Category: Atlassian

Atlassian are a software development company who have bought us tool such as Jira, Confluence and Bitbucket.

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What is Jira Work Management? How is it Different from Jira Software?

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As more organisations recognise the benefits of using the full Atlassian stack, many are faced with plenty of choices as far as project management is concerned. Atlassian’s Jira suite offers two reputable, scalable and powerful options: Jira Software and Jira Work Management. Teams across all industries and sizes have widely adopted these two tools, notable for their ability to track and manage workloads effectively.

While there are some similarities and overlaps between these two tools, it’s important to highlight them so you can make an informed decision about which one best suits your organisation. 

Jira has been a recommended go-to project management solution for organisations, but with the introduction of Jira Work Management, Atlassian has expanded its product range to cater to a wider range of teams with diverse requirements. Understanding the key capabilities and features of and differences between these two products can help you ensure you choose one that maximises productivity and ensures seamless and smooth workflows across the organisation. 

What is Jira Software?

Jira Software is tailored for software development teams and those practising Agile methodologies. Its core features include:

    • Agile boards (Scrum and Kanban)
    • Sprint planning tools
    • Backlog management
    • Roadmaps
    • Detailed reporting and burndown charts

Jira Software supports technical projects, offering robust integration with development tools and providing features specifically designed for tracking code changes, releases, and sprints.

What is Jira Work Management?

Jira Work Management, on the other hand, is designed for non-technical teams and organisations of varying sizes. Its key features include:

    • User-friendly task management
    • Timelines for visualising project schedules
    • Resource planning
    • Forms for easy task creation
    • Customisable workflows

This product is known for its flexibility, allowing teams from marketing, HR, finance, and other departments to manage their projects efficiently without the complexity of software development-specific features.

Key Differences Between Jira Software and Jira Work Management

User interface and UX: Jira Software’s interface is optimised for development workflows, which may feel complex for non-technical users. Jira Work Management offers a more intuitive, business-orientated interface that’s easier for teams to navigate, particularly if they are not in a technical function.

Workflow customisation: While both products allow for workflow customisation, Jira Work Management provides simpler, pre-configured templates for common business processes. Jira Software offers more advanced customisation options suited for complex development cycles.

Reporting and analytics: Jira Software provides in-depth agile metrics and burndown charts. Jira Work Management focuses on simpler, business-oriented reports that track progress and status rather than development-specific metrics.

Integration capabilities: Jira Software boasts extensive integrations with development tools like Bitbucket and Bamboo. Jira Work Management integrates well with business tools but may need some of the developer-specific integrations.

Views: Jira Software boards offer swimlanes and quick filters, but in JWM you can also plan and prepare for upcoming events in different views, namely list, calendar, board or timeline views. 

Choosing the Right Jira Product for Your Team

Consider the following factors when selecting between Jira Software and Jira Work Management for your organisation. 

If your team works in a Jira cloud environment and is not entirely comprised of developers or scrum masters, then Jira Work Management would be a more scalable and suitable solution for your organisation. Featuring easy collaboration options and easy-to-update attributes, it offers a more comprehensive project management tool.

If you are more familiar with Jira as a tool, and need to structure your projects in more of a ‘product’ composition rather than a ‘team’ one, connecting tasks to a Jira Software project with Kanban or Scrum boards in a more Agile way would be ideal.

Ask yourself the following questions:

    • Are you primarily a development team or a business unit?
    • Do you need advanced agile features or simpler task management?
    • What other tools does your team use regularly?
    • How might your needs evolve as your team or organisation grows?

Jira Software may be best suited to:

    • Software development teams following agile methodologies
    • Teams requiring Git integration
    • DevOps professionals working in various CI/CD pipelines
    • Complex, multi-sprint projects
    • Advanced tools for releasing and tracking multiple software releases

Jira Project Management would be ideal for:

    • Cross-functional teams working on projects with multiple dependencies
    • Teams requiring easy cross-departmental collaboration and communication
    • Smaller and less complex projects
    • Teams needing a scalable project management solution

The Role of Expertise in Jira Implementation and Management

Regardless of which Jira product you choose, having skilled professionals to implement and manage your Jira environment is crucial. This is where ClearHub’s expertise comes into play. As specialists in technical contractor recruitment, ClearHub can connect you with experienced Jira administrators, consultants, and developers who can:

    • Set up and customise your Jira instance to match your team’s unique workflows
    • Integrate Jira with your existing tech stack
    • Train your team on best practices for using Jira effectively
    • Optimise your Jira setup for maximum efficiency and scalability

Whether you need short-term support for Jira migration or long-term expertise to manage and evolve your Jira environment, ClearHub’s network of vetted contractors can provide the skills you need to succeed.

Hire Jira Experts For Your Business Today

Both Jira Software and Jira Work Management offer powerful project management capabilities, but they cater to different team needs. Jira Software remains the top choice for development teams deeply invested in Agile methodologies, while Jira Work Management provides a more accessible solution for business teams seeking to streamline their workflows.

When implementing either solution, consider leveraging expert support to ensure you’re making the most of Jira’s capabilities. ClearHub’s specialised Jira recruitment services can connect you with the right professionals, from Agile contractors to Scrum Masters – to guide your journey, whether you’re a tech-led startup or a large enterprise looking to enhance cross-departmental collaboration. 

Contact our Jira recruitment experts to find the best talent for your organisation today. 

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Top Atlassian Technical Skills to Look Out for in 2025

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As organisations continue to leverage the powerful Atlassian stack and its suite of enterprise-grade collaboration and project management tools, the demand for skilled Atlassian experts grows. 

