Community Leader Sajit Nair shares his passion for building community online and in-person
Today we are highlighting @Sajit Nair's story as an online and Atlassian Community Events Leader! From meeting his wife to gaining new perspectives, Sajit shares with us his experience as a Thought Leader online and in his local community.
As we spotlight Leaders in both Atlassian Community Leader programs, we hope you enjoy the journey each Leader has taken to find a community of likeminded people interested in growing their potential with Atlassian products and practices.
Hi Sajit! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself + your role?
How did you hear about the Atlassian Community?
My first exposure was in the 2018 Barcelona Summit. While walking in the expo hall, I saw the community booth, which I mixed up for the Atlassian Foundation. The conversation was very interesting and I found out there is a community in Delhi. @Darline introduced me to my co-Leader @Deepti Jain, who at that time was managing it on her own. I attended a couple of events, then got onboarded as a community Leader. Ever since, I’ve been in love with it.
Why did you decide to be a Leader in the Online and ACE programs?
My commitment to the program began with ACEs. However, in the early part of 2020, I joined a Marketplace Partner and, at that time, Partners were not allowed to be ACE Leaders. I was not ready to leave, so I agreed to move to the online Leaders program. In the meantime, myself and a couple of other Leaders continued to fight our way to be ACE Leaders again, and eventually Atlassian changed the rules! By the time I joined my ACE community as a Leader, I had already fallen in love with the online community.
The online community is the #1 place to find knowledge and resources to learn from, especially as a Marketplace Partner. I found inspiration from seeing different perspectives on how to solve a problem. When a customer comes to you with a problem, you may have a solution to deploy. But if you go to the Atlassian Community, you’ll find more ways to solve the same problem and sometimes less costly. If you can do that, why not help your customer save money? They’ll always be grateful. Those perspectives are why I stayed in both programs.
What have you enjoyed about being an Online Leader / ACE Leader?
My heart belongs to my in-person community, because that is where I have the most connections. We have events at least once a month and I’ve been a speaker more times than I can remember. We just hit our 100th event in December and have a 300 member WhatsApp group that is very active with questions. Now that Delhi ACE has three Leaders and is doing well, my New Years resolution is to be more active in the online community so that I can increase my learning! or
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What influence has your involvement in either program had in your profession?
There are so many things! Yes, it’s helped me in my profession, but it has helped me much more in my personal life. I married my co-Leader @meghna_singh in 2021! When I moved to the online community, she took over as the ACE Leader. After she became an ACE Leader, we started hanging out much more for the Atlassian Community and soon we were married.
Professionally, the biggest impact is perspective. As a consultant, a solution is whatever solves the problem. But, that solution might not be the only one that is out there. The different perspectives people bring in is what gives me clarity in my role. Further, I incorporate the problems I read about in the online community as examples for my trainees to learn from. Reading real world problems on using Atlassian tools has helped me become a better consultant and a better community Leader.
Who do you find attending your ACEs? What content resonates most with them?
At our events, you’ll find people who have been in the software development or project management ecosystem, or they are trying to find their way into these domains. They come to speak with professionals in the space.
In terms of what content resonates, for me personally, I feel more in sync when we are doing demonstrations rather than talking about a specific tool. I can always learn from Youtube what an add-on does, but the most interesting sessions come from learning about people’s experiences, like lessons learned from a failed migration.
What tip would you give a Leader who is in, or considering to be in, both programs?
Thank you, Sajit, for sharing! You can find Sajit at the Delhi-Gurugram ACEs or in his favorite groups in the online community (mentioned in the beginning of the article).
Open to meeting fellow curious minds? Join free, user-led events - wherever you are.
Stay tuned for weekly spotlights this month!
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