Matt shares a career that did not really start until he was 40, kicked off by a moment of arrogance when someone dared him to do better. He spent the next 25 years helping people with software tools, ran a one-man consulting company for five years with almost no gaps in his calendar, and eventually joined Adaptavist to get colleagues to eat lunch with. He also shares the story of losing Christmas with his family after deciding he could merge Jira instances at the database level over the holidays.
Key takeaways:
- Why a dare from a colleague became a 25-year career in tooling and consulting
- What it looks like to go all in on solo consulting with a young family depending on you
- Why the biggest risk in the Atlassian ecosystem right now is the pace of change
- The database merge that cost him Christmas and the lesson that came with it
- Why the people using the technology always matter more than the technology itself
If you are thinking about going independent, changing careers later than you planned, or just want a grounded take on what a long career in the Atlassian ecosystem actually looks like, Matt’s story is worth your time.