Entrusting such a wide array of tools to an in-house function is by no means impossible, but the only way to harness these tools’ true power and realise their benefits to the fullest is to find skilled Atlassian professionals. Hiring Atlassian contractors is a proactive short- and long-term workaround for businesses trying to scale their cloud and DevOps operations using this stack.

As such, enhancing your own skill set and staying one step ahead of the proverbial curve is vital for getting the most out of your Atlassian project management solution, particularly in this rapidly evolving digital space.

At ClearHub, we specialise in connecting organisations with top-tier Atlassian talent. Our extensive network of vetted cloud contractors – across all walks of life – allows us to identify the most sought-after technical skills in the Atlassian ecosystem. As we look towards 2025, here are the key technical competencies that we believe will be in high demand for Atlassian and related job roles.

Core Technical Skills and Requirements

Before delving into Atlassian-specific expertise, it’s important to highlight the foundational technical skills that form the basis of any proficient Atlassian professional:

    • Operating systems (OS): Proficiency in Windows and Linux environments (including permissions, system folders, configurations and more) is crucial, as Atlassian tools can be deployed on various platforms.
    • Coding languages: A foundational understanding of HTML and CSS is essential for customising and troubleshooting Atlassian applications.
    • Server-side scripting and programming: JavaScript, jQuery, Python and Java skills are invaluable for extending Atlassian tool functionality and automating tasks.
    • Database management: Knowledge and experience with relational databases like MySQL, Microsoft Server and others (like Atlassian-owned Jira) will be required for data migration analysis or troubleshooting on-premise environments.
    • Authentication and directory services: Familiarity with LDAP and Active Directory is important for user management and security configuration.
    • Version control: Git proficiency is a must, especially for roles involving Bitbucket or integrating version control with other Atlassian tools.
    • HTTP: Understanding PUT, POST, GET, HTTP Headers and HTTP Body will be vital if integrating Atlassian and Jira tools into the broader business ecosystem.
    • API integration: Understanding REST is crucial for decoding APIs and connecting Atlassian products with other enterprise systems.
    • Cloud technologies: As more organisations migrate to the cloud (including Atlassian Cloud), expertise in cloud infrastructure and SaaS models will prove increasingly valuable.

Specific Technical Skills for Atlassian Specialists

Building upon these core technical skills, here are some Atlassian-centric qualities that will be particularly in demand in 2025 across the brand’s wider suite of tools.

Jira 

      • JQL (Jira Query Language) skills for complex searches and reporting
      • Custom workflow design and optimisation
      • The configuration and management of custom fields

Confluence 

      • Developing macros for improved content accessibility and functionality
      • Template creation for standardised documentation
      • Integration with other Atlassian and third-party tools

Bitbucket 

Atlassian Cloud Migration 

      • Top-level migration planning and execution strategies
      • Cloud security and compliance standards
      • Performance optimisation for cloud infrastructure

Atlassian Data Centre 

      • Setup of disaster recovery processes
      • Load balancing and performance tuning

Atlassian APIs 

      • Proficiency in REST APIs
      • Scripting using Groovy or Python
      • Understanding Atlassian Script Runner

Agile and Project Management

      • Implementation of Agile frameworks within Atlassian tools
      • Configuration of Scrum boards in Jira
      • Deploying project management best practices with Atlassian workflows

The Importance of Soft Skills

While technical Atlassian skills are important to assess as more qualified talent available for hire put their names forward, it’s vital to not overlook soft skills. 

During any discussions with prospective Atlassian candidates available for hire, consider the following:

      • Communication skills where issues can be verbally conveyed comfortably
      • The ability to relay information coherently to others based on their technical knowledge and proficiency
      • Problem-solving skills to address complex Atlassian configuration issues
      • Flexibility to keep pace with new updates, features, and patches
      • Working collaboratively and effectively with cross-functional teams
      • Logical and critical thinking skills to set expectations with stakeholders clearly
      • Excellent listening skills to decisively isolate problems and provide reassurance
      • Solid organisational skills to balance multiple technical and non-technical tasks simultaneously

Hire Top-Quality Atlassian Contractors Today

With Atlassian tools and solutions being widely embraced by more organisations as they try to scale their operations, finding the right talent with the right mix of technical skills and experience can be challenging. Considering the widening skills gap affecting many organisations facing technical shortcomings or difficulties, finding the best possible Atlassian specialists is a priority for many.

This is where partnering with a specialist Atlassian recruitment agency like ClearHub can make all the difference. Our deep understanding of the Atlassian ecosystem, combined with our vast talent pool of pre-vetted contractors, enables us to match organisations with the ideal candidates for their specific needs. 

Whether you require a Jira administrator, a Confluence developer, or a full-stack Atlassian expert, ClearHub can help you find the right fit. Our comprehensive vetting process ensures that all Atlassian candidates hold not just the necessary technical abilities but also the soft skills to fit seamlessly into your team and quickly add value.

Understanding these in-demand skills is vital for making more informed hiring decisions and staying competitive in the market. It’s clear that the demand for this talent shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon, which is why the Atlassian recruitment experts at ClearHub will be happy to help you navigate the complex process of recruitment and find you a perfect temporary or permanent job match.

To discuss your Atlassian staffing needs or to access our pool of skilled Atlassian contractors, contact ClearHub today.

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Mastering Atlassian Tools for Maximum Productivity

contractor using atlassian tools to unlock productivity

In today’s fast-paced business environment, efficiency and productivity are key to staying competitive. One of the best ways to achieve this is by mastering the tools your teams use daily. Atlassian tools, such as Jira, Confluence, and Bitbucket, are powerful platforms that can significantly enhance your workflow when used correctly. However, integrating these tools and managing them efficiently requires more than just basic knowledge – it requires mastery.

