A Month+ in the A8C life

So yeah, its been over 5 weeks since I’ve started working at Automattic(A8C), simply put the best job I’ve every had. Simple Litmus test you have your dream job? Easy. Enjoy going to/doing your work? check Can step away from work without feeling the need to constantly check-in? check Great colleagues to interact with and

Basics of Screen

Why haven’t I heard of screen before? So useful! Start up a screen session and you can detach/resume on another computer. Long running task you want to keep tabs on but need to move computers no longer an issue. Start a Screen Session Creates the Screen Session with given name. You can use this name

// Unix //
Read More

Happiness Engineer : Day 3

You may know WordPress the software (WordPress.org if you will) but WordPress.com is completely different. Last year the user interface for WordPress.com was updated to use “Calypso”, you can still access the traditional wp-admin but most users use the new interface with new features being added all the time. Talk about a shock to your

Day 2 of A8C : What NOT to do

“With great powers come great responsibilities.” Having access and control of millions of sites, users and content knowing what not to do is in someways more important than what to do. And rightly enough the first topic of our second day of Happiness Training. Followed closely by Security, protect your own information to better protect

Automattic (A8C) : Day 1

Today I was lucky enough to start my career at Automattic. For those that have done any research around WordPress know that Automattic is a company dedicated to the growth and well being of its clients/users and employees. This core principle is what has directed my career growth from global corporations to self hosted websites

Handling Large SQL Files, Locally

Those fun moments when you have to import SQL that are 100s of MB large to accommodate development of existing projects. Getting your local setup completed can be a hassle if you try to go the UI route of using phpmyadmin or similar to handle the import. Save yourself the time go straight to the

// SQL //
Read More

Fatal error: Can’t use function return value in write context in

Stubmled across this odd PHP error when I was testing out some new features on a staging server. Fatal error: Can’t use function return value in write context in As it turns out empty function only accepts variables as input in versions prior to 5.5… So if you see the above make sure you are

// PHP //
Read More

Database Statistics

Ever wonder how much space your database is utilizing? Usually something we don’t give much thought to, however if you are looking into migrating hosting then it is something you may need. I tend to work on a lot of WordPress Sites that utilize MySQL databases and the below 2 queries I have found to

Getting Involved with the WordPress Community

End of October I found myself in Boston for Boston WordCamp 2013, as I wanted to get more involved in the WordPress community. As it turns out there are no boundaries for those interested in contributing to WordPress. Visit make.wordpress.org to find out how you can help out by tackling defects, supporting other users in

WP Advertising Associate – Plugin Approved on WordPress.org

Great News!! The revised and renamed plugin WP Advertising Associate (previously titled WordPress Amazon Associate) has been approved for listing on the WordPress.org Directory Listing. Please update to the new plugin at your earliest convenience. You will need to deactivate and delete the existing WordPress Amazon Associate plugin however all settings will carry over to