What working with Atlassian products means to me

[#1]

I, Kat, moved cities to start working with the TechTime team a little over 8 months ago. I have been a fan of Atlassian products for years so the job advertisement looking for a Project Delivery Coordinator for an Atlassian Solution Partner could have been custom written for me.

A new job brings many things to a person's life. Many of the great things this job has given me can be summed up in one word - community!

One word sums up many things at a local, regional, and global level.

Our office

TechTime Initiative Group's community of colleagues extends beyond our office where we develop Marketplace Add-ons like EasySSO, have ShipIt days, provide advice and support to our customers, consulting and solution architecture. We have a team member based outside of Wellington, Irina Mosina is often travelling around Wellington and New Zealand, and other team members visit customers on-site and work outside of the office when the need arises.

The team are like surrogate family for someone new in town like me.

Some of the TechTime team after our ShipIt day in May 2018.

Locally

We have connected to our local community by offering our team as adult helpers for BestStart Petone childcare centre for their emergency evacuation drills (and the real thing if needed) as getting ready is part of living and working near the coast. 

Regionally

The Wellington Atlassian User Group is a community where I help the leader Jamie Lowe plan events and I get to attend events as a user of Atlassian products and an Atlassian Expert. Jamie is leading the group to bigger and better things as we transition from using MeetUp.com to the official Atlassian User Group space for Wellington, NZ. 

In an example of communities connecting to other communities, we will be promoting the Wellington Atlassian User Group at WellyTech 2018. To quote the organisers:

Just to clarify, #WellyTech is NOT a conference, it is NOT a networking event, it is NOT a workshop, it is NOT an expo, it is NOT an awards evening. Elements of those plus a carnival, plus comedy, plus music.

If anything it's #Wellington's Tech Glastonbury.

Nationally

We offer Atlassian Authorised training at public training facilities and on-site for organisations wanting to up-skill their teams and will travel to hold on-site workshops. I am excited to have recently become an authorised Atlassian Instructor and look forward to encouraging more people to feel part of the Atlassian community.

We also attend events like ITx 2018 as sponsors and delegates where we found time to attend the Excellent in IT Awards - honouring, learning from, and socialising with people working alongside and in the New Zealand IT industry.

Globally

Here at TechTime, every keystroke matters. This is why our Atlassian Marketplace listings focus on time saving like EasySSO and User Management.

As an Atlassian Gold Solution Partner, TechTime has a number of partners around the world who help us provide the best solutions for our customers.

Virtually

In these times we cannot forget virtual communities like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. I am on a mission to create more content to keep these communities humming.

Lastly - but far from the least - is the Atlassian Community is a place where the Atlassian team members can mingle with the users of Atlassian projects, Atlassian Marketplace vendors, and Atlassian Solution partners, and community champions. This community is a place to ask questions, have discussions, share best practices, and talk about topics tagged as Miscellaneous Monday or Friday Fun. There are areas dedicated Atlassian products, interests, and groups.

This community can become addictive as it draws you in with great information and off-topic discussions, then draw you back in the pursuit of badges knowledge.

Personally

Communities provide a sense of home and contribute to our wellbeing. All the communities mentioned above have helped me feel at home rapidly after moving to Wellington, returning to the IT industry, and taking on a new role. 

[Meg Holbrook]

@Kat Warner - I absolutely loved reading about your adventures at Tech Time. Wellytech sounds like an amazing experience! I am so grateful that you are a part of this community and I am also very excited that I get to see and hear more from you.

[Kat Warner]

Thanks @Meg Holbrook