Rhymes With Happier

Recently I was telling a friend about a new career opportunity. As I explained the company and the role, he started laughing. That wasn’t really the reaction I was after, so I stopped talking.

“What?” I asked?

“It’s just that this sounds like exactly the perfect place for you,” he said.

I’ve been a Zapier fanboy for some time. Now I’m stoked to be the first at the company devoted to “developer marketing” (in quotes because developer marketing doesn’t exist). While Zapier customers are primarily non-developers, partner companies connect their APIs to Zapier. I’m helping those technical people make better integrations so everyone can be happier.

Ooo! Zapier rhymes with happier. It’s like they planned it that way.

Three and a half years ago, I met Wade (far right) at the Small Business Web Summit. I had organized the API track, and Wade came to talk about Webhooks, sometimes called a “reverse API.” While it’s a bit techy, the things that they make possible are very cool. Services that incorporate Webhooks can alert other services as soon as something changes.

Zapier allows you to connect 700+ applications (Google Sheets, Trello, Slack, etc.) together and automate your workflow. Do you want a text message when you receive certain survey responses? That’s the sort of stuff Zapier does. “We’re just some humans who think computers should do more work,” reads the Zapier about page, which now includes my smiling mug.

In early 2014, I gave a workshop at SXSW about “Un-Programming.” Zapier figured heavily in the curriculum and I’ve continued to use it for my own ever-expanding list of automations.

I also kept in touch with Wade, who eventually introduced me to others on the team. The people (100% remote all over the world) are great, I was already a fan of the product, and the company had a position that made a ton of sense given my background.

I’m really, super excited about the work ahead.

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