At OTGS, every team member’s path is paved with opportunities for growth. Starting out as an assistant in the Partnerships Marketing Team, Dean Jones worked his way up to lead the team. His experience shows the transformative career paths available through dedication, hard work, and the supportive environment of a global, remote team.
How has your role changed since you joined in 2021, and who or what has helped you grow?
At the time, I had the guidance of the (then) Partnerships Marketing Manager who really helped me to get adjusted to internal workflows and better understand the goals and expectations of my role. When the manager moved on after about 8-9 months, I stepped into the role, feeling both daunted and excited by the challenge. With support from colleagues and upper management, including crucial guidance from Amir, our CEO, I handled all partnership activities as a “one-man army” throughout 2022. This period sharpened my task management, time management, and partnership communication skills.
Once I started to feel more settled, it was time to look at expanding the team once again. Towards the end of 2022 I became the Partnerships ‘Team Lead’ and currently occupy this role in 2024.
Dean and fellow OTGSians at the company get-together after the first day of WordCamp Europe 2023
How has your experience been transitioning into the role of team leader?
Being a team leader was an entirely new and exciting challenge to me. Not only did I have to become more involved in hiring procedures, but I also needed to learn how to manage priorities and goals on a team level and motivate everyone to achieve them. Once again, Amir helped a great deal with advice and guidance, but I have also been lucky enough to work even closer with some of the other fantastic team leaders at the company from whom I learn something new everyday!
In between all of this, a lot of motivation also had to come from within myself. Without that self-motivation and desire to learn and grow, I don’t think my role would’ve been able to evolve as it did.
As I progressed in the company and took on greater responsibilities, I was also afforded some equally great opportunities. Perhaps the most memorable of these were the opportunities to attend WordCamps in Europe and Asia.
How have WordCamps and podcasts helped you grow professionally and share knowledge with our team?
My first WordCamp (in Porto, 2022) was eye-opening in so many ways. Not only did this feel like my first ‘business trip’, but it also forced me to get comfortable with meeting partners in a conference-style environment – something I had never done before. In that sense, it was invaluable, but furthermore it also gave me more direct access to the WordPress community which I had only really attempted to get involved in online.
Seeing so many people with a common interest, many of which have been involved for well over a decade, made me realise the importance of the work that I’m doing in partnerships. Without partnerships and community, the WordPress ecosystem would not be the powerhouse that it is today.
Dean working the WPML booth at WordCamp Asia 2024
I also realised that I had a lot more work to do to try and solidify myself within this community. Naturally, this would take some active efforts, and so I started joining more WordPress-related groups, forums and channels. As a result, I had some new opportunities find their way to me, for example my first podcast interview with YouTuber Josh Hall.
Recently, I also had the opportunity to contribute to the Devrims ‘Tech Talk’ series. Rimsha from Devrims reached out to me via LinkedIn. I noticed that they already had some nice guests in the series, so I was happy to oblige by providing answers related to my career development in partnership marketing.
The combination of these activities has drastically improved my confidence in my abilities, which in turn means more confidence to seek out bigger and better opportunities and also motivate my team to do the same. It’s also made me realise the importance of practice, self-development and knowledge. The more time I spent honing these areas, the more confident I became to involve myself in things that used to feel out of my depth.
Dean Jones hard at work at the WPML booth at WordCamp Asia 2024
What advice do you have for others looking to advance their roles and impact the WordPress community?
Knowledge development is key to progress and confidence. I always find that the more I know, the more confident I am to leap into new territories.
Of course, we can’t expect ourselves to know everything all at once, but I believe that as long as we are in constant pursuit of greater knowledge, we’ll be putting ourselves in a position to progress and attract opportunities for growth.
The same applies in the context of the WordPress community. One needs to put in the hours to learn more about its history and components to be able to have an impact there. It took me a while to understand this, but now that I do, I can see that I have only scratched the surface and there is a lot more work to do to establish a really strong and respected presence.
So, to summarize, impact doesn’t just happen, it’s earned.
Dean enjoying dinner at the after-party for WordCamp Asia 2024
Looking ahead, what goals do you have for the Partnerships team and your own professional development?
Although we all have our own ‘titles’ within the team, I would love for all of us to eventually be operating on the same level as a dynamic whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. This way, I believe we will be most efficient and productive with our resources. I always prefer a team dynamic where minds are aligned and we don’t have to rely too heavily on ‘top-down’ management styles.
Naturally, there will always be differences in abilities, but I’d like to do my best to facilitate a leveling of the playing field. In order to do this, I need to make sure I’m inspiring the team and also showing that I can practice what I preach. So, considering my own development, I’d like to show more innovation in the team and hopefully be seen as a good example for the standard that we want to set and achieve together.
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