Well, it’s that time of year again! With the Gift Giving season just around the corner, you might be wondering what to get the Jira Admin in your life. No, seriously. They work the entire year to make sure you can do your job that much easier. Maybe it’s time to get them a little something. But what to get them?
No worries there, as The Jira Guy is here to give you some ideas! I’ve scoured the internet for nine gifts you can give the Jira Guy or Gal in your life to let them know you appreciate the work they do!
Certification Payment Vouchers
https://training.atlassian.com/certification-catalog (about halfway down)
So, I’ve made no secret that being Atlassian Certified can help your career. I’m seeing more employers who are looking for that every year. But beyond that, just studying and preparing for an exam will allow you to learn so much. So why not sponsor your Jira Admin’s Certification Exam? Just be sure to talk to them before you put down your money to make sure they are interested in the exam.
Plantronics Voyager Focus UC Bluetooth USB B825 202652-01 Headset
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013F4LJTI
So, more of us are working from home now, which means everyone working from home can use a good headset. This one was recently recommended to me, and I can see why. It’s got active noise canceling, which will be useful in a busy environment, and being cordless means, you won’t get tangled up. Trust me – the cord is the worse part of my current headset. So I intend to pick one up, and I hope you will look into it too!
Chair Mounted Green Screen
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y2G2YP5
Some of us don’t mind sharing whatever is behind our desk with our colleagues on the Zoom call. However, some of us would instead be sitting on the bridge of the Enterprise, Mos Eisley Bar, or on Bladerunner’s streets. This Chair Mounted Green Screen lets them set your background quickly without an extensive greenscreen setup. It even folds up when you aren’t using it!
LastPass Premium
I honestly don’t know how I got along before I got LastPass. Honestly, if you aren’t using a secure password manager, just…what are you even doing? This particular one was recommended to me by a colleague who works in SecOps, as he was also using it. That’s all the endorsement I needed! You would want to get a premium over a free account because it allows you to enable multifactor authentication, dark web monitoring, and set up an emergency contact to access your account if needed. It’s been well worth the price to me, and it’s my go-to recommendation for others looking for a password manager.
Atlassian Water Bottle
https://atlassian-swag.mybrightsites.com/products/202931
I got this water bottle last summer from the swag shop, and it’s been my go-to water bottle since. It’s not so big that I feel like I’m lugging around a massive aquarium, but it still has enough that I’m not going to drain it right away. It easily keeps things cold throughout the day, so much so that I’ll still have ice at the end of the day.
A Good Notebook
https://www.amazon.com/dp/8867320432
So I probably shouldn’t be saying this as someone who manages web resources – but I remember things better when I physically write them down. It’s not that it gives me something to study – just the act of writing it out helps it stick better. I don’t know if it’s just concentrating on the words or what, but it’s the truth.
That’s why I always try to keep a good notebook on my person. Just something I can keep in a pocket and bring out when I want to jot down a quick blog idea or take some notes on something I need to do.
A Good Pen
Honestly, I’ve been keeping a Pen on me longer than I’ve been keeping a notebook. It’s a habit I started back when I was an active Geocacher but kept up even after I moved on from that hobby as it was just useful. I’ve carried a variety of pens over the years, but since I found these Pokka Pens, they are my go-to. They fold up small, but you can open them up to work as a full-size pen. They work well when paired with the notebook above, as they hardly take up any space, but you always have something to jot down notes with.
Raspberry Pi 4b (4GB or Better)
https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/
So, I made a post a good while ago about trying to set up Jira on a Raspberry Pi. And, It worked rather well, I think. I still encourage any Admin out there to have a personal test instance, and hosting it on a Pi is an excellent way to play around with it without tying up your system resources. Plus, you get some geek cred just by running it on a Pi.
Atlassian Server Licenses
This gift will go along with the Raspberry Pi(s), but you’ll need something to run on them. And, yes, I haven’t forgotten about the Server End of Life. That’s why I’m telling you to grab the licenses now! They are perpetual licenses, which means Jira will still be able to run even after Atlassian pulls the plug. So grab it now, put it on the Pi, and keep it updated until EOL. That way, when you need to test a crazy theory, you have a place to do so.
And One Final Gift!
Well, it’s the holidays, and I wanted to have some fun and do something a little festive. Then a particular song with twelve parts started playing. Thus, with a lightbulb, I had an idea.
I want to shout out to Neil Taylor, who helped me put this together. But, without further delay, here are the Twelves Days of Jira:
On the Twelfth Day of Jira, the tickets gave to me:
12 Jira Users
11 Groups to sort them
10 Roles to grant them
9 Pointless Meetings
8 Custom Fields
7 App Requests
6 License Keys
5 New Dashboards
4 Error Logs
3 Workflows
2 Issue Types
And a new Project for you and me!
Yes, I’m a dork. But I’m a happy dork, so I don’t care. If any of you end up singing this for an office party, I’d love to see it!
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The Jira Guy 