Today is the most beautiful of days. I’m not talking about the weather, but about a feeling that is currently impregnating every single fiber of my professional being. See, today marks the beginning of my trial phase (contractor) as Automattic‘s newest full-time systems wrangler.

You read that right: I’ll be working for the company behind WordPress.org, WordPress.com, Gravatar, Akismet and many other innovative and industry-leading products, with its wikipedia-entry-worthy figures, multi-datacenters infrastructure, the whole shebang.

Don’t get me wrong, although this assignment represents, to me, the professional chance of a lifetime, it will also be the most challenging by far, the scale of it all mind boggling. Nothing is won yet beyond the opportunity and everything is still left to be achieved. Needless to say, I will be doing my very best (and then some) to own the said challenge and prove Barry, Matt and others I am indeed the right guy for the job.

WordPress.com, one of our flagship products if you’re not familiar with it (hint: this very blogs runs on it), hosts such sites as “CNN’s Political Ticker, Dow Jones’ All Things D, the National Football League’s Official NFL blog, Time Inc’s The Page, People Magazine’s Style Watch, Om Malik, official blogs for communities like Flickr and BBC’s Top Gear, and many other high-profile and high-traffic blogs“. Automatticians also happen to be amongst the most successful Free and Open Source software evangelists, users and providers in the Web industry.

To top it all off, the position means 100% telecommuting, a mandatory requirement for me to work for a US-based (but internationally staffed) company since my wife, 3 children and I are happily residing in Montreal, Canada. An ideal proposition for a professional like I, who applies as much emphasis on his family life and welfare’s as he does on his career (even if often with little moderation in either :p). Balance being the path to a full and well-lived life, in my humble opinion.

In conclusion, I’d like to extend my deepest and most heartfelt thanks to Matt and the entire Automattic family for presenting me with this opportunity, as well as for welcoming me in their midst as we start and learn to work together.

Aim high, reach higher!

Update: Not a contractor any more. On staff since September 21st. :)