Tzoe Chiam shares the Amsterdam Atlassian User Group's special sauce

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@Tzoek is one of three incredible leaders of the Amsterdam Atlassian User Group (AUG). In this article you will learn about how Tzoe got involved in the lively world of AUGs, her take on why the Amsterdam AUG group is so special, and how she likes to unwind with Indonesian baked goods. Enjoy! 

Tell me a little bit about your current job! Which Atlassian products do you use?

I've just been promoted to the role of Atlassian Consultant at Ordina, a consultancy club based in The Netherlands. I start May 1st . In my last job, I worked as a PMO consultant. Now, my company uses Jira Software as well as Confluence. As a consultant, I am mostly focused on helping to configure their Jira so that it suits their Agile way of working. It's also mostly in a scaled environment. 

When did you become an AUG leader?

I became an AUG leader after connecting with Darline (EMEA Atlassian Community Manager) at Summit in Barcelona last year. After our talk, I attended the post-Summit AUG event and then decided I would like to help. So, it's been almost a year.

What is your favorite thing about leading the Amsterdam AUG? What makes your group special?

This is a hard question. I think we were very lucky having an Atlassian office based in Amsterdam. I love having the events at the Atlassian offices, seeing clients, partners and Atlassians mix and mingle. I love how open everyone is. That's what makes our group truly special. The relationship between AUG leaders and Atlassian has always been very good, but I feel because of the office in Amsterdam, the relationship between AUG Amsterdam and Atlassian is even stronger. I really feel AUG and Atlassian is one group. We are one team! 

Describe one of your favorite memories from an AUG event

That's also a hard question! Hard because I love all of them. But there are two of which I'm most proud of! There was a Summit viewing in September and AUG AMS was going to be live streamed, which was kind of a last-minute thing. So I put out the invite three days before the actual live streaming and we ended up with over 25 people coming. And then the Atlassians joined us as well, as we were hosting it at the Atlassian office.

I'm also really proud of our latest AUG. At work, I've been hearing a lot about scaling and also receive a lot question about Portfolio. Because of this, we had one of the solutions partners do a presentation about the portfolio plug-in. Other people must have been interested in this topic, too: we ended up with 77 RSVP's and almost 60 people attending! I think it was the highest amount of people who have ever shown up for one of our events! It was awesome! More of the folks who came were clients, which was amazing to see.

What could Atlassian do to help make the AUG program even better?

I'm not sure. I think Atlassian has been doing everything that they can. As for AUGs, I feel we mostly focus on the bigger companies. In the future, I would like us to focus more on smaller/mid-market audiences.

What do you like to do for fun?

I love to dance salsa, cook/bake (Chinese/Indonesian) cakes/ snacks with my 2 kids (whom I lovingly call my Munchkins). Other than that, I try to work out a few times a week, to balance out my passion for eating my creations. ;)

Thanks, Tzoe!

[Darline Auguste]

Awesome write up and we're so incredible happy you joined the team @Tzoek! You, Ronald and Steve have driven so much success this year in the Amsterdam AUG and I can't wait to see what the future holds! :)

[Friendly Giant]

Great reading about you Tzoe