My first work anniversary at Kinsta

Happy work anniversary to me. It's already a year since I started working at Kinsta.

It's been a year already. One year ago, I started working at Kinsta as a DevRel (well, formally, my title is Development Advocate Analyst, but it's too long when I introduce myself).

What am I doing there?

There are many things you can do as a DevRel. Usually, DevRels represents the company outside - talking with other developers, promoting the product, etc. Not me 😄

I'm working more on the inside - helping marketing to make all the content dev-friendly. I also serve as a bridge between departments - crafting starters for Application Hosting (and debugging them), explaining how some technologies work, and evaluating if some partnerships make sense or not.

It doesn't prevent me from going to a conference or two and giving a talk here and there.

Why did I join Kinsta?

First of all - I knew Kinsta already. I met Marcel at WordCamp Europe in Berlin, I had a few chats with Andrea when we were working on a partnership with Buddy, and we used Kinsta when I worked at OsomStudio. So, I knew enough about Kinsta already to be sure that their product is more than solid.

Also, I started my journey outside WordPress. Kinsta was starting to do the same (they were launching the Application Hosting). So we were in the same situation - looking for something new but still having our WordPress backgrounds.

What surprised me the most?

I never worked at such a big company. I was afraid that I would feel lost here. But that wasn't the case at any point. It was remarkable, from the onboarding process to how we all work together. I don't want to sound too corporate - but I felt like a part of the team from the beginning.

Another thing was how Kinsta handled the situation when most big companies started to fire people. Was I stressed for a moment? Yeah - so many friends around got laid off without any warning. The management reacted quickly, describing our current situation and the plans to prevent the layoffs. And there weren't any layoffs at Kinsta.

Also, Christi and Caroline made a fantastic impression on me. They take care of our documentation - both the one you see on the outside and the internal one. They check everything on our Slack and update the docs when something changes. Thanks to them, most of us don't have to spend our time looking for information - it's already in our documentation.

Last but not least - we work in teams but often mix them to work on a project. What's also great is that everyone's opinion matters. I'm not a designer, but I had a chance to share my knowledge here and there about what would work best in the MyKinsta admin panel.

What did I achieve this year?

First of all, I had a chance to meet the whole marketing team in Athens. This was something truly amazing. Chatting on Slack is one thing, but having a chance to hug everyone is something much better.

I'm also happy that I had a chance to visit some of the conferences, like JS World in Amsterdam, PHP UK in London, WordCamp Poland in Gliwice, and WordCamp Europe in Athens. All of those conferences were amazing, and I could visit them all thanks to Kinsta.

I learned a lot about teamwork - I never had a chance to work with so many people simultaneously - it's a different experience.

From a technical point of view, I had a chance to learn a lot about Buildpacks, multiple JS frameworks (mostly Astro), and Statamic. I also feel that my writing has improved - especially when it comes to writing documentation.

Are there things that can be done better?

Yes - of course. Kinsta is a huge company with many different people working together. It's impossible that everything will work perfectly. But the thing is that Kinsta really listens. At some point, I complained about some reports - and Adrian evaluated the need for them and removed them.

This means that I won't write what bothers me yet. Why? I have already added those points to my annual report, and I'm sure they will be considered. All of it? Probably not - the company doesn't spin around one Maciek Palmowski, but I'm sure we will find a solution that will help all of us.

What's next?

I'm not planning any revolution. I'm not even looking around for something new. I know I have(had?) this habit of changing my job once a year, but I'm sure I will stay longer at Kinsta. How long? I'm not sure yet, but I can imagine myself here for quite a while. I'm aiming for more than one sabbatical (we have one month off every three years).

Also, with the launch of the new products and seeing how they improved over this year - I want to be here to see how others will start using them in their everyday work.

If you are looking for work, don't forget to check Kinsta's career page. Maybe you'll find something interesting.