The Importance of Mastering Atlassian Tools

Atlassian tools are designed to streamline project management, collaboration, and development processes. When these tools are optimised, they can significantly improve your team’s productivity and efficiency. However, many businesses struggle to fully leverage these tools due to a lack of expertise.

Common Challenges with Atlassian Tools

      1. Integration with Existing Systems: Integrating Atlassian tools with your existing software can be challenging. Without proper integration, you might not fully benefit from the features these tools offer.
      2. Customization and Configuration: To get the most out of Atlassian tools, they need to be customised and configured to fit your specific needs. This requires a deep understanding of the tools.
      3. Ongoing Maintenance and Support: Keeping these tools running smoothly requires ongoing maintenance and support, which can be time-consuming and complex.

How ClearHub Can Help

ClearHub specialises in providing contractors who are experts in Atlassian tools. Our contractors are rigorously tested for their technical skills and suitability for your organisation, ensuring they can hit the ground running.

Benefits of Using ClearHub Contractors

      1. Expertise: Our contractors have deep knowledge and experience with Atlassian tools. They can help you integrate, customise, and optimise these tools for maximum efficiency.
      2. 24/7 Support: With 24/7 support from Eficode, our contractors can handle any issues that arise, ensuring your tools run smoothly at all times.
      3. Proven Track Record: We have a history of success with major companies like Apple, Ford, and Disney, which speaks to the quality of our services.

Unlocking the Full Potential of Your Atlassian Tools

By partnering with ClearHub, you can ensure that your Atlassian tools are being used to their full potential. Our expert contractors can help you achieve seamless integration, optimal configuration, and ongoing support, leading to enhanced operational efficiency and productivity.

Conclusion

Mastering Atlassian tools is essential for maximising productivity and staying competitive in today’s business environment. With ClearHub, you get access to expert contractors who can help you unlock the full potential of these powerful tools. Connect with us today to see how we can make a difference for your business.

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Choosing The Right Atlassian Tools For Project Management

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For companies seeking to streamline project management through enterprise-grade collaboration tools, Atlassian offers a robust suite like no other. Atlassian project management solutions are designed to increase visibility, automate processes, and enhance team productivity, making them a worthwhile investment for organisations looking to make their workflows more efficient.

However, with several tools under the Atlassian umbrella – Jira, Confluence, Trello, Crucible, FishEye and more – choosing the right one(s) for your unique project management needs can be challenging. Furthermore, simply deploying these tools isn’t enough; to get the most out of them, you invariably need the help of skilled personnel who understand how to leverage one or more to help your organisation achieve its goals.

This guide introduces a few of the key Atlassian project management tools and their ideal use cases. More importantly, it illustrates why sourcing skilled Atlassian contractors, consultants, engineers and other talent through a specialist recruitment partner like ClearHub is key to helping you unlock true long-term value.

Jira – Driving Agile Project Delivery 

Jira is widely renowned as the go-to tool for accelerating agile software development that adopts Agile approaches. Jira has evolved into an all-inclusive comprehensive work management solution that helps companies streamline workflows and improve productivity, while tracking bugs and issues.

Its simple, intuitive user interface boasts an array of powerful features ideal for project managers requiring customisation and flexibility:

      • Comprehensive visibility into project progress via Scrum boards, roadmaps, reports, and customisable and configurable dashboards
      • Native support for agile frameworks like Kanban through templated workflows
      • Next-gen capabilities like automating manual processes and managing incidents using no-code rules
      • Integration with Bitbucket, the Atlassian Git-based code and CI/CD optimisation too

While originally tailored for software development teams, Jira’s flexibility makes it suitable for numerous business departments for consistent, transparent project execution and resource management. That said, properly implementing Jira to drive expected business results requires skilled Jira developers, consultants, and trainers who are well-versed in areas like:

      • Developing and streamlining workflows through carefully configured whiteboards that provide complete visibility
      • Empowering software and IT teams to manage incidents and provide ongoing maintenance
      • Leveraging Jira’s integration capabilities to create centralised toolchains for software delivery
      • Training your teams on the best ways to use and learn Jira for project management

Confluence – Next-Level Knowledge Sharing 

An often overlooked but crucial ingredient in successful project delivery is transparent communication and knowledge sharing. Atlassian’s wiki collaboration platform Confluence empowers teams to organise and share files, ideas, documents, and project plans, and exchange information.

While Confluence excels as a dynamic wiki and knowledge hub, it truly shines when coupled with complementary Atlassian tools like Jira and Bitbucket. When deployed and utilised correctly, teams can create interconnected, self-documenting workflows where project audit trails become more visible. Benefits include (but are not limited to):

      • Seamless integration of Confluence pages, blogs, and spaces into Jira issue management
      • In-context collaboration via in-line comments, mentions and visual editing
      • Robust content management through categories, labels, and tags
      • Easy incorporation of wireframes, requirements, diagrams, and multimedia into central team spaces

However, achieving maximum value out of Confluence often requires guidance around template and blueprint design, content modelling, and training teams on best practices. Finding the right Confluence expert can be tricky, whether you’re looking for a migration expert to deploy Confluence as your go-to management system or you need a Confluence developer to refine your incumbent setup. This is where hiring an experienced Confluence contractor can help you achieve your short- and long-term goals with this powerful tool.

Hire Atlassian, Jira and Confluence Contractors to Give You Maximum Value

While the Atlassian suite provides exceptional project delivery capabilities, there can be a steep learning curve when it comes to proper implementation and adoption. 

