I touched on a bit of this here. The last few weeks since joining Automattic to work on “commerce things” (I’ll keep teasing), I have reconnected with so many friends in the greater WordPress space.
It has been both fun to see a little bit of banter come to life on Twitter (I am holding off on calling it X, because it feels odd):
I’m curious about the speculation that might happen if we delay sharing what WooNew or my role is all about.
— adii (@adii) January 30, 2024
I can at least confirm that I’m “back” and fully re-immersing myself in all things WP & Woo. So 👋 to all my old friends.
Technically I’m not “back”. I had left Woo before their acquisition by @automattic in 2015. So this is my first time at Automattic.
— adii (@adii) February 11, 2024
I might be back from the perspective of working on things that look and sound like “commerce on WordPress”. 😎 https://t.co/9IFSC5By8J
The interesting part of this is that the ~17K followers I have on Twitter is very similar to the amount of followers I had 10 years ago. My audience was entirely WordPress- and Woo-focused in the early days of my Twitter account, and even though I did so many other things beyond that community in the past 10 years, the size of my audience has not changed.
What’s been interesting is not the size of my audience, but instead seeing familiar names and faces pop into my stream. The same was true of the email newsletter for my previous newsletter: it was the most-read email I had sent in the last couple of years.
There is something to be said about coming home.
Ten years later, home is different to the one I mostly left. But some things and people have stayed the same.
I’m fully immersing myself in updating my understanding of home, and reconnecting with those that have kept the torch burning.
I’m excited to contribute, and maybe bring a few fresh ideas we should explore.
(I’m sure if Small Potato was still around, we’d argue about these ideas and 20-something Adii would be in the comments section of every blog to pour fuel on the flames.)