Holiday Countdown 2020 - The lost days part 5 - Davin Studer

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Due to the article size limit, older days have to be removed from the main article.

Here is day 8:

 

Song of the day: White Christmas by Eric Clapton (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmw9vHZCbMo)

We're back from our tour around the world, back in the USA where we started on day 1. Today, we visit Davin Studer at door 8. Davin is one of our top leaders he reached Level 9 as well.  

 

Hello Davin, nice to meet you! Where are you from?

I'm originally from Spokane, WA. I grew up and lived there till I left home and went to college in Portland, OR. I now live in Vancouver, WA. That's Vancouver (not BC), Washington (not DC). 

 

(Photo by Ian Sane from Oregon, USA - Rising In The Distance, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42084509)

How and when did you become one of Atlassian's Community Leaders?

I started off answering questions on answers.atlassian.com while it was still on OSQA … way back in the old days. It was the first community where I really felt like the answers I gave were helpful and the people were nice and not snarky. I think that is what got me hooked on answering. Then I found out I could get a free shirt, so I worked super hard to get the shirt because it felt within reach. Then I thought, well let's try for the backpack too. When I finally got enough karma to get the coat I was so focused on just answering questions that I didn't realize I had enough karma to get the coat for a while. When the new community site was launched I was approached and asked if I would consider being a community champion because of my previous answering work. I didn't quite know what that meant at the time but I think this program has grown so much since it started and it such much better than the answers sites that proceeded it. Instead of just seeing familiar names answering questions I feel that I have friends who are walking this journey with me.

Oh yes, I remember the hunt for karma points - and the shirt, the backback and the coat - I still got them all. This was also my start on Atlassian's community platforms.

What motivates you being a Community Leader?

I think the biggest thing that motivates me is helping newer people who may be a little scared to ask their first question, but when they get a friendly and helpful answer they are grateful for the help. I try to always remember I was the new person at one time and others were kind to me.

Do you remember the first time you ever used an Atlassian product?

My first foray into Atlassian tools was when we migrated from our old wiki. It was an open source .NET product called ScrewTurn Wiki. In our IT department we had been using a wiki for a couple years proving the value to our department. But it was time to get something that was a more robust enterprise solution that we could deploy to the whole clinic. We looked at a lot of products but as soon as I saw Confluence I was sold. We started with Confluence 4, which has just moved past authoring using wiki syntax and I found the interface refreshing, the bundled macros were so helpful, and the documentation we could create was way more compelling than anything we could do with our old wiki.

Do you have a favorite Atlassian memory to date?

My favorite memory was going to Summit in 2019. It was the first time I met any of the people that I had interacted with so much on the community site. I was able to connect right away with people like @Fadoua , @Mirek and @Thomas Schlegel  (oh, that's me)   who are just genuinely nice people and we had things in common. It was also super awesome to meet the one and only @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- .

Thank you, Davin. It was a pleasure for me to meet you there in Las Vegas.

Davin, what do you like to do for fun? What are you passionate about?

Probably my biggest hobby is reading. I love sitting down with a good book. I could do it for hours. Could being the operative word. Having four kids means I get probably about 5-10 minutes between interruptions but it is still enjoyable. May favorite genre is ScfiFi/Fantasy. I especially love anything by Brandon Sanderson and Terry Brooks. As a family we also love playing board games and do so on a somewhat regular basis.

Do you have a resolution for 2021?

I resolve to burn all our masks once COVID is done. :)

 

Haha, that's the best resolution I've heard yet for 2021 - great!

What is your favorite holiday meal?

My favorite holiday meal is turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes (which for me is the main dish), gravy, and cranberry sauce. This is what we had as a kids for Thanksgiving and Christmas and I looked forward to those meals every year. I've thought at times why don't we eat it at other times of year, but then it would probably lose some of the magic.

 

Photo by 🇨🇭 Claudio Schwarz | @purzlbaum on Unsplash

Which holiday songs do you love?

As a kid I would always spend Christmas in California with my mom and as such the song Felise Navidad kinda grew on me. During Christmas time in California at any given moment you can find it playing on some radio station somewhere. Now, for me it's not Christmas without hearing Feliz Navidad at least once. Some of my other favorites are Joy to the World, White Christmas, and Carol of the Bells.

We already had Feliz Navidad a few days ago, so I hope, you like that version of White Christmas by Eric Clapton as well. 

What is your favorite holiday movie and why?

My favorite holiday movie is The Empire Strikes Back ... hey, it's got snow ... and it's Star Wars.

Also, as a family we always have to watch White Christmas at least once.

Are there any unique holiday traditions in your family?

We always make gingerbread houses and decorate them. It's a fun thing we do as a family and the kids love it. We also love to go Christmas light gazing a couple times a year. The kids will get in their PJs, we’ll make hot chocolate for everyone, and then we’ll drive around to all the houses with big light displays in our area and marvel at all the lights and hard work people put into decorating their house.

  

What are you grateful for?

I am grateful for my loving wife, my four amazing children, and my friends. I am grateful for my job and the people I work with. I am also grateful to live in a country of freedom and opportunity.

Do you decorate your house for the holidays? Show us everything!

We usually decorate our house the day after Thanksgiving (and American holiday). We’ll put a wreath on the door, garlands throughout the house, and Christmas lights outside. 

 

Also, last year our family moved onto some land just outside the city. It’s 1.25 acres and directly borders 100 acres of state forest. So, there are tons beautiful trees and although this isn’t a decoration we personally put up I still love to see the land just after a new fallen snow. The ground a trees are covered with a white blanket that is just breathtaking.

This is Davin's Christmas tree:

 

But even the tree reflects Davin's enthusiasm for Star Trek: 

My favorite part though is the Star Trek ornaments on our Christmas tree. Nothing says Christmas quite like hearing Worf say “I wish you a most honorable holiday. Qapla'!” each time you plug in the tree.

How do you usually celebrate New Year's Eve?

We usually stay up late eating super-yummy/terrible-for-you food, watching movies, and playing games. With my kids getting older they are starting to enjoy the countdown and celebrating the New Year. It's a super fun experience.

What was your best movie in 2020? 

For my birthday this year a friend got me a two month subscription to CBS all access so that I could watch Star Trek Picard and Star Trek Discovery. I'm a HUGE Trekkie and have been lamenting not being able to watch them since they are online only. So, I binge watched them in a couple months and it was glorious. Now I'm going through withdrawal again.

Thank you Davin for taking part in this year's holiday countdown. All the best for you and your family, have a merry christmas and enjoy burning your masks in 2021! 

I hope to meet you again in person in 2022 - next Summit will be somewhere then, I'm sure.

[Fabienne Gerhard]

Wohoo to @Davin Studer the Macro master in Confluence 😁 Star Wars is always a good idea for holidays -> if you really love the wookie you should see @nina_schmidt christmas shirt 

[Soumyadeep Mandal]

Thanks, Davin Studer & Thomas for sharing this awesome annual calendar article for 2020!

[Mirek]

Yes it was great to meet you @Davin Studer in person as well. Summit was great and I hope we can meet again soon to burn all of those covid masks ;) .. Thank you for being awesome!