Only four Community Champions have ever crossed the one million milestone threshold in our Kudos program, the points and rewards system we use to recognize the time you spend helping our community. Users can earn Kudos by engaging with our Community Forums: asking questions, completing challenges, attending events, and more – and these four are crushing it. Meet our Kudos millionaires, learn what they have in common, and take inspiration from their success.
Tomislav Tobijas
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Proudest achievement: Atlassian Certification SME
Guilty pleasure: Over-analyzing the gamification system |
“For me, milestones like 1M are less of a finish line and more of a reminder to keep showing up.” |
Brant Schroeder
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Proudest achiev ement: Community Champion Badge
Kudos experience in three words: Rewarding, Educational, Amazing |
“There are several individuals I’ve been able to connect with outside the community, and those relationships have been invaluable. We learn from each other, offer support, talk through challenges, and share ideas about how to improve and better serve the people we work with and interact with.” |
Trudy Claspill
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Favorite challenge: Solving tricky Community questions
Daily ritual: Reviewing for new questions before the work day |
“I keep coming back to the community day after day because community members appreciate each other and freely share their knowledge. I'm grateful to others for sharing their experience and members express gratitude for the information I share, and every day I learn something new.” |
John Funk
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Proudest achievement: Number of Accepted Answers (over 3,000 and counting!)
Guilty pleasure: Being the first to respond to a post |
“My main goal is to answer as many questions as I can on the Forums and provide usable, relevant answers. But I also want to engage with the Community as much as I can in other ways, so I began to do more of the challenges a year or two ago. I especially try to do things like Likes for Trees.” |
1. Helping others should be the biggest motivation
The driving force behind reaching the million-Kudos milestone was never chasing points, status, or leaderboard rankings – it was simply the desire to help someone solve a problem. For each of these Champions, the point totals accumulated organically as a byproduct of authentic engagement. Some were inspired to pay it forward after experiencing the Community’s generosity firsthand when they were starting out, while others discovered a sense of purpose in giving back during challenging personal times. When Brant Schroeder suffered an injury that prevented him from helping others in his neighborhood, he found meaning serving peers in the Community. He notes that “Earning kudos was never really part of it. I just enjoyed helping others and being involved in the community... the online community gave me a new way to serve.” John Funk echoes this service-first mindset, advising Atlassians to swap mindless screen time for Community connection: “If you are looking for something rewarding to do with some extra time, instead of doom scrolling on your phone, hop on the Community and engage with other users.”
2. … but gaming can be fun, too
While the heart of the Community is built on altruism, a little friendly gamification never hurts. Badges, levels, and ranks offer a playful layer of excitement to daily participation. Tomislav Tobijas admits this appeals to his competitive spirit: “In my past gamer life, I played [a role-playing game] that was heavily leaderboard-driven, so having leaderboards in the Atlassian Community definitely woke up that part of my brain again.” Trudy Claspill was inspired to hit 1M Kudos when she saw Brant be the first to cross that mark. Even now, she keeps an eye on her ranking – but she knows the Kudos are just for fun. “I participate because I have knowledge to share,” she notes. “When sharing garners me some Kudos points, that's just a bonus. I don't see the points as a competition with other members, but rather as the cherry on top for something I like doing anyhow.”
3. The more you teach, the more you learn
All four 1M+ Champions say that troubleshooting someone else’s challenge is the fastest way to sharpen your own skills. The Community becomes a hands-on learning laboratory where tackling difficult, unanswered questions directly enhances their own expertise and day-to-day job performance. As Trudy put it, “Solving tricky Community questions is definitely where I get my kicks! I love solving problems, and so often trying to solve somebody else's problem leads me to learning something new.” Teaching and learning become a continuous feedback loop for deeper expertise with Atlassian apps. Tomislav explains, “There have been plenty of moments at work where a client or colleague asks something and I realize, ‘Oh – I answered almost exactly this on the Community the other day.’ Teaching forces you to understand things more deeply.”
4. You need a sustainable routine
Reaching epic milestones doesn't happen in bursts – it is built on daily habits woven into everyday schedules. The 1M+ Champions treat the Community as a regular fixture of their workflow, often bookending their workdays by checking in over a morning coffee and returning at the end of the day to review new questions. Brant says that routine engagement during morning routines and lunch breaks create steady touch points to the work week. For Tomislav, consistency is a daily discipline: “I have my daily goal which is to answer a couple of questions in a few app or product groups each day. I don’t think I’ve missed a single day – including weekends or holidays – for last 700+ days.”
5. Don’t forget to lift others up
Cheering on fellow members is just as important as answering questions. The highest-earning Champions actively engage in peer recognition, making sure overlooked contributors receive credit and rallying behind newcomers to keep them motivated. John and Brant make a habit of hunting down unanswered or overlooked posts where another Champion provided the right solution. John shares that he loves accepting answers for the other Champions and bearing witness to High Fives for users stepping up their game. Brant also keeps a close eye on rising contributors: “When someone is getting close to a major milestone, I like to jump in, look through their contributions, and recognize them for the great work they’ve done. I also enjoy keeping an eye on newcomers and giving them Kudos to help them feel excited and confident.” Trudy makes full use of upvotes and likes to ensure no good contribution goes unacknowledged, while Tomislav regularly maxes out his weekly allowance: “I throw Kudos left and right. For me, Kudos is a very simple way of saying, ‘I saw this, and it was useful.’”
6. Digital community can yield real-life friendships
Perhaps the most lasting reward of the Kudos program is how digital interactions can transform into meaningful, real-world connections. What begins as a forum post might evolves into Slack chats, professional mentorship, and genuine friendships that cross the screen into real life. Meeting face-to-face at events like Atlassian Team or local ACE gatherings feels less like meeting strangers and more like reconnecting with friends. Tomislav explains it this way: “One of the things I like most about the Atlassian Community is how easily a username can eventually become a real person you exchange ideas with, meet at an ACE or Team event, and keep in touch with professionally. Meeting someone in person after seeing their name in the forums for six or twelve months always feels like upgrading the relationship to another level.” John agrees: “It's like a family reunion whenever we get to meet in person.”
Want to learn more about the program? Kudos to you. |
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The Atlassian Community Kudos program is our gamified recognition system designed to celebrate and reward your participation across the Atlassian ecosystem.Contributors can earn Kudos by any interaction: answering questions and reading articles, taking lessons or attending events, or even just by welcoming a new member with a friendly hello. You don’t have to be an expert to join in. You just might be our next Kudos millionaire. |
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