Job Awesome

embossed version of the Font Awesome flag logo on a gritty, purple-navy background

One year ago today, I started working at Font Awesome. I’d already been planning on writing a bit about the experience and how it’s been different; but last month, Lynn Fisher posted an excellent list of things she wants from a job. The earnestness of her words helped clarify my own thoughts and put some things in perspective.

But first, a little background. I used to work remote at a Canadian design agency. In the last couple years out of my 7 working there, I regularly kept an ear to the ground about new opportunities. Judging by LinkedIn and read.cv profiles, 7 years is an eternity in tech — so I suppose it makes sense that things started to stagnate. I had a terrific manager, but the company didn’t really know what to do with me as one of the only design specialists. Very much a “the clients love you and we value what you do” but also a “we forgot to promote you for the things you were already doing” situation. Anyway, I was tired of it. And thanks to Lynn’s list, it’s much easier now to identify some key things I felt were missing:


illustrated Font Awesome icon of a Pldaydate handheld console on a purple background. It’s positioned at a januty angle, and has a pixelated version of the Font Awseome logo on its black-and-white-screen.

So one year in, has Font Awesome been different?

A lot.

We follow the tenets of Shape Up, writing pitches and breaking work into digestible, 6-week chunks called “splits.” And in between these splits, we have 2-week cooldowns to work on fun things, fix random bugs, or learn new skills! A far cry from the blistering pace of agency client work. Let’s revisit some of that list:

Something our CEO Dave likes to talk a lot about is “work as a means to an end.” While it’s great to enjoy what you do for a living (and I’m incredibly blessed that I do), it should be just that: for living. Jobs should be tools to enable you to live the life you want when you’re not on the clock. (P.S. We’re hiring!)

Cheers to one year and here’s to many awesome more ⚑


💌 Find a mistake? Got something nice to say? You can reply via email.