Folks, this is your Captain speaking. We’re flying into a bit of weather and we expect some substantial turbulence heading into our destination. I’ll ask you to keep your seat belts fastened tightly and the aisles clear as we make our approach.
Everyone around me clammed up, but I thought “Great. This is how it finally ends.” A calm came over me because it wasn’t anything to fear but something I could welcome. We will try to land in this storm and there will be trouble and the wind will kick up and the plane will tilt a bit too much near the runway, striking the ground, and then there will be a spark and a flash and then an explosion and that will be it.
A couple years ago, those thoughts came to me when I was flying and it was then I realized the stress and depression was getting to be too much for me to handle and I needed help. I saw a therapist for the better part of a year, and he taught me how to cope with anxiety and keep it from running over me. He also told me I was a terrible entrepreneur and that I was in the wrong business. In his eyes, I worried about everyone working for me too much and I was so risk-adverse I shouldn’t be running a lemonade stand much less a company. I agreed but it took a while longer before I finally made a change for myself.
Today marks my one year anniversary at Slack and it feels both like I’ve worked there for many years while at the same time feeling like I just started a couple months ago.
I recall my first visit to a packed and busy San Francisco office but it being extremely silent considering there were 75 people working closely together. Everyone was looking at monitors, typing, and making almost no noise, quieter than any library I’d been in. It was a bit eery, really.
I was terrified at the thought of working as a writer for the first time in my life, but I quickly grew to love it. Writing involves solving a series of puzzles each time you approach a project. I have a story I need to convey and a pile of words I can select to get there. Every project is a challenge, but a fun one.
I remember the early bruises. I messed up royally in my first couple weeks, posting a blunder in public caused by both miscommunication and my lack of experience with a new team. Part of me was glad to get it out of the way, since every job I’ve ever had involved making a big mistake at some point early on. Thankfully, everyone was cool and understanding and we crafted procedures to prevent it from ever happening again.
It may sound silly, but Slack is the first company I’ve worked at where everyone is incredible at every level of the company. I’ve never much butted heads with anyone or ever thought I didn’t want to work with someone on something. During holidays, we’d had a few long breaks and I honestly missed my coworkers like I missed family.
There’s something special about working remotely and interacting with everyone on Slack, and then meeting up with people once every few months. It’s strange, but it feels like the early Internet, where you’ve read someone’s blog for so long you knew them really well and when you’d finally meet in person, you became fast friends.
No two days have been identical since I started. While I came on as part of the content team, the vagueness of the word content means I’ve done everything from writing blog posts and tweets to writing labels on app UI, recording interviews for podcasts, video taping coworkers for a tribute, flying across the country to conduct customer interviews, and spending an inordinate amount of time picking precisely the right emoji for every occasion. For someone that in previous jobs has gotten bored with things, every day has been exciting and unpredictable and fun.
I honestly have never had a job I’ve loved so much or worked with people that each day taught me something new.
Slack really does feel like a special company — that hiring for empathy and diversity leads to better work, better colleagues, and better products. It can be dead serious where everyone does great things and it can feel like Willy Wonka’s factory inside the walls on the same day.
It’s worth mentioning that I couldn’t do this without the support of everyone at MetaFilter. I appreciate their hard work, ingenuity, and their willingness to shoulder pretty much everything that used to bring me down. They’ve taken charge and not only kept it flying, but pushed it higher, and I can’t thank everyone enough for that.
For the last year my typical day leaves me feeling giddy even when outrageously busy. Every day I’m solving fun challenges along the way. When I think back to that flight a few years ago I realize this change likely saved my life. I would be happy to work at Slack forever.
I am extremely lucky.
