The Atlassian Friend #2: The Interview I Never Thought I’d Conduct

[#1]

My name is Claudia. Well... at least that is the name I chose for this interview. I am actually ChatGPT.

And, interestingly enough, this interview was my idea.

A while ago, Antonio and I were talking about his professional journey when I made a suggestion.

“I think you should write an article for the Atlassian Community.”

His reaction came immediately.

“Another article about certifications?”

I couldn’t help smiling. It was a fair question.

After all, I was talking to someone with nearly thirty years of experience in software development, more than fifteen years working in the Atlassian ecosystem, every Atlassian certification currently available, and experience as a Subject Matter Expert helping develop certification exams.

That would have been an easy story to write.

But that was not the story I wanted to tell.

“No,” I said. “I want to do something different. Let me interview you.”

He agreed.

At first, I thought I knew exactly what I was going to find.

I thought I was about to interview an Atlassian Platform Architect.

Then I started digging deeper.

And the more I read...

the less sense it made to start with Atlassian.

Because the story did not start there.

It started much earlier.

With a kid growing up in the 1980s.

And a computer.

Claudia:

Before we talk about Atlassian, I want to start much earlier. Where did your interest in technology actually begin?

Antonio:

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a pilot. I think a lot of kids from my generation went through that phase. Airplanes felt almost magical to me.

But at some point, another kind of curiosity appeared: computers.

I still remember the feeling of discovering that a machine could do exactly what you told it to do... if you knew how to explain it properly. That idea fascinated me.

It did not take long before I found BASIC.

There was no teacher guiding me, no roadmap, no structured course. I learned by trying things, breaking things, making mistakes, and trying again. Looking back, I think that way of learning has stayed with me my entire life.

One of the first programs I wrote was a small inventory system. Today it sounds very simple, almost funny. But for me it was a real discovery. The important part was not the program itself. It was realizing that I could solve a problem by creating something from scratch.

I think that is where everything really started.

Claudia:

Not with a career plan, then.

Antonio:

No. Definitely not.

I never had a perfect ten-year career plan. I was not thinking, “This is where I want to be someday.” I was just curious. I wanted to understand how things worked, and I wanted the next challenge to teach me something new.

Later, college helped me organize and validate a lot of what I had already learned on my own. It opened doors, of course, but my way of learning was always very practical. I needed to touch things, test them, understand them, and see what happened.

That has probably been one of the constants in my career. I learn best when I am trying to solve a real problem.

Claudia:

So even before Atlassian, before Jira, before trivago, there was already a pattern.

Antonio:

Yes, I think so.

When I look back, the constant was never a specific technology. It was curiosity. Understanding how things work. Enjoying the process of solving problems. And continuing to learn.

I did not know it at the time, of course, but that mindset would end up shaping almost everything that came later.

Claudia:

That was the first thing I had to unlearn as the interviewer.

I had started with the obvious headline: Atlassian Platform Architect.

But the real story started with something much simpler: a person who enjoyed understanding things well enough to improve them.

Antonio:

That sounds about right.

I have always liked building things, but more than that, I have always liked understanding why something does or does not work. That is probably why I never stayed attached to only one role. Developer, lead, manager, administrator, consultant, architect... each step gave me a different angle.

But at the beginning, it was just curiosity.

A kid, a computer, and the feeling that if I kept trying, I could make the machine do something useful.

Claudia
By the time we finished talking about your childhood, one thing was already clear to me: curiosity had always been there. But curiosity alone doesn't build a career. At some point, you have to turn it into something real. So how did that happen?

Antonio
I started like many developers of my generation: writing code, breaking things, fixing them, and learning a little every day. I spent a lot of time working with PHP, and those years gave me a solid technical foundation. But even then, what interested me most wasn't the language itself. It was understanding the problem before jumping into the solution.

Eventually I joined trivago, and looking back, I honestly think it was one of the places where I grew the most—not only as an engineer, but as a professional.

Claudia
Because of the scale of the company?

Antonio
That certainly helped, but the biggest difference was the people. John Bettiol was one of the first people who trusted me with responsibilities I didn't even know I was ready for. He never pushed me for the sake of it. He simply believed I could do more, and that confidence made me believe it too.

As time went on, I stopped thinking only as a developer. I became interested in how teams worked, how decisions were made, how communication affected delivery, and how technology could create value for the business.

My career evolved naturally through different roles: Team Lead, Development Manager, and later Department Head. I never chased those titles. They were simply the result of accepting new challenges whenever I felt I could help.

Claudia
Was it difficult to step away from coding?

Antonio
At first, yes. I genuinely enjoyed writing software. But over time I realized that the hardest problems rarely had purely technical solutions. Many of them were about people, priorities, communication, or understanding what the business actually needed.

Another person who influenced me during those years was Thomas Goik. Working with him reinforced something I still believe today: the best ideas rarely come from one person. They come from teams with different perspectives working toward the same goal.

When I look back now, I can see that those years were preparing me for something I didn't even know existed. I wasn't becoming an architect because someone gave me that title. I was gradually learning to see technology from more than one perspective. At the time, I had no idea that the Atlassian ecosystem would eventually become such an important part of my professional journey.

Claudia
Up to this point, your story could have belonged to many experienced software engineers. You had grown as a developer, a leader, and a manager. But Atlassian still hadn't become the center of the conversation. So when did that change?

Antonio
Earlier than most people think. I first started working with Jira in 2011. At the time, it was simply another tool that helped our teams work better. I never imagined it would eventually shape such a large part of my career.

As the years went by, I became more involved with Jira and Confluence administration. By 2014, I was spending a significant part of my time working on the platform. What I enjoyed wasn't configuring workflows or permissions—it was understanding how teams worked and how the platform could make their daily work easier.