Without relevant expertise, teams run the risk of:

      • Underutilising the tools’ full process automation capabilities
      • Improperly integrating disparate Atlassian solutions into cohesive toolchains
      • Developing gaps in governance or content modelling
      • Failing to establish scalable operating models that can be adapted as needs evolve
      • Low user engagement, productivity dips, and inability to achieve expected ROI

This is where the value of trusted, niche Atlassian talent providers like ClearHub proves invaluable. As an accredited Atlassian Platinum Solution Partner and dedicated Atlassian recruitment agency with over 2 decades of experience, ClearHub has access to a broad talent pool of pre-vetted, enterprise-grade consultants all over the world.

Whether you need certified Jira administrators to deploy and optimise custom CI/CD pipelines for DevOps teams, Confluence training managers to coach on knowledge best practices, or Agile architects to align complex projects with strategic goals, ClearHub can find the right Atlassian talent to take the stress away from you. 

Our Atlassian recruitment specialists can quickly match you with shortlisted contractors and freelancers who we firmly believe will be valuable assets to your team. Having‌ instant access to accredited and experienced Atlassian, Jira, or Confluence talent can fast-track your organisation into achieving the most out of these proven, enterprise-grade tools.

Contact ClearHub today to discuss your Atlassian vacancy and let us find dedicated contractors who can quickly fit into your team and add value to your organisation.

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Questions to Ask When Interviewing Jira Contractors

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For organisations using Atlassian’s Jira project management tool, enlisting expert Jira contractors is often essential for maximising productivity and return on investment. Any tool under the Atlassian umbrella can benefit by having the input and expertise of a specialist in tow, but integrating Jira across an organisation is easier said than done. However, with the help of well-trained, capable Jira experts, organisations can keep workflows and CI/CD pipelines intact while reaping all the benefits of this inclusive, innovative project management platform.

Seasoned Jira specialists can administer the software proficiently, while also optimising it for custom business needs through tailored configurations, workflows, automation and more. Regardless of the complexity of an organisation’s incumbent setup, an experienced Jira contractor can diligently and methodically deploy the tool and its associated features to ensure optimal efficiency and maximum benefit for every firm. 

However, finding the right Jira contractors with specific knowledge bases can be challenging amid a limited talent pool. The job market is incredibly tough, particularly in software and web development, which is why the Jira recruitment experts at ClearHub have compiled this short guide. To ensure candidate expertise aligns with your requirements for Jira administration, development, or consultancy roles, ask these key questions during interviews to maximise your chances of securing the best talent for your organisation.

Technical Jira Skills and Experience

Understanding candidates’ hands-on experience with Jira and its various products is crucial for evaluating competency. Entrusting a contractor with only rudimentary, basic-level Jira experience into a managerial role with heavy responsibilities and implications could be disastrous for both the organisation and the candidate. 

Useful questions to gauge their technical capabilities include:

      • What versions of Jira have you worked with most extensively?
      • Which Jira apps, plugins or add-ons are you well-versed in configuring? (e.g. Workflow Toolbox (JWT), PowerScripts, eazyBI, ScriptRunner, and others)
      • Describe your experience administering permissions and user access in Jira.
      • How have you implemented Jira Service Management for IT teams?
      • What processes did you follow for data migrations between Jira platforms?
      • What particular challenges have you come across during migrations, and how where they resolved?
      • Walk me through your typical Jira issue or workflow customisation approach.
      • What methodologies do you recommend for testing Jira changes?

Listen for specific examples displaying deep, proven expertise across core Jira administration tasks and products based on your current or future needs.

Jira in the Software Lifecycle

For contractors filling developer or engineering roles, assess how they leverage Jira functionality as part of continuous software delivery processes.

Consider these questions:

      • How have you integrated Jira with Git repositories, CI/CD pipelines, testing tools etc.?
      • What experience do you have using Jira to plan sprints?
      • Describe your processes for tracking issues or bugs from development to deployment.
      • How did you report progress and metrics from Jira to stakeholders?

Freelance developers may be familiar with the Atlassian Jira setup and interface but may have deployed similar solutions (such as Agile, Confluence or Bitbucket) akin to the above examples. If they are aware of how to leverage a Jira development setup even with no professional experience, it may be worth considering a pre-employment exercise and task to assess their familiarity and problem-solving capabilities. 

Adapting Jira to Business Contexts

Many organisations sector-wide leverage Jira and other Atlassian tools beyond software development for business workflows. Jira, like many other tools in the Atlassian stack, offers features that complement a wide range of in-house teams, many of which may mandate a contractor’s impartial input to execute correctly.

Assess contractors’ business analysis abilities through prompts like:

      • Have you configured Jira for departments outside engineering or development? (sales, marketing, HR, legal etc.)
      • Describe a time you built custom Jira processes to support a client’s unique approach.
      • Describe a time you had to overcome resistance.
      • How did you evaluate existing systems or processes before tailoring Jira?
      • What strategies do you use for training non-technical staff on Jira adoption?

Contractors who can demonstrate a strategic approach to deploying Jira across a business landscape will be best placed to ensure multiple departments witness the advantages of the tool and provide business-wide value.

Working Style and Approach

Technical experience with Jira is essential, but when interviewing Jira contractors, it’s crucial to assess their interpersonal and communication skills. Even if they’re not employed on a full-time basis with the organisation, they should be able to collaborate smoothly and confidently with employees. This will offer a much more positive experience than working with one who is hesitant and comes across as unapproachable.

Useful questions to gauge a candidate’s suitability here include:

      • How do you balance working independently with taking direction from clients?
      • What processes do you use to understand stakeholder requirements?
      • Describe a situation where you had to explain complex technical concepts simply.
      • How do you stay updated on new Jira versions, features, and trends?

Of course, tailor these hypothetical prompts to prioritise the skills and demands most crucial for your specific needs – whatever Atlassian tool(s) you deploy. 

