Tag: Books

TechnologyWordPress

Some Automattic Perks

Posted on by Shane

Four perks I love at Automattic

Today as I was watching one of my favorite Twitch streams I had a deep sense of thankfulness for all the perks that my company offers. A guest speaker was talking about Toastmasters, and that made me suddenly remember that I want to join my local chapter, but also that I was first introduced to that concept when I was preparing to present at a WordCamp.

Here is a list of some of the things I am taking advantage of at Automattic. I am hoping these entice you to apply. You can see even more benefits of working at Automattic here.

  1. Coaching. I have had a career/life coach for the past year and that has been huge in my growth. I have really grown in my position and pretty soon here will take a logic and big next step. A huge part of my success has been my professional coach. Automattic contracts with some of the best coaches out there and I am very thankful.
  2. Reboot Leadership training. This was an intensive course that taught me a lot about leadership. I don’t think I ever would have taken this on my own. My team lead suggested this training and I am so glad I went through it.
  3. Hardware refreshes. Every 18 months I get a new computer. Sometimes it’s a Macbook, other times it’s a iMac. Just depends. My last update was my anniversary laptop. My Home office is pretty amazing.
  4. Never stop learning. All books and courses and software that I use to learn and grow and carry out my day to day tasks are totally covered by Automattic.

Interested? Apply!

Theology

Tim Keller

Posted on by Shane

Tim Keller is my favorite teacher and author. I started listening to his sermons in 2001. Back then, you could only get his sermons on cassette tapes and by ordering them from Redeemer. During 2003-2004 life was such that Tim Keller was the main teaching influence in my life. A mentor if you will. I never stopped ordering Keller’s sermons. Each year I would order just about every 2-3 weeks and as time went on, the format changed. From tapes to CD’s and finally to Mp3’s. My work commute times were actually my favorite. I would spend hours listening to Keller in my car or plugged into headphone on BART. I have listened to just about every series a few times, and several more than a dozen times. Because of Tim Keller I was able to connect my childhood/early teens raised on Theology to a very real and practical living out of what I knew in my head. I don’t know how to explain it other than he is able to engage my heart, mind, and bring me to Jesus in a way that just gets me every time. Repentance, change of lifestyle and habits, real and practical actions as a result of listening.

Books by Tim Keller

Tim Keller’s books, reading them is like having C.S. Lewis in my own time. His books do much the same for me as C.S. Lewis, but in a more relevant way. “Every Good Endeavor” gave me passion for life that I never had, and prompted me to stop living and working for my own desires. It also prompted me to brainstorm and create EmotionsManager. His book “Walking with God Through Pain And Suffering” was so incredible. I read it twice. Galatians For You and Judges For You were fun to read as well. Really, all of his books are well written and very informative.

Get a sermon

Keller’s sermons are hight quality. You should download a few. :-)

I had it in my head several times to take sermon notes and post them online. In 2010 I tried that, but was not consistent at all. (Update: attempting this again here.) Fun to look back at that site though. I hope to meet Tim someday and just shake his hand and tell him my story in a few minutes time, thank him for his faithfulness to the Gospel.