The social media phenomenon is a relatively young movement. LinkedIn was launched in 2003 and Twitter makes its debut in 2006, yet within that time these platforms have revolutionised the way people connect and communicate.
But is social media relevant to being a professional in the IT community? Does it provide added-value to your career, or is it merely a space of fluff which becomes a hindrance to productivity?
In fact social media provides a groundbreaking way to for those in the IT world to network within their professional communities and keep on top of the fast-paced changes in the tech world. The key to success is about knowing how to use these tools properly to zone in on important conversations – and furthermore how to do this efficiently so you are not getting lost down the rabbit hole.
At Valiantys we currently use two platforms professionally: Twitter and LinkedIn. As the community manager, I’ve noticed two social media superstars on these two respective platforms. Manon Soubies-Camy is one of our certified Atlassian consultants, yet on the side she has an impressive knack for Twitter. Likewise, our Talent Acquisition Manager, Joséphine Dibaya, spends hours of her day on LinkedIn. While it is expected that she would be savvy with the tool, she scores an impressive 4000 followers on her personal account! I’ve asked these two to share their tips and tricks on social media with our community, in hopes of luring you into a world that provides enriched conversations.
Twitter: what’s the point?
Starting on Twitter can be daunting. It’s sort of like walking into a cocktail party where you don’t know anyone. Yet the magic of Twitter happens when you learn how to listen. In fact, our consultant Manon puts her Twitter skills to good use to keep up to date in the Atlassian ecosystem!
The key to Twitter is knowing who to follow. You don’t really have to worry about posting in the beginning, but the best advice she recommends is making lists of noteworthy sources to find the conversations that matter to you in the noise.
Here are some accounts to follow in order to find breaking news from Atlassian and the IT world at large:
- @Atlassian: To keep up on the breaking news in the industry – obviously. Atlassian also has handles by product, so it is also worth checking out @JIRA, @Confluence, @JIRAServiceDesk, @trello, and @Bitbucket.
- @TotherAlistair: Alistair Cockburn is one of the top thought leaders on Twitter when it comes to everything Agile. With over 20,000 tweets, you’re bound to find some useful tips!
- @TestSideStory: Zeger Van Hese is a great thought leader when it comes to test-related conferences.
- @IT_Chronicles: A good source for general news in the tech world.
- @itsm_tools: A good source to improve your ITSM.
- @Valiantys: The Valiantys Twitter account: as a Platinum Atlassian Solution Partner with over 10 years of experience, we always have our ears to the ground for sharing new tips. What’s more, we share our own tips and tricks we’ve developed from our experience working directly with clients.
- Beyond accounts, make sure to follow Atlassian hashtags to find information and people who are in the community: #JIRA, #Atlassian, #Confluence are good places to start. You can also get a lot of information using the hashtags #projectmanagement, #agile, #ITSM, and #DevOps.
Of course there is loads of of other sources to follow. To keep your lists organised, use tools like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite to arrange your lists and hashtag searches into different columns.
When you do feel ready to go live yourself, remember to fill out you bio. Make sure you advertise yourself as an IT professional and add keywords in the description which will make it easier for people to follow and connect with you. Also, don’t use too many hashtags! Remember, people want to have a conversation so trying to read an idea when every other word is an tag is a bit annoying. Keep hashtags to a max of two or three.
LinkedIn: more than just an online resume
In the IT world LinkedIn remains one of the most popular social networks. While Twitter is all about breaking news, with LinkedIn there is a bit more of a nuance: What is your motivation for using the platform? Are you using the tool to keep up to date on industry news? Do you want to connect with like-minded professionals and expand your network?
Regardless of your initial reasons for joining LinkedIn, our LinkedIn guru Josephine recommends that everyone across the board ensures that their profile is up to date – or at an “All-star” status as LinkedIn calls it. Make sure you fill in your tagline and photo so people can easily recognise who you are along with your professional objectives. Also add rich media, such as photos and videos, to display your work. The good thing is that once your profile is written, you only need to update once or twice a year to keep it current.
If you are looking to meet new people in IT and exchange ideas, groups are certainly the best route to go. Here are some recommendations:
- ITSM (ITIL) Professionals: A group for ITSM (ITIL best practices) professionals to expand and exchange experience and ideas related with ITIL best practices approach for IT Service Management
- JIRA Admins: A group for administrators of JIRA workflows and issue tracking systems.
- JIRA Community: An international group for both admins and users.
- DevOps: A group about about DevOps, CI/CD, Automated Security, or Modern Infrastructure.
- DevOps Events: A group to track of all the webinars, online events and local/regional gatherings.
- Of course, check out your local tech groups as well! Do a quick search to see if your nearby Atlassian User Group (AUG) is active on LinkedIn.
Lastly, for more “newsy” information, company pages are the best way to go. On the Valiantys page, we post regularly about updates in the Atlassian ecosystem, tips for managing your instances along with information regarding new opportunities, such as webinars and events.
Join our community!
The Atlassian ecosystem is all about sharing better ways to work smarter, so we’d love to have your voice as part of our community! Join the conversation on LinkedIn and Twitter.
