The Craziest 18 Days of My Career
By: Holly Firestone
Tags: Community Engagement, Job Offer, Job Hunting, Community Management, Leadership

At the end of the call with Scott, he asked me to send him an email with 4–5 things they could do that would convince me to stay. That in itself was flattering, and to be honest, mind blowing.

My list was pretty simple:

Community Team headcount growth to match company growth- I was working 12–16 hour days to build the community. I was exhausted. Work-life balance didn’t exist, and I could never do on my own what I could do with a team. Especially since Atlassian was growing so quickly. Move Community out of Marketing and into Customer Success- I have never thought Community belongs in Marketing. I wanted to be more closely tied with Customer Success. This would also move me under a new manager that believed in community. Match the offer I got from the other company- This one is pretty simple. Match the salary I was offered. Move to Austin office with no salary adjustment- I was living in San Francisco when we first opened the Austin office. This opportunity was offered to anyone that wanted to move there, but it was only offered for a limited time. No salary adjustment and a stipend for moving expenses. I ALWAYS planned to move back to Austin. When I asked my manager to go, she said the option wasn’t available to me. When I pressed to ask why, she said “I don’t trust you.” Remember, at this point I’m working 12–16 hour days. I’m putting everything into building this community. Her saying she didn’t trust me felt like being punched in the gut.

I started getting really excited when I sent the list off to Scott. I WANTED to stay at Atlassian. It’s an exceptional company with an amazing community. I also started panicking a little because the more I learned about the new company I had signed with, the less comfortable I felt with my decision. I waited patiently-ish for a response that I ended up receiving on the night of Thursday, February 12th.

The email from Scott basically said that he couldn’t make it happen. I was devastated. I fell into my boyfriend (now husband) and started sobbing. I said- WORD FOR WORD- “I guess I’m going to [X Company] now. Unless Erica Kuhl calls me.”

AND THIS IS WHERE THINGS GET REALLY FUCKING CRAZY. 🤯🤯

The next morning, I woke up and as per usual, grabbed my phone to check my email. There it was in my inbox. An email from Erica Kuhl. Remember, I hadn’t talked to Erica AT ALL since I sent her that email (more of a love letter) in December 2014.

Now you may not believe me, but my husband was there and remembers this story the exact same way. I said “unless Erica Kuhl calls me” and woke up to an email from her out of the blue. I screamed. My husband was less than thrilled with the 7am wake up, but he also couldn’t believe what he saw.

Photo text: February 13th- Holly, I wondered if you happen to have the evening of 2/25 open for a drink with a fellow Community geek? I have some changes happening on my team and I would love to chat with you about that. I’m in town speaking at the Customer Engagement Summit and jetting in and out so my time is limited unfortunately. Let me know. Erica Kuhl, Sr. Director of Community

Photo text: February 13th- OooH, The Palace. Very fancy! I will look around and see what I can find in the area. I also have no idea where the cool spots are these days :) In other news, I’ve actually decided to leave Atlassian. I’ll tell you a little bit more about my decision when we chat, but in the end, it was just growing more and more apparent they were not willing to invest in or grow the community program. My last day here will be the 20th. Not sure what exactly you mean by changes on your team, but if you are expanding it, and interesting in chatting with me about that, that’s great news! However, I’ve actually accepted a role starting on the 23rd to build a B2C community at a mobile startup. I’m still