Welcome to work 2.0, where your perspective is valued within an inclusive team
In schools, we’re unconsciously taught that individual competition is the way to get ahead. Today, the traditional top-down workplace that your parents probably knew has been replaced with a workspace that values individual perspectives and collaborative work practices.
Atlassian is a star example. Founded in 2002 by Aussie grads Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar, the then-startup – focused on the project management and bug tracking software tool Jira – went on to become Australia’s most aspirational and successful technology company.
It’s also a completely cool place to work. Early on, Atlassian created branded team workwear – from baseball caps to the hoodie dress. Today, employees can pledge 1% of their time towards volunteering through the Atlassian Foundation.
Teams can also participate in quarterly innovation hackathons called ShipIt. Running over a 24-hour period, these ‘fast and scrappy events allow teams to create their best ideas and test them quickly by pitching the concepts internally.
Rachel Lin, Alex Morgan and Pat Hwang are all part of Atlassian’s graduate program as well as ShipIt 50’s winning team.
Reward yourself
Rachel Lin, Product Manager, Atlassian. Image: Lauren TromppTheir winning idea? An app like Spotify’s end-of- year Wrapped review, but for Atlassian products.
“The app aggregates data from Atlassian apps to create insights tailored to the individual, showing how much of a team player you really are,” says Rachel, who initially worked as a management consultant after uni and joined Atlassian in 2020 as a Graduate Product Manager, which she says is a “really creative role”.
“I felt like I took a lot of my learning into my own role at team central into the hackathon – it can be very scrappy at the start,” says Rachel.
Pat Hwang, a Product Designer, says he contributed a lot during the project’s ideation phase. “Early in the morning I set up an onboarding whiteboard online using Mural, so we all started on the same page,” he says.
Being valued for who you are
Collaboration is central to working as an Atlassian grad. Rachel says there’s a “tonne of value we have in terms of fresh eyes, blank canvas and challenging norms.”
Pat Hwang, Product Designer, Atlassian. Image: Lauren Trompp“You get put on exciting projects,” she says. “My experience so far has been on Jira Cloud
Services, then I rotated into a new product. When I started, the product was a blank
screen, now it’s in beta testing. It’s amazing to be part of that.”
Pat values the diversity of people who work at Atlassian, and says he loves “the chance to collaborate with other tech companies from around the world on integrations with our products. Despite timezone challenges, it’s really cool collaborating, running design workshops and presenting to teams in other countries.”
“Having a team full of diverse backgrounds and life experiences ensures we are able to think with greater perspective, come up with more creative solutions, and make sure we’re not always designing for the same type of users.”
Engineering the future
Alex Morgan nailed his role at Atlassian before he even left uni. “I particularly enjoyed ShipIt 50 because it gave me an opportunity in a different role. It allowed me to play the role of a feature lead which was really interesting to me.”
Alex Morgan, Software Engineer, Atlasssian. Image: Lauren Trompp“Being a grad at Atlassian means everyone is in the same boat – we’re all fresh out of uni and there’s no judgement when you ask for help!”
Wanna know what these three Atlassian grads studied to land their tech gigs? Suss the pathways of Pat, Rachel and Alex.
This article is brought to you in partnership with Atlassian and originally appears in Careers with STEM: Engineering 2021.
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Author: Heather Catchpole
Heather co-founded Careers with STEM publisher Refraction Media.With a background in journalism and science, Heather now juggles projects and creates STEM strategies and has a passion for educational and innovation.
