Holiday Countdown 2020 - The lost days part 7 - Alexey Matveev

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

Here is day 11:

 

Song of the day: All I want for Christmas by Mariah Carey (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXQViqx6GMY)

Leader of the day is Alexey Matveev. He’s the third leader within this calendar who reached the fabulous level 10 - the perfect and (at the moment) the highest level you can achieve on our Community platform.

 

We travelled from India to Russia today. Alexey is from Moscow, he is an online leader and hosts the Moscow Atlassian User Group together with @Anna Zekunova 

Hi Alexey, nice to meet you here at door number eleven! 

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

I started to work with Atlassian products in 2015, a couple of years later I found the Atlassian Community site and began to answer questions over there. 2 months later I got an invitation from Atlassian to join the Community Leadership program (at that time we were champions not leaders :)). A year later or so I became a coorganizer for Moscow Atlassian User Group. Currently I do not have much time to answer question at Atlassian Community, I mostly write articles about Atlassian products. I find that the development part for Atlassian products is not covered well enough that is why most of my articles are devoted to development for Atlassian products.

What motivates you being a Community Leader?

For the last 5 years I ve been working with Atlassian products only. I feel like I have some skills which I can share with the rest of the community.

That's why you reached level 10!

What was the first time you ever used an Atlassian product?

I started to use Atlassian products in 2015. It was Jira. At the time I knew nothing about Jira but I had to install Jira, set it up and maintain. Then Confluence joined the team and then Bitbucket and Bamboo. At that time I also worked with MS Project Server, Sharepoint and Aris. In the end I decided to choose something to continue and I chose Atlassian products.

Alexey, what do you like to do for fun?

Currently my children take all my time. I love to help my children to explore this world.

What is your fondest holiday memory?

I am not a holiday person. I think if I did not have my wife and kids, I would not celebrate holidays at all.

What is your favorite holiday meal?

I think I will not be original. I like to have olivier 

or dressed herring salad for the New Year Eve.

 

(Photo created by KamranAydinov - www.freepik.com)

Dressed Herring is very popular in Russia - If you don't know, what it is, here is the wikipedia article:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dressed_herring  and a recipe: https://www.rednumberone.com/dressed-herring-recipe/ 

Do you have a favorite childhood holiday memory?

To tell you the truth I do not even remember how I celebrated the New Year when I was a child. Though I can remember my birthdays :)

Is there a holiday song that you love?

I love this song - Mariah Carey - All I Want for Christmas Is You

 

Ah finally - the one and only Mariah - Do you know that this song is the 11th best-selling single of all time? More about the song: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/music/a8534458/mariah-careys-all-i-want-for-christmas-is-you-facts/ 

What is your favorite holiday movie?

I love to watch Irony of Fate or Enjoy Your Bath. It is an old Soviet movie and we are used to watch this movie every New Year Eve.

 

Among US movies, I would chose Die Hard with Bruce Willis. Nice movie and good actors.

What was your best holiday gift ever?

My best holiday gift is not to have gifts at all - I feel like it is an extra hassle over nothing. Or I could say that my best gift is my family and friends.

What are you grateful for?

I believe that my most gratitude for 2020 goes to my family and Cprime who supported me during those difficult time. Yeah, 2020 was extremely difficult for me.

Do you decorate your house for the holidays? If so, what kind of decorations do you put up?

If not my wife, I would not decorate anything at home. But we do have a Christmas tree. I believe nothing more for decoration.

 

Tell us more about Russia. What makes living there so special?

 

I do not care much about places to live, but more about people who are around me and my living conditions. since I was a child my dream has been to live near the ocean and it should be a warm place. Though the older I get, the more I feel like it its not important in the end.

Grinch or Santa?

Crinch is cool. But I would choose Ded Moroz.

 

(Photo by Sergeev Pavel - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12280054)

How do you usually celebrate New Year's Eve? Will it be different this year?

I celebrate it with my family and close friends. And this year will not be an exception.

If you could change something about the way we celebrate the last days of the year, what would it be?

Nothing. I feel like each person must do what he wants to do. That is why nothing to change.

Here's your chance to give a special shoutout to someone - who is it and why?

I would like to say “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. I think it is the best thing we can and should do.

Thank you, Alexey for everything you do for our community. It's great to have you here and  I wish you happy holidays and a wonderful new year!

[Soumyadeep Mandal]

Thanks, Alexey Matveev & Thomas for sharing this awesome annual calendar article for 2020!