The Trusted Jira Contractor Solution

For fast, reliable access to pre-screened Jira and Atlassian talent able to drive impact from day one, choose ClearHub. As a leading technical recruitment agency with vast experience in helping our clients fill Jira and Atlassian vacancies promptly, our vast network of global contractors enables us to swiftly provide best-fit resources for any Atlassian project or role.

ClearHub’s dedicated team facilitates the entire hiring process from initial scoping through to successful onboarding and offboarding. We rigorously screen all candidates through technical evaluations, reference checks and cultural fit assessments tailored to each client’s environment. Our transparent, communication-focused approach means you only receive profiles from contractors whose skills and expertise we’ve carefully vetted and verified.

Whatever your Jira needs, simply outline your requirements and timeframes to our recruitment specialists, and then let us take care of the heavy lifting for you. With our input, guidance, and advice, we’ll position best-in-class Jira applicants and talent who we believe will be firmly positioned to add value to your organisation. Contact us today to find out more or arrange a no-obligation chat with one of our experts.

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How to Attract and Retain Top-Quality Atlassian Contractors

atlassian contractor working at desk

As the world’s leading provider of team collaboration and project management software, Atlassian’s tools like Jira, Confluence, and Bitbucket (among others) have become integral to the workflows of countless organisations worldwide. Atlassian Server and Data Centre products are inherently built to scale alongside an organisation and, due to their intricacies, have paved the way for a niche but highly rewarding and fulfilling job market.

Their prevalence and importance within modern tech stacks mean that experienced Atlassian specialists have become highly sought-after to help organisations successfully navigate digital transformation challenges and achieve growth milestones. However, the rather secular talent pool of qualified Atlassian contractors also makes recruiting and retaining the best talent an ongoing challenge for companies. 

When a business’s workflows depend on optimising Atlassian’s project tracking, documentation, and DevOps offerings, it often necessitates hiring subject matter experts who can add value and make an impact immediately. One of the quickest and most effective solutions to this is to engage qualified and vetted Atlassian contractors and freelancers through a specialist recruitment agency. 

This guide explores the key steps to take when commissioning Atlassian and Jira experts through portals like ClearHub, the agency with a proven track record of placing top-tier talent into contract and permanent roles.

Defining Must-Have Atlassian Skills and Expertise

Atlassian encompasses a wide range of applications catering to software developers, IT teams, and business users alike. When posting an Atlassian contractor vacancy – courtesy of a user-friendly portal such as ClearHub – start by outlining your core requirements around the following criteria:

  • Specific Atlassian tools required, such as Jira Software, Jira Service Management, Confluence, Bitbucket etc.
  • Minimum years of hands-on experience administering/developing with the above tools or similar
  • Understanding of add-ons or extensions e.g. Scriptrunner, Structure, Gliffy
  • Exposure to instances in cloud vs. self-hosted environments
  • Familiarity with integrating Atlassian tools with CI/CD pipelines and workflows
  • Knowledge of migrating data or instances between Atlassian versions or cloud platforms

Whether you need a specific DevOps engineer to monitor performance or a dedicated Atlassian administrator to oversee custom integrations, including permissions and workflows, seeking help from specialised Atlassian contractors makes cloud migrations scalable and seamless.

Verifying Atlassian Expertise During Screening

A person’s competence with Atlassian products should involve a mixture of hard technical and soft skills. During the preliminary stages of a contractor background screening, it’s prudent to assess and validate candidates based on:

  • Tool administration competencies via technical testing
  • Communication skills through interviews and assessments
  • Cultural alignment with your business through situational questioning
  • Portfolio of past Atlassian projects completed
  • Testimonials and referrals from clients or managers

This level of pre-employment validation enables the fast and productive placement of talent into the right Atlassian and Jira job vacancies online, with contractors able to make a solid, frictionless start. 

As is the case with any Atlassian job opening, technical skills alone shouldn’t be the sole indicator of a good contractor assignment. The intrinsic and personal qualities of candidates should also be assessed when hiring Atlassian contractors. Carefully examine how the candidate answers questions and what they don’t say, as well as the answers they give. Monitoring responses – or lack thereof – indicates how well a prospective contractor may embrace your company’s values and culture. Specialist contractors likely already prove capable of adapting between clients, but those newer to the field may be more naive, so bear this in mind. 

ClearHub’s background screening processes aim to take the administrative burden away from time-restricted organisations. As a result of our due diligence, we have cultivated a carefully formulated talent pool of reputable Atlassian experts waiting for their next freelance, temporary, or permanent assignment. We can make considered candidate recommendations based on your criteria and job requirements, and who we firmly believe will be a good technical and cultural fit. 

Retaining Great Talent Through Effective Scoping

Even if a candidate ticks all the capability and culture boxes, they may fail to live up to expectations if your organisation fails to give specific or clear project scoping. Vague or ambiguous project scoping often leads to breakdowns in communication and misaligned objectives and expectations.

Before assigning your Atlassian contractor their first task, outline all their responsibilities, objectives, and timeframes through a comprehensive Statement of Work including:

  • Exact Atlassian instance details – Cloud/Data Centre, tool versions etc.
  • Supporting systems connected e.g. CI tools, repositories, directories
  • Specific tasks needing completion – migrations, custom workflows etc.
  • Measurable deliverables and outcomes paired to tasks
  • Expected timescales or milestones for essential tasks
  • Communication protocols for updates and reporting

This early alignment means contractors know what to work on immediately and will minimise friction. Simultaneously, clarity around responsibilities and objectives gives purpose-driven talent reason to stay invested in the long term.

