Happiness Engineer position

Hard-working web guy
Always polite and friendly
Ready to help all

April 20, 2010

Dear Automattic,

I am writing about the position of Happiness Engineer advertised on your job listings page. I believe I am well-suited to perform the tasks and responsibilities of this position and would be a good asset to the Automattic team. I am excited to contribute to Automattic's services and am enthusiastic about the company's mission of building quality online publishing tools.

I put my first website online in 1998 when I was 12. I built it with Microsoft Publisher 97 and wrote about my interests at the time: ATVs, astronomy, James Bond, and airplanes. Looking at the site now, the bright-blue background and green text have not aged well and my interests make me chuckle. But the feeling of sharing something with humanity —unknown humans, separated by geographical location but connected by a global network— has endured. This feeling of sharing and interaction keeps me personally excited about web projects; the ever-advancing embracing of the web around the world, and the great potential of global communication makes me philosophically excited about web publishing.

Following my interest in the changing global landscape, I studied globalization in college. The internet, that great equalizer, has profoundly altered human lives and history, and furthering communication through libre and open endeavors is something I would be proud to work on. I have followed Automattic since its founding and I very much admire the company's approach to business as demonstrated in its contributions to FOSS, its dedication to the GPL, and its approach to censorship abroad, among other tenets and actions.

I believe I am prepared to provide support for Automattic projects. In high school I taught myself to code webpages in Notepad and provided support to students around the country in the EAST Initiative via the project's online forums. My first week of college (2005), I set up WordPress (on DreamHost) to run a personal blog and have been using the software since. Taking up other web projects, I consistently have employed WordPress and I have experience in both maintaining my own sites as well as teaching and providing help to clients and friends with sites I've set up for them. I also have some experience working at a help-desk and am great at providing clear and detailed support. Possessing a positive attitude, always-growing tech skills, effective research and communication abilities, and a natural curiosity, I would make a great Happiness Engineer.

Thank you for your consideration of my application for this position.

Sincerely,
Liam Keane

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Education

Four years studying
History, culture, and more
New ways of thinking

University

Awards

  • UCSB Chancellor's Scholar
  • EAST Initiative, Conference Representative
  • SBCEO ROP: Certificate in Video Production; Certificate in Web Design
  • Santa Ynez High School: NHS, CSF, Diploma with Honors, etc.
  • BSA: Eagle Scout
  • Guide Dogs for the Blind: Puppy Raiser Award

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Employment

A good team player
Patient and innovative
Calm under pressure

Limotta Internet Technologies

Limotta Internet Technologies is a company that provides IT services throughout Santa Barbara County to small- and medium-sized businesses who often do not have their own IT staff. More.

Field Technician, August–September 2007

Provided routine repair and maintenance and interacted with clients in person with professionalism and a smile.

  • Configuration: configured Cisco VoIP phones, setup SonicWall firewall devices
  • Delivery: delivered new computers to growing offices, helped Dell techs rack servers and UPS batteries in server rooms
  • Construction: ran CAT5 cable through attics and crawlspaces and punched down ethernet ports on office renovations, installed Alvarion WiMax antennas on two-story buildings via ladder

Customer Support Representative, August–September 2007

Provided time-sensitive assistance to clients as a member of the office-based Business Support Team, in situations where business capabilities were on the line.

  • Client-care: responded to incoming service tickets, provided support to clients via email and phone-calls, gave guided walk-throughs of software and operating system issues, used Citrix GoToAssist to provide express solutions
  • Administrative: filed RMAs and other processes on behalf of clients

International Labor Rights Forum

The International Labor Rights Forum is a non-profit organization that advocates for the world's working poor, and is particularly concerned with issues of child labor. I worked at ILRF full-time (four days a week) in their Dupont Circle office.

Research and Program Intern, March–June 2008

  • Research: examined documents for references to factories using child labor
  • Programs: raised funds via on-street campaigns, planned campaigns, created graphic design, assisted with copy-writing & crafted press releases
  • Administrative: sent faxes, mailed letters, updated partners, created lists, photographed events, escorted international guests around DC
  • Teaching: collaborated with DC Public Schools to work with students in classroom advocacy projects
  • Technology: set-up new intranet and collaboration tools, created documentation, trained staff and responded to requests for support

Stop Firestone Coalition

The Stop Firestone Coalition is a partnership between Amnesty International, the RFK Center for Human Rights, ILRF, and others to advocate for better treatment of rubber plantation workers by Firestone Liberia, LLC.

