I began to work at XWP in mid June and my experience has been fantastic. I want to tell you about why I joined and why you should work at XWP too! (Spoiler: We’re hiring, alot of hiring).
1. Grow in a supportive environment
If you know me, you know I love working with people who care about one another. I genuinely want to help everyone I work with grow and succeed, and XWP lives this. All through the interview process, the onboarding process, and my first month here, I’ve only been met with kindness and support. I needed to delay my start date for personal reasons and XWP was incredibly accommodating, wanting to ensure that I joined when I was ready to tackle the challenge. That’s why I ranked this as my #1 reason for joining XWP.
2. Choose to work part-time or full-time
The flexibility of XWP surpasses that of many other organizations in the WordPress space. At XWP you can find a secure, long-term commitment guaranteeing you a certain amount of work or you can make a few small changes that have a big impact. For example, you can decide how many hours a week you’d like to work. What best fits your needs? 20h a week, 40h, or something in between? No matter what you choose, we treat you like a full team member. This flexibility means you can have financial peace of mind while still caring for your family and loved ones.
3. Side-gig? No problem!
XWP also wants to support your growth. That’s why we don’t stop you from working on side projects, even if those include WordPress! Want a stable 30-hour-per-week job while spending 10 hour each week on getting your passion project or WordPress business off the ground? That’s great and it works for us! XWP believes that this only makes the team smarter, stronger, and better.
4. XWP is a leader in the WordPress space
XWP is one of the leading WordPress agencies in the world and, dare I say it, the best at performance. Talking to all of my new teammates, I’ve heard from so many of them that they’ve learned so much from their colleagues and the projects at XWP. Our team of 85+ (and growing) WordPress experts are an incredible resource for one another and the clients we serve. It also represents one of the most powerful WordPress shops around.
5. Work on interesting projects
What about the day to day you ask? Well, XWP works on some of the most technically challenging projects in some of the most exciting industries. Whether it’s building new open source technology like AMP, Web Stories, or the Material Design Theme through our partnership with Google or relaunching RollingStone.com on WordPress, or moving the whole of News Corp Australia to the platform powering 42% of the web— XWP can do it all. We launch websites, platforms and applications that generate global impact. As an agency partner to major hosts like Pantheon, WPEngine, and Automattic’s VIP platform, there’s always an interesting project on tap.
6. Support for contributing to the WordPress community
XWP measures success not just by how happy the client is, but also by the opportunity to positively impact the open web through each project. We want to help you contribute to WordPress and beyond – we even have a program for it! You can get sponsored to do so with our WordPress+ program. We’ve created and contributed to major open source projects like the WordPress Customizer, Tide, Stream, and more. In fact, our team has been contributing since WordPress version 2.7!
7. Improve your life with a USD$2,500 yearly allowance
We want to support you to do your best work. Want to go to a conference? Buy an online course? Get a better monitor? You’ve got it covered with an annual allowance! Not only that, but if you feel like you’d be more productive in your work life by building yourself a garden, playing video games or travelling, that’s fine too! You get $2,500 yearly to help improve your life. Some folks travel the world and go to WordCamps while others buy 3D printers. The choice is yours!
8. Work when you want, where you want.
XWP isn’t centered in a specific timezone. We’re distributed across 20+ timezones, 25+ countries and six continents (finding WordPress developers in Antarctica is hard!). This means we’re set up well to work asynchronously. We care about your results, not the day or time you work. We set a minimum bar for finding mutually agreeable overlap for those must-have meetings. Outside of that, you have the freedom to design your location and schedule to optimize both your work and life. So, whether you’re working from home on a Tuesday morning, an Airbnb by the lake on a Thursday afternoon, or a plane travelling the world on a Sunday night, it’s up to you.
9. Bring your whole self to work
I’m not a cookie cutter developer, and neither are you! I love gardening, growing veggies, taking care of my flower beds, and pruning my fruit trees. I’m also a big advocate for mental health and talk about it and other social issues I care about. We have specific Slack channels for sharing our personal hobbies, joys, and struggles. Additionally, XWP has built “Homebases” that group folks in similar time zones, creating space for deeper personal connection and support with team members. At XWP you can bring your whole self to work!
10. Fair market compensation
Some organizations want to take advantage of where you work to pay you less. At XWP we pay fair market rates, rather than highly regionalized salaries. No matter where you live, we make opportunities accessible. We understand we’re looking for great team members and that means we should treat them as such. Our salary ranges are all posted on the job postings so you know what to expect.
11. Come work with me! (I know I can’t count this as a reason why I joined but…)
If we’ve worked together in the past, or if we interacted during my time in the WordPress community, I want you to hear from you! Finding old friends is always a pleasure. So, if we connected at a WordCamp, as a client, a co-worker, or you’re my father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate, let me know what you’re up to!
What if we’ve never met? Well, there’s no time like the present! I’m looking forward to meeting you.
