dilly.ca

Atlassian Events!

Last week was a full week of extra-curricular events at the Atlassian office in San Francisco.  One of the great things about working for this company is that there always seems to be something fun that part of (or the entire team) is taking part in.

JP Morgan Corporate Challenge

About 20 members of the Atlassian team participated in the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge.  The event is a 5KM race in downtown San Francisco that is geared specifically to corporate teams in the Bay Area.  Check out the photo of our team below!

This isn’t the first time Atlassian has entered the race, as I believe we’ve participated a few years past.  Last year we actually one the Best T-Shirt Competition but unfortunately did not this year.  That being said I love our shirts!  Not only is it another great shirt to add to my growing Atlassian wardobe, but they’re also made from organic cotton and printed with earth-friendly ink.  Win!

It was a cloudy evening for the race but that didn’t stop nearly 6500+ people from participating.  Teams from larger companies like Genentech, VMware and SalesForce definitely dwarfed our small Atlassian team.  The race started and finished just south of the Embarcadero, completing a loop around AT&T Park.  I was excited to finally be able to check out McCovey Cove where the San Francisco Giants infamous Splash Hits into the water occur.

It was an awesome race and I’m looking forward to next years event!

Atlassian EOFY Event - The Go Game

The following day was our EOFY (End of Financial Year) event which was kept a secret to the entire staff.  The only things we received were some really cool Atlassian windbreakers and instructions to meet up at Washington Square Park by 1:00 PM.

What ensued was an epic Amazing Race style competition between the entire staff!  We were split into 8 different colored teams and proceeded to explore North Beach for clues, challenges and contests to try to come out on top of the competition.  And guess what, our team did!  See a picture of team yellow (cleverly named The Golden Showers) below:

The event was put on by The Go Game, a company that specializes in team building events such as the one we had that day.  It was organized really well, with each team needing to take photos/videos and complete challenges via mobile phones.  At the end of the event all teams met up at the Bocce Cafe and photos and videos were voted on to determine the winner.

Personally it was a great way for me to explore a part of the city that I have yet to see.  I would recommend this activity to any company that’s looking to have a great team building exercise that’s also super fun at the same time!

Shameless Plug

I’ve mentioned this in a few other posts as well, but Atlassian is hiring!  We’re trying to ramp up our San Francisco team as we’ve got lots of work ahead of us in the next few years, and lots of capital to back our awesome plan!  If these events seem like something you’d like to do as part of your work then why not submit your resume!?

Dylan

Atlassian Closes $60 Million Investment

Many of my techie friends may have come across this, but for those who have not… well we had some big news this week at Atlassian!  We closed a $60 Million investment from Accel Partners.  This is a huge step for our company and is the largest-ever single investment that Accel has made in a software company (greater than some big names including Facebook, Macromedia/Flash and Dropbox).

Press Release Here

Blog Post from Co-Founder Mike Cannon-Brookes Here

Tech Crunch Article Here

In true Atlassian form, of course we had to celebrate the news.  This week the entire SF staff spent an evening at Slide in downtown San Francisco.  Usually this bar has a slide that you can enter from, but I guess it was closed off for our group.  Probably a good thing!

Indeed these are exciting times to be working for Atlassian.  I’m really pumped at the opportunities that we have over the coming months and years.  Looking to join our group?  We have plenty of job openings and are looking to expand.  Come and join the fun!

(oh, and the graphic above is from an article on TheNextWeb and I found it particularly humorous!)

Dylan

Atlassian Summit 2010

Wow, what a party!

One of the most exciting parts of my moving to San Francisco was my ability to take part in Atlassian Summit 2010.  Last year I attended as a customer and this year I was absolutely honoured to attend this year as an Atlassian employee.

This years event was a total success.  Over 550 customers, partners and Atlassian attended this year which was almost double the number of last years event.  It was held on 3 floors of the beautiful Intercontinental Hotel in downtown San Francisco.  There were countless presentations, talks, product demos and interactions with customers.

Prior to the event some of the Atlassian staff from the US, Europe, Australia and Brazil gathered at Ocean Beach for an amazing bonfire by sunset.  The weather quickly turned cold and I was the only guy wearing shorts and sandals, guess you can tell I’m Canadian!

Wednesday started off with Atlassian Starter Day which I was able to watch the entirety of.  It was an opportunity for customers to watch presentations by Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, Glenn Kelman of Redfin, Steve Ginsberg of Pandora and many others.  The day was packed with great talks and really resonated with me considering I’ve spent pretty much all of my professional career working at start-up companies.

In the evening was the Summit Reception, where customers are partners would register and meet over free drinks and browse the partner pavilion.  It was a great introduction to the event and also an awesome opportunity to interact with customers from across the globe.  I was able to meet people from Australia, Norway, the UK and even Canada!

That night was the second incarnation of the infamous Firewater Party.  Last year the guys from Appfire threw an amazing party and this year they totally outdid themselves.  They managed to score the Presidential Suite in the hotel, which was fully decked with snacks, booze, entertainment and wicked good times.  Big props to them putting on another great event!

During the next evening was the Atlassian Summit Bash, held at Jillian’s Pub.  Atlassian rented the whole bar and supplied all you can eat burgers, fries and fajitas!  Of course there was an open bar, in addition to billiards, poker and a Rock Band tournament.  This was a great opportunity to meet customers and partners in a casual environment.  Needless to say there were some ill people at the office the next day!

On Thursday I had the opportunity to staff the AtlasBar.  This was Atlassian’s homage to Apple’s Genius Bar, which provides the opportunity for customers to ask questions to the experts on our various products.  It was cool to get feedback from real customers and help solve their problems.  I remember asking questions as a customer last year, so it was great to be on the other side!

There’s a pile of photos online from the 3 days, just take a look on Flickr for the #atlassian tag.

For those who may have missed it, we have posted every single presentation online for your viewing pleasure.  I highly recommend checking out the Keynote embedded below to get an idea of what’s in store for Atlassian in the coming year:

Looking forward to seeing you at Atlassian Summit 2011!

Dylan