Respect your specialists’ expertise too; inefficient and disruptive micromanagement limits their results and productivity. Highlighting that you trust them will enhance retention, as will empowering them to work autonomously and seek assistance when needed.

Trust ClearHub to Attract Premium Atlassian Talent

Great Atlassian recruitment starts with great candidate networks and supplier relationships. With decades of experience placing thousands of technical contractors into a broad spectrum of roles, ClearHub leverages unrivalled access to specialist Atlassian talent across software development, infrastructure engineering, and everything in between.

Our global talent pool combines market-leading contractors and niche specialists to fill urgent vacancies through efficient and time-saving Atlassian recruitment processes, allowing you to focus your resources on important business matters. All Atlassian candidates are pre-verified against your criteria before submission, with our dedicated account management team communicating with you regularly about placements and opportunities. Our transparent and collaborative approach is why we are the trusted Atlassian recruitment agency for hundreds of businesses worldwide.

To find your next high-quality Atlassian candidate(s) who can integrate seamlessly with your business immediately, contact our expert team today to get started.

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What is Atlassian ACP?

ACP stands for “Atlassian Certification Program”.
An Atlassian contractor or working professional who has participated in the ACP is recognised as an Atlassian Certified Professional – or an ACP (we know, it’s confusing!). The best of the best go on to become ACEs (Atlassian Certified Experts) or, if it’s a company like ours, an Atlassian Solution Partner (our parent company, Clearvision, is a Double Platinum Atlassian Solution Partner).

An Atlassian contractor with an ACP has validated expertise and proven knowledge.

This gives them credibility and trust. But it’s not open to just anybody; only professionals with a minimum of two years of experience (sometimes three) as an admin of Atlassian products can apply.

The ACP scheme gives participants Badges and Certificates on the successful completion of modules.

As well as experienced Atlassian contractors and administrators, it’s also open to existing Atlassian Solution Partners and companies who want to improve their skills in-house. It allows businesses to cross-skill, retrain, and develop their teams.

The exams and training courses cost money to take – so it takes commitment and serious study to become certified.

We fast track Atlassian contractors who hold ACP accreditation through the vetting process, because we understand that it’s a serious undertaking. Only the best are willing to get their Badges and Certificates – and only the best of the best go on to achieve Atlassian Certified Expert status.

What Atlassian ACP exams and courses are there?

Managing Jira Projects

  • ACP-420

    Jira Administration for Cloud

  • ACP-120

    Jira Administration for Data Center and Server

  • ACP-100

    Project Administration in Jira Server

  • ACP-610 (New for 2022)

    Atlassian Certified Expert

For most applicants, Atlassian University courses are required. They give you hands-on experience with the Atlassian stack, not just theory and instructions. After getting the skills for real, study begins – followed by a certification exam.

If you have the relevant hands-on experience already, and just want to get certified – you can apply to sit the exams; but this isn’t always the best path, especially if your knowledge is very specific, and doesn’t use the full scope of the tool in question.

The general path to certification might look like this:

  1. Choose your exam
  2. Prepare: check your current knowledge against the relevant Exam Topics
  3. Take Atlassian courses that fill in your knowledge gaps
  4. When you’re ready, sign up, pay for, and sit your exam
  5. Pass – hooray!
  6. ACP status lasts for 18 months. To maintain your ACP, you can:
    1. Retake the exam
    2. Earn Badges to top up your knowledge

What are ACP exams like?

Well, they’re not easy – even if you know your stuff. They draw heavily from challenging real-world scenarios, and require hands-on experience and knowledge.

Exams are delivered in a timed online format which will be familiar to anyone who has done a driving theory test, or Google Academy examinations.

The majority of questions are multiple choice. Some have multiple answers. You aren’t penalised for giving a wrong answer – you only rack up points for what you get right. So, even if you don’t know what the answer is, you should still have a go!

Why should you hire ACP contractors?

The short answer is – because they have recognised knowledge of the platform you’ve hired them to work in. Atlassian ACP contractors are diligent, dedicated, and have up-to-date knowledge. It’s proof that they have kept going as students of their craft.

It’s a strong trust signal.

That’s why we fast track ACP certified Atlassian contractors through our vetting process at CleatHub. It validates our assessments, and is a clear indicator of candidate suitability for any given project.

So, if you’re looking for contractors with the right stuff – then we have the world’s largest network of ACP Atlassian contractors at our disposal…

Hire ACP Certified Contractors, with ClearHub

When it comes to finding Atlassian contractors, there’s no other recruiter that can do what we do. Trust the experts at ClearHub to find your ideal ACP certified Atlassian contractor.

Get started now – speak to us today.

UK contact: Aaron Rowsell

Global Contractor Manager

Email: arowsell@clearhub.tech 

Call: +44 2381 157 811

US contact: David Runyon

Recruitment Consultant

Email: drunyon@clearhub.tech

Call +1 858 304 1215

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The Risks of Cloud Migration and How to Overcome Them

Cloud Migration

Migrating to the Cloud has been proven to improve productivity, and has enabled even the smallest business to become truly global.


And yet, there are still organisations that haven’t gone all-in, relying on legacy hardware and software to get critical work done. The problem is – it won’t be long until in-house server rooms and legacy software are all but dead.


Hardware becomes obsolete fast, and maintaining even the simplest server setup is expensive. With rising energy costs, and workforces needing more money to cope with the cost of living, that’s only going to get worse.

Cloud solutions can put an end to all of that. Even in the most complex of computing ecosystems. Private Clouds can be built bespoke in data centres around the world, to achieve practically anything a self-hosted solution can do.

They can do this while being more resilient, more secure, and more collaborative. With a dedicated Private Cloud solution running on next-generation switching, performance can be even faster than a self-hosted solution; with latencies as low as ~1ms at flagship data centres.


