to schedule myself for times when I 'm needed the most . The wonderful thing about Automattic is that we truly are a remote company and no matter what time you choose to work - there is always plenty to do Having a company that is so flexible with me and my schedule , I tend to be flexible in return . If I notice that we may need an extra hand in the evenings or weekends , if it 's not a huge inconvenience to me or my schedule , I jump in and help out . This does n't mean that I work " extra " hours - I switch out those hours for hours that are well covered and either take a longer lunch to run an errand or leave a bit earlier then usual on another day . I still work around 40hrs a week , with those switches . I spent a good 9 months testing out schedules trying to find what worked best for me , before I settled on the schedule I 've currently working . Being flexible but consistent I 've personally found that the key to my own efficiency was being consistent . I 've spent about a year testing different times of the day that I live chat best at . I 'm best when I chat roughly around the same time each day . I 've also found that I do n't like working in live chat for more then 2 . 5hrs at time . Usually by then I 'm ready for a break and want to step away from the computer for a bit . I 'm most productive when I live chat right before lunch or the end of the day , so I get a nice break after my live chat shift . So on most days from 9am – 11 : 30am and then again from 2 : 30pm – 5 : 00pm works best for my schedule . When I do my best to generally do my " core work " during those hours this helps me get more done , since my brain now is hard-wired to know that it is crunch time . For each live chat shift - I stay in one place . I 'm either at home at my desk or at my coworking spot . I try to stay in a place where I can be most effective there since I have fast wifi and a large screen for multiple windows . Although somedays ... when I need a change of scenery I 'll go to a local coffee shop for my live chat session . Of course , this is what works best for me . Each Happiness Engineer is different and prefers a different schedule . Live Chatting : What 's it like ? One of my biggest concerns as Happiness Engineer Trial was Live Chat . I found the idea of it to be very intimidating . What 's live chat actually like though ? Well ... my first few live chats were a little nerve wrecking . After I got over my own fears , I found live chat to be so much fun . It 's my favorite way to support our users - since I 'm able to resolve a users issue in real time . Once you get a good rhythm , I 've found it to be easier to connect with our users via live chat . I 'm able to get to know them ... and the sites that they 're building . Our users are awesome . They 're kind and patient . So getting to chat with them all day is fun ! What kind of questions are you asked in live chat ? There are all different kinds of questions that come in , and you never know what you 're going to get . We get a lot of domain questions . Which is one of my favorite things to troubleshoot now . For example , when it comes to helping a user map a domain they own elsewhere to use with their WordPress.com site by updating name server settings or by helping a user purchase a domain . We also get a lot of questions about getting a theme set up or selecting a theme for their site . Do you have to know the answer to everything ? I can say that I certainly do n't know everything . While I 'm always striving to learn more . Something that 's helped me be successful is focusing on how to search for the answer . Knowing where to look for the answer is more then half the battle for me rather than having the pressure of knowing every single answer . Also for when I ca n't find the answer to a question , we have a Slack channel specifically for those in Live Chat . Since you 're working in live chat with a group of other Happiness Engineers , we 're all in the same Slack channel together and it 's pretty active . It 's one of my favorite channels because the conversation easily shifts between helping each other troubleshoot and small talk . I rely heavily on this channel . So even when I do n't know the answer , someone there usually does . It 's a great resource and helped me feel like I had a safety net for when I first jumped into live chat . So in Summary ... I love my schedule , live chatting , and Automattic . It really is a blast and the cool part is you could join us because we 're hiring . If you have any questions about my schedule or how Happiness Engineers schedule themselves , leave a comment below ! Hi Tish ! This is n't necessarily a schedule question , but as someone who is looking to apply for a Happiness Engineer position , do you have any pointers ? I know it 's absolutely necessary to stand out among the crowd . Any suggestions you have would be wonderful Thank you ! Your article inspired me to go for it and apply at Automattic ! You 've made me super dee duper excited about interviewing for the HE position ! I love that the interview is via Slack ... What a cool concept ! I 'm soooooo excited !! I hope to join you and the rest of the team ... definitely my type of vibe Thanks for this great " day in the life ! " Can I ask you how much previous experience you had with wordpresss + HTML / css you had prior to this position ? I am interested in applying to this role but am not sure that my coding skills are up to par ...