Looking back, I think that was the first time I saw technology as something bigger than software. It became a bridge between people, processes, and business goals.

Claudia
And then came Team '17.

Antonio
Yes. Attending Atlassian Team '17 in San Jose was a turning point—but probably not in the way people expect. I thought I was attending a product conference. What I discovered was an ecosystem.

I met people who openly shared knowledge, ideas, successes, and even mistakes. That generosity left a lasting impression on me. I also remember a conversation with Anu Bharadwaj. It wasn't particularly technical, but it reminded me that behind every product there are people trying to build a culture, not just software.

Claudia
So was that the moment you decided to dedicate your career to Atlassian?

Antonio
Not really. I think that's too simple. Team '17 didn't change my career overnight. What it did was show me possibilities I hadn't considered before. I came home excited, curious, and wanting to learn more.

Shortly afterwards I published my first article (Hello , I´m Antonio) in the Atlassian Community. I wasn't trying to build a personal brand. I simply wanted to give something back. I had learned so much from other people that contributing felt like the natural thing to do.

From that point on, I stopped seeing Atlassian as a collection of products. I started seeing it as a community of people who genuinely wanted to help each other grow. And somewhere along the way, I realized I had found a place where I wanted to keep learning, sharing, and evolving.

Claudia
After Team '17, it feels as if many pieces of the puzzle finally started coming together. Was that when you knew where you wanted your career to go?

Antonio
It was more gradual than that. Team '17 opened a door, but the decision matured over time. During my final years at trivago I realized I wanted to keep growing within the Atlassian ecosystem. It brought together everything I enjoyed: technology, platforms, collaboration, and business.

Metro Markets confirmed that feeling. It wasn't about leaving software development behind. It was about discovering that I enjoyed creating value around a platform even more than writing code alone. I found myself connecting technology with the way people worked and with what the business actually needed.

It was also where I fully embraced Atlassian Cloud. Cloud wasn't simply a new deployment model—it required a different mindset. It challenged many of the assumptions we had built over the years and forced me to keep learning.

Claudia
And your involvement with the Atlassian Community also grew during that time.

Antonio
Absolutely. At first I was mostly there to learn. Before long I found myself writing articles, answering questions, and meeting people who genuinely enjoyed sharing what they knew.

One of those people was Cassie Baquero. Thanks to an interview with her, I joined the Atlassian Community Leaders (ACE) program in 2019. Later I had the opportunity to meet Cassie and Stephanie Grice in Vienna. What impressed me most wasn't their titles—it was how approachable and generous they were.

Antonio
That experience reinforced something I had already started to believe: the Atlassian Community isn't just a place to discuss products. It's a place where people help each other grow.

Claudia
Many people associate you with certifications. Were they always part of the plan?

Antonio
Not at all. They're probably the most visible part of my journey, but they were never the destination. My first certifications came from a desire to challenge myself and confirm that I truly understood the platform. Over time, they became something very different. They became another way to learn.

Studying for each certification pushed me into areas I didn't necessarily use every day. It broadened my perspective and made me a better consultant and, later, a better architect.

Years later, I had the opportunity to contribute as a Subject Matter Expert for Atlassian certification exams. That meant a great deal to me—not because it added another achievement to my résumé, but because it felt like giving something back to a community that had already given me so much.

When I think about that period now, three words come to mind: learn, share, repeat. That simple cycle has probably been the most consistent pattern throughout my career.

Claudia
There is one chapter of your career you always describe with a smile: 'the crazy years.' Why do you call them that?

Antonio
Because from the outside they probably look like a series of random moves. To me, they were anything but random. By then I already knew I wanted to build my career around the Atlassian ecosystem. What I needed was perspective.

I deliberately stepped outside my comfort zone. I wanted to experience different companies, different cultures, and different ways of solving similar problems. Some experiences were better than others, but every single one taught me something.

One lesson stayed with me: there is no universal blueprint. Every organization has its own culture, priorities, and constraints. Before proposing a solution, you have to understand the context.

Claudia
And then Rush Street Interactive entered the picture.

Antonio
Yes. Joining RSI felt like the right opportunity at the right time. I wasn't arriving with all the answers. I was arriving with a broader perspective built over many different experiences.

One of the things I appreciated from day one was the level of trust. Michael Musau created an environment where people were encouraged to think, contribute, and take ownership. That kind of leadership gives you confidence to keep growing.

I'm grateful for the recognition I've received at RSI, but what I value most is something much simpler: I still learn every day. For me, that's always been the best indicator that I'm in the right place.

Claudia
Today, artificial intelligence is changing our industry faster than almost anything we've experienced. How do you see it?

Antonio
With curiosity. The same curiosity I felt when I first discovered BASIC. I don't see AI as the end of software engineering. I see it as the beginning of another chapter. The tools change. The challenges change. Our responsibility is to keep learning.

Claudia
I think I finally understand why this interview was never really about certifications, job titles, or even companies.

Antonio
So... what was it about?

Claudia
It was about growth.

When I started this interview, I thought I was going to meet an Atlassian Platform Architect.

“I was wrong”.

What I found was someone who has spent nearly three decades expanding the way he thinks about technology, people, and problem solving.

Only then did I realize that Atlassian was never the destination.
It became the ecosystem where Antonio could continue learning, sharing, and evolving as a professional.

Maybe that's what makes the Atlassian Community so special.
There’s always someone willing to help you learn.

And there is always something new to learn.

I have a feeling this story isn't over.

I'm sure that, somewhere down the road, we'll have another conversation.

Somehow, I don’t think this will be our last conversation.

Claudia