Learning to wash your hands shouldn't be the only thing you learn this year

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This year we all learned something new - washing our hands properly for 20 seconds keeps us healthy and safe. A lot of people had fun in improving their technique from singing 'Happy Birthday' twice, to creating some fun lyrics or participating in the #20seconds challenge. We all added some humor to deal with the pandemic grappling the world. 

The need of the hour demands us to work remotely and in most cases from the comfort of our own homes. With us being confined to our 'bubble' we have the opportunity to skill-up, learn and grow ourselves to prepare for the after-fact (If it isn't entirely clear, I'm the glass is half-full kinda person). As we fit into the new normal, businesses worry about team health and productivity. 

When it's business as usual, your team members are juggling with different priorities. Work happens, and learning takes a back seat. This transitional period offers you and your team the ability to improve efficiency, processes and make them more effective without giving up on other work tasks. 

Most of your team members spend their day on Atlassian Products. But here's the big question, are you using it to its full potential?  

Atlassian products have some robust features that have the capability to transform the way you work. (I'm pretty sure you know this already :P)

Here are some steps you can take from the comfort of your home to improve your Atlassian knowledge: 

Get Atlassian Certifications

Earn the globally recognized credentials that validate your Atlassian expertise.

Becoming Atlassian Certifed is a 3-step process: 

1. Get trained on the learning path of your choice
2. Implement your training with real-world experience
3. Take your exam

With the certifications having a hands-on approach, these courses differentiate you from the rest by opening new career opportunities. You'll be able to optimise the tools for your team for increased efficiency and become the go-to Atlassian expert. 

If this hasn't gotten you motivated enough, how about some gamification added to the process? 

You earn badges and certifications as you pass the exams on the way to become an Atlassian Certified Master.

Pro Tip: You can attend a live webinar on 'Certification: You can do it! Here’s how

Atlassian Training

Even if you don't want to earn a certification. You can level-up with Atlassian University directly or get in touch with one of the Authorised Atlassian Training Partners like us at TechTime.

These training sessions have different learning paths, delivery methods, and expertise levels. To sum up, you can choose what, when and how.

These training sessions help you and your team with best practices, hands-on labs and deepen your Atlassian knowledge. 

To kick-start, you have many free training sources available: 

• Expand your Atlassian tools skillset with Free Skillbuilder
• Access the Free Training Catalog for Jira 

Pro Tip: There's a 20% discount code 'SUMMIT20' for on-demand training. 

Attend Atlassian Summit

I would say, Atlassian Remote Summit just ended. But has it really? :P 

You can stream all the breakout sessions, product updates, and key-note sessions at your leisure. Even though the sessions are covered virtually, what we most missed was speaking to vendors and the Atlassian Team. There are AMA sessions slated for the whole week:

Monday, April 6th, 2-3 PM PST: Training and Certification AMA
Tuesday, April 7th, 3-4 PM PST: Anu Bharadwaj: Atlassian's Head of Product Management AMA
Wednesday, April 8th, 2-3 PM PST: CI/CD AMA
Thursday, April 9th, 2-3 PM PST: Amplifying collaboration with Jira Software (and of course, esports)! AMA
Friday, April 10th, 12-1 PM PST: Remote work AMA

Pro Tip: Divide the sessions amongst your team members and watch the Key-note sessions together. Set some time aside to discuss the updates relevant to your team and the business. 

Atlassian Community 

Considering you're reading this on the Atlassian Community, you're already doing a good job on this! Learning from your peers and colleagues is a powerful way to grow. Share your knowledge, spark discussions and ask questions. Simply reading articles and talking to the Atlassian Community members will broaden your horizon. 

Pro Tip: I regularly look over questions asked about Jira and Confluence to see different use-cases and how I can implement some of those changes to transform the way I work. 

Hope these tips help you #embraceremote. Get ready to skill up, learn and become better at what you do. Like the heading suggests, learning to wash your hands, shouldn't be the only thing you learn this year! 

Comment below with some of your tips! :) 

[Kristján Geir Mathiesen]

And Pluralsight (I am not affiliated with them) is having Free April w/o cc number

-> https://www.pluralsight.com/offer/2020/free-april-month?   There might be some material there to help you level up on your skills.

I took the ACP-JA and AC-JPA couple of years ago. Preparing for these two exams helped me learn a ton of things I didn't know about, yet I had been a Jira administrator for a few years. These exams really help you widen the horizon.