I’m going to rip off the bandaid.

I am leaving DreamHost after 10 years. My last practical day is tomorrow.

I came to DreamHost in August 2012, after 14 and a half years at a bank. I was a very different person then, just as I am a very different person now. In ten years, I went from support-type roles to heading up the forum team, building out some documentation and pre-training, and well into development. For the last few years, I was working as a Full Stack developer on the DreamPress project, and I loved it.

But all things come to an end.

Being in hosting was somewhat of a happy accident for me. It was a good fit, it gave me space to breath and heal and grow, and now I want to branch out and do more, different things. Back then? I wanted to help. Today? I’m not the same me. I want to code! I want to develop and design (but not like theme design, seriously not good at it).

I’ve loved it at DreamHost, and I cannot stress this enough: I think that had I been working anywhere else when the whole plugin/stalking drama happened, I might have broken. DreamHost was amazing. They cared. They supported me. They were there for me.

Nowadays though, DreamHost and I want to do different things and it’s right to not hold each other back. So for me? It’s time to move on to the next stage of my work-life. I kind of have an idea where it’ll take me, which if you know me, that’s new for me! I’m a bit notable for my lack of 5 or 10 year plans as any of my managers can tell you.

• I’m not leaving WordPress, though I am stepping back from some responsibilities
• I will miss DreamHost a lot. Like a lot a lot. Alot.
• I will still be at WCUS 2022
• I will not being traveling to as many WordCamps in the future

Stepping back from some of my WP responsibilities and going to fewer WordCamps are no reflection on WP or DH. It’s all a me thing, making choices to reduce stress and give myself a chance to breath and create that future plan I have in mind.

And for the big question of why now?

Why not?

There’s never a perfect time to move to the next phase of your life. As it happens, I finished up my last project at DreamHost just recently so this actually is a pretty good time there. It’s ten years, so it’s pretty perfect from that angle. While I could have stayed on till end of year… I’m not a fan of lingering. Once you’ve decided to leave, it’s hard to want to commit to doing anything new at the current place, which isn’t good or bad. It’s human nature.

The other big question is ‘where to?’ and that is actually probably not a shock to many that I’m sticking with WordPress. I’m off to be a WordPress Developer at XWP. I’m really looking forward to the myriad, diverse, weird code I get to play with!

See you all in San Diego soon!