How I became an effective Jira Admin?
Before we dive in, here’s a quick look at my journey into the world of Jira and Atlassian tools:
The Beginning 🤔
My Atlassian journey started in 2019 when I began working at a startup—my first job. Like many, the first thing I heard was “Jira.” To be honest, before that, I had no idea what “Jira” or “Atlassian” even was. At the time, I was transitioning from Excel and Word to a proper tool for tracking activities and daily tasks.
Our newly formed team needed a way to track what everyone was doing and plan ahead. Since developers and some other teams were already using Jira, it seemed like the logical step for us, too.
But there was one small problem… no one had any real experience administering or configuring Atlassian tools. Someone simply installed Jira (we were on Cloud), played around with it a bit, and left it at that.
First Impressions... 😵
I still remember the first time I saw Jira:
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“Do I really need to use this?”
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“Why can’t we just move back to Excel??”
Our Jira setup was a mess—someone had created a project for our team with tons of issue types and fields we didn’t need.
As complete beginners, we just wanted something simple: Tasks, Statuses - To Do, In Progress, Done and Start & Due Dates.
That’s it. No complex workflows, no unnecessary fields—just a way to track work effectively.
Making Jira Work for Us 🔧
As we really needed the tool, I started researching how to configure Jira to fit our needs. Our team wasn’t strictly dev or business—it was somewhere in between—so our needs were unique.
No one else seemed enthusiastic about designing internal processes, and it started to bug me. So, I stepped up. I asked for the project admin role and dived into researching things like “What is Jira?” and “How can I use Jira to track my work?”
Learning Curve: Community, Docs, and Confusion 😅
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First stop: Atlassian Community – a goldmine of knowledge, but also a bit overwhelming for a newbie like me. I came across people doing all sorts of ‘crazy’ advanced configurations that felt way too technical for where we were at the time.
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Second stop: Atlassian Support Docs – a great resource with clear, step-by-step instructions for specific features. But it was mostly plain text, lacking visual examples or real-world use cases, which made it harder to grasp the bigger picture.
After a few months of trial and error, we managed to configure Jira the way we needed. The more I worked with it, the more I realized how flexible and powerful it was. 💡
Becoming a Jira Admin 🔑
Less than a year later, I wanted to upgrade our processes. But to do that, I needed bigger admin rights—so I became a Jira Admin for our site!
Since no one in our company was dedicated to administering Jira, they added me to the Jira admins group. By then, I had already gone through tons of documentation and learned from real-world use cases in the Community.
I had a realization: Why not integrate with all the teams already using Jira?
As a Jira Admin, I could now see how different teams operated and even suggest improvements.
Atlassian University - A Game Changer 🎓
By this time, I discovered Atlassian University, and honestly, it was a game-changer for my learning journey.
I had already tried YouTube videos and blog posts, but nothing was as structured as the learning paths and activities in Atlassian University. Back then, not all courses were free, so I focused on what I had access to.
The more I learned, the more ideas I had on how everyone could improve their workflows with Jira and other Atlassian tools. 🚀
From User to Org Admin 📈
Less than two years in, I became an Org Admin and the go-to person for anything Atlassian-related. By then, we had onboarded every single person in the company—from sales and HR to developers and support teams. Everyone was using Jira Software & Work Management, Jira Service Management, Confluence, Atlas, Jira Product Discovery (EAP) and Atlassian Assist (formerly Halp).
By the time I left, I was spending more than 50% of my time administering Atlassian tools and supporting all teams—and I loved it! When we did quarterly retrospectives, I was often amazed at how much we had accomplished in the previous period.
Taking the Next Step 💼
Since I wasn’t officially employed just to work with Atlassian tools, I decided to take the next step: joining an Atlassian Solution Partner to help other organizations experience the same benefits we had.
In 2022, solution Solution Partner status depended on having certified consultants so I had to earn at least two certifications. The team recommended starting with Managing Jira Projects for Cloud (ACP-620).
Certification Journey 🎯
I had never taken an exam before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. But the structured learning path, exam prep courses, and sample questions helped me pass with flying colors!
The more I studied, the more I realized:
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How things should be configured
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Best practices for scalability and efficiency
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How Jira can truly transform team collaboration
Fast forward to today - I’m holding 9 certifications 🎓 and 2 designations 🏅. And I’m aiming for my third designation this year! Recently, I also joined an exciting certification SME program, collaborating with incredible experts to develop new exams.
What I’ve learned along the way is that certifications are not just about gaining new skills; they’re a powerful way to validate the time and effort you invest in learning. Bonus point: employers can rest assured knowing your skills have been verified by a recognized standard!
My Recommendations ✅
Whether you're an organization admin or working for a partner company, here are some resources that might help you level up:
🔥 Atlassian University – Start here! The best place for structured learning paths and certifications. (Kudos to the Learning team for constantly improving these!)
📖 Official Product Docs – Keep going with this. Clear step-by-step instructions on configuring features.
💬 Atlassian Community – Ask questions, broaden your knowledge, and learn from real-world experiences. You’ll also connect with experts (and probably meet some brilliant people)!
🚀 Atlassian Success Central – Best practices and solution guides on optimizing Atlassian tools.
And finally… Never stop learning! Atlassian tools evolve constantly, so staying updated is key. My morning routine includes 
coffee and around 30 minutes daily of checking release notes and the newest product announcements.
As a final note, I’d also like to thank you for reading! If you're on your own Atlassian journey, I'd love to hear about it. Feel free to share your experiences! 😊
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Tomislav Tobijas _Koios_
About this author
Your friendly Atlassian guy 🙂
Koios Consulting Ltd.
Zagreb, Croatia
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