While Cloud solutions might lack the immediate access and bespokeness of self-hosted solutions, and can cost slightly more over their lifetime, there is simply no way that a business can exceed what Cloud platforms can offer – unless they are prepared to build their own world-class infrastructure.


Having said all of this, migrating to the Cloud has to be handled with extreme care: especially with sensitive, operations-critical data. These are the common risks of migrating to the Cloud – and how to overcome them.

Common Cloud migration risks

Incompatibility

If the complexity of your current architecture poses a challenge, this can slow the Cloud migration progress down to a halt. To prepare your IT architecture for Cloud migration, you first need to audit your legacy architecture


During this audit, you should find and resolve technical debt, establish which parts of the system are dependent on each other to function, and create extremely detailed documentation – including a roadmap to the goal.


You may find during this phase that you’ll need to adopt a Hybrid Cloud solution – with elements of Private, Public and in-house infrastructure, which facilitate the migration.

Data residency

One of the biggest challenges with Cloud migration is data residency. Some states, including those under GDPR, are strict on where sensitive data can be stored. It might be the case that your data must be stored locally: within the country, continent, or geopolitical region.


Public Cloud solutions are globally distributed, with no single physical location. Data can be moved as the Cloud provider sees fit. This, naturally, is at odds with data residency.

To overcome this, a Private Cloud should be prescribed. This is where you own physical hardware, installed at a data centre of your choice. This keeps all data local, and keeps your business compliant with the law.

Data loss

Moving data always carries a risk of loss. Human error, a poor connection, timeouts, lossy formatting – any number of things can go wrong. At the end of a large-scale data migration, some of your files may be missing, incomplete, or corrupted. 


But this can be overcome with good planning and preparation.

An expert-led Cloud migration will counter this with meticulous data backup, restoration, and disaster recovery. Backups will be Cloud-based, on physical media, and reproduced to a high level of redundancy, to ensure that even if the worst happens, your data can be restored with minimal downtime.


The upload and monitoring of data should also be phased, not carried out in bulk – and data connections should have fallbacks in place to allow for continued transfer if one connection is interrupted.

Security

This is a major concern for companies looking to migrate to the Cloud. But it’s not as risky as it seems.


Popular Cloud providers like Azure and AWS provide security as a service – but let’s be real. Security is frankly a non-issue provided that you trust your Cloud partner, and have access and permissions under strict control and monitoring.


Public and Private data centres are extremely secure environments, physically and virtually. If you get the configuration right, your data security will be second to none.

Latency

Cloud migration can introduce high latency times. For most people, this goes unnoticed – but for critical operations or consumer apps, a few seconds of delay can be extremely damaging.


A fleet of Private Cloud installations at local data centres can significantly reduce transfer times – but this can be a costly solution, depending on the scale of your operations. But a Cloud architecture expert can help you design a hybrid solution that fuses the locality of Private Cloud with the cost-effectiveness of a Public Cloud solution.


And that brings us onto costs…

Spiralling costs

As much as 70% of Cloud costs are wasted.


Companies navigating the Cloud alone often fail to establish true needs, and this results in wasted opportunity and mounting costs. Cloud is complex, and fear of loss is often wildly overcompensated for.


But Cloud is also highly scalable, agile, and cost-effective when done right. 

A well designed architecture that maximises efficiency can perform exceptionally at minimal cost. It just requires an expert hand – someone who knows how to build reliable, scalable Cloud solutions.

Overcoming Cloud migration risks

Slow adoption and a phased Cloud migration are key to success, and the long-term outcomes for Cloud-based businesses are positive in every way, if it’s done right.


But going slow doesn’t mean putting it off; Atlassian Server is now at end of life, with support ending in February 2024. To phase in and manage your Cloud migration effectively, the time to act is now.

Migrating to the Cloud requires strategy, planning and expert knowledge to overcome the risks associated with it. The best way to reduce the risks of a Cloud migration is to find a trusted Cloud Migration Consultant who has the experience and knowledge to facilitate your move into the Cloud.


That’s always been the case, and always will be. And if you need someone on your side to help – we’re here for you.

Bring a Cloud Migration Consultant into your company

Need someone to help you realise your Cloud vision – with zero downtime, and the lowest possible risk?


Hire a world-class Cloud Migration Consultant through ClearHub, to audit and roadmap your way to success. Everyone in the ClearHub network is vetted, skills-checked and ready to go from day one.

We support all our clients and their Cloud Migration Consultants while they’re on the job, too. Your Cloud Migration expert will have access to our support team, a global network of the tech world’s brightest talent, and a comprehensive knowledge-base.

With ClearHub on your side, there’s no Cloud migration challenge you can’t tackle. Get in touch today:

UK contact: Aaron Rowsell

Global Contractor Manager

Email: arowsell@clearhub.tech 

Call: +44 2381 157 811

US contact: David Runyon

Global Contractor Manager

Email: drunyon@clearhub.tech

Call +1 858 304 1215

 

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How ClearHub Finds the Right Atlassian Contractor

Finding the right candidate or contractor for an Atlassian project is a lot harder than just matching a set of skills to a job description. It requires analysing the job description, knowing the hard skills and the soft skills of the job – and picking up on the subtle nuances of what our customer is trying to tell us they really need.

ClearHub sources Atlassian contractors for some of the world’s largest organisations, as well as SMBs and startups. Our success rate is a whopping 90% on the first candidate – thanks to a diligent process, and decades of experience on both sides of the recruitment fence.

Join our ​​Technical Resourcer, Nick Williamson, as he takes a deep-dive into our process. Find out why companies who hire through ClearHub get the right person for the job – and not just the right skills.