Web Designer and Brand Consultant, May–June 2008

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  • Migrated all content from old FrontPage site to WordPress install
  • Formulated new trade dress: Setup a theme by Derek Punsalan, created a new logo, created a simple and clear header image and other graphics
  • Trained the staff on how to use WordPress. Also created a custom handbook for staff reference.

Journeys Within Our Community

Journeys Within Our Community is a charity that provides services in the fields of education, medical care, clean-water access, economic development and micro-loans, and emergency relief around Southeast Asia, particularly in Cambodia and Vietnam.

Web and Communications Director, September–December 2008

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  • Planned a complete overhaul of clients multiple web presences
  • Transferred all of the organizations web content from Dreamweaver-generated HTML files into WordPress.
  • Imported previous blog from Blogger.
  • Created a custom theme based on Sandbox. Worked with Executive Director to tweak site elements through revisions.
  • Created a new logo and various graphics.

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Projects

Eager to supply
Communities with smart tech
Solutions for good

Hiking Registry, 2003

An online form and database for hiking registrations, designed to provide Search and Rescue teams with details of planned trips.

  • Produced concept, design, and prototypes of the service, as a volunteer service and Eagle project.
  • Coordinated project design with multiple government agencies, including the county Sheriff Department and the National Park Service.
  • Oversaw a small team of volunteers in the creation of promotional posters and video spots to raise awareness of the platform.

WordPress sites

My blog, 2005

A personal blog for use as a student in college

  • Installed WordPress for use as a personal journal. Tweaked themes to suit.
  • Much traffic to the site comes from music in Buddhism queries, where it is highly ranked.

Jesusita Fire, 2009

A central clearinghouse of emergency information during the major evacuation of downtown Santa Barbara

  • Observed major problems with websites of both county government and local news providers during a period where timely information was critical to the community. Installed WordPress on an easy-to-remember URL and began compiling information from many sources.
  • Monitored unfolding events and responded to emails regarding questions during the largest evacuation in the county's history.
  • Began creation of a tool to automate aspects of information retrieval.

Other sites

sbMet, 2009

A public online aggregator in grid format powered by local publishers' shortfeeds. Created with SimplePie's NewsBlocks.

NewsOffThePress, 2008

A public online aggregator in fire-hose format, following local news feeds. Created with Gregarius.

Future sites

Some of the Dharma, 2010

A project to research meditation, philosophy, science, and other subjects of interest. Powered by WordPress.

An SYV BuddyPress project, 2010

A community blog for the Santa Ynez Valley (land of Sideways).

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Skill list

Web dev languages
Professional, courteous
All this and much more

Tech:

  • Web: Semantic HTML/XHTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, Javascript
  • Core tools: Notepad++/text editors, Apache/XAMPP, FireBug, Web Developer extension, FileZilla/PuTTY, phpMyAdmin
  • Graphics tools: GIMP, Photoshop, Inkscape
  • Additional tools: Basecamp, ConnectWise, Dropbox, Beanstalk, TortoiseSVN, Yahoo Pipes, SimplePie
  • Other: Google-fu, Premiere, iMovie, GoToAssist, Audacity, ArcGIS

Key:

  • midnight - Strong
  • royal - Familiar
  • sky - Learning

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What is Global Studies?

In 1999, UCSB was one of the first schools in the country to start a program in international studies focusing on globalization. Many schools' Political Science departments confer degrees in International Relations. While "International Relations" often focuses on interactions between geo-political nation states and politicians, "Global Studies" looks at these relations as well as the interactions of peoples, non-state actors, transnational industries, and international institutions. Additionally, the program examines how religion and culture affect interactions around the world and studies the effects of telecommunications and other driving forces of "globalization".

Participating in the Global Studies program reinforced my strong respect for cultural differences, my desire to travel and experience new places, and my interest in the expansion and furtherance of international communication and dialogue via access to technology, hopefully leading to a more peaceful and understanding world.

What is Limotta IT?

Limotta's workforce consists of two types of staff: field technicians and support engineers. As this was a summer job and I was somewhat of an apprentice, I worked in both realms. As such, I interacted with all staff, both field and office, as well as with the distributed staff in Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, and India. While I worked closely with numerous employees, I often was assigned independent tasks. Based on the nature of the office (non-traditionally structured), I needed to document all interactions with clients, all work performed (some clients were on by-the-hour plans) and all expenses incurred via our intranet and ticket system (ConnectWise).