Reviewing the Project

Hi, I’m Nick – Technical Resourcer at ClearHub. Let me run you through how I get the ideal candidates for our customers, from the top of the process.

The very first step is to get a job description with as much detail as possible. After that, I’ll carry out a discovery call, with the customer’s assigned Account Manager.

At this point, I ask myself a few questions:

  • Does the job description line up with what the customer is saying?
  • What’s the real problem they are trying to fix?
  • What was mentioned or talked about multiple times in conversation?

To get the answers, I’ll have a discussion with the Account Manager (who was on the call with the customer), to piece things together. We’ll get a feel for what the customer was focused on in the call – and go beyond the paperwork.

There have been times when a skill or task was only mentioned once in the job description, or was put down as a “nice to have” – but it was actually crucial to the project.

As an example, a client had jotted “can train staff on Jira” at the bottom of a job description. It turned out that training employees to use Jira was the first thing one of our contractors was tasked to do – and by having the discovery call, we were able to get the right person to fulfil that role.

Understanding the project, and the true needs of the customer, are the first (and arguably most important) steps to landing the perfect contractor. And once we know exactly what skills and persona we’re looking for, it’s time to go to our network.

Luckily for us, we’ve got access to one of the biggest tech talent pools in the world – our famous ClearHub Network.

The Network

Now that we truly understand the customer’s needs, we consult the network.

The talent pool we’ve created is rather unique, because of the niche market we operate in. We built this network ourselves, extensively, and over time. It’s mostly made up of skilled Atlassian professionals who have, at one time or another, been a consultant at an Atlassian partner.

It’s also common to find former in-house employees of organisations, who have taken their in-demand skills into contracting or freelancing.

Going out to our network is very different from the way a generic IT recruitment agency does it.

Some agencies will take on a job, quickly realise they do not have the talent within their database, and go to market instead. What this means is that they take the job description you have provided, and post on multiple job websites to get candidates.

We don’t do that.

Our network is built on relationships. Because we’re Atlassian specialists, the best of the best come to us. We nurture relationships with them, get to know their strengths and abilities, and assign roles based on who they are and what they do better than anyone else.

This means that our candidates don’t just have the technical skills and experience needed for the role – but the soft skills, too.

From our discussions, we ask ourselves:

  • Does the customer want someone who can get on with tasks?
  • Or do they want someone who can give advice to teams and stakeholders?

We’ll build a profile of what we are looking for in our ideal candidate, and start selecting our top picks – weighing up their strengths and weaknesses in different areas. 

Next, we reach out to our selected candidates, to find out their availability and gauge their interest in a new project. We create a longlist of candidates, who are interested and available, and then start the process of refining it down to a shortlist. 

Sometimes, it’s an extremely quick process. If we know the contractor well and they’re currently available to work, or are about to end a contract in a couple of weeks, then we can get them onto the next job almost immediately.

Our current record is a 48 hour turnaround, from job order to placement. And transition of contractors between roles can happen overnight. 

But more often, we’ll go through a longer process.

Vetting and Assessment 

We’ll always check to see if the candidates in the shortlist have been suitability assessed and vetted by a consultant recently, to ensure they’re proficient.

This is discovered through a technical test, conducted by an Atlassian Certified Professional. It’s a review of the candidate’s ability – not just with Atlassian tools, but any DevOps tools, or agile methodologies they may be familiar with.

If they’ve already been vetted recently, I go through the report to assess the candidate’s strengths, and possibly where they are lacking. For instance, maybe they have excellent technical ability, but aren’t very articulate in their explanations.

Using this information, we create a final shortlist, and have further in-depth discussions with each candidate on it.

This call usually lasts around 30-45 minutes. Its main purpose is to give the candidate as much information as we can about the project, to discuss challenges they have faced in the past – and find how they overcame them.

Throughout this whole process, we’re also silently assessing their reliability:

  • Do they respond to emails quickly?
  • Do they answer the phone, or call back?
  • Are they professional and presentable when on a call?

If a candidate has not had an assessment recently, we’ll organise one with a consultant, analyse the report, and go through the same process.

Submission

This part is where I need to pull the trigger – and put a candidate in front of the customer.

It’s a big moment. Our selection sets the bar for how the customer judges our ability to deliver on their requirements: if we’ve interpreted them correctly in their view, and if they will have confidence in us moving forward.

All the steps up until this point were taken to mitigate any challenges the customer may have with our selection – and it was for us, too. We need to be able to put our faith in the candidate, to present and interview well. 

But people are people. And sometimes, they do strange things like:

  • Not turn up for the scheduled interview with the customer
  • Ghost us or the customer completely
  • Take a video interview in a loud coffee shop
  • Send a totally different person to the interview pretending to be them
  • Start a video call without a top on

We’ve even had a customer not show up for an interview.

Thankfully, these cases are extremely rare – but people can still surprise you!

Ultimately, it’s up to the customer to decide if we’ve done a good job, and found the right person for them.

With a 90% hit rate on our first selection, we think it’s safe to say we are.

If you think ClearHub can help you with your talent search let us know.

The best contractors come to ClearHub. You should, too.

Find the right person for your Atlassian project – with ClearHub.

Our team pairs businesses with Atlassian, Cloud, DevOps and ITSM experts. Everyone in the ClearHub network is vetted, skills-checked and ready to go from day one. We support all our clients and their chosen experts while they’re on the job, too; so you’ll never have to worry about choosing the right candidate again.

UK contact: Aaron Rowsell

Global Contractor Manager

Email: arowsell@clearhub.tech 

Call: +44 2381 157 811​

US contact: David Runyon

Recruitment Consultant

Email: drunyon@clearhub.tech

Call +1 858 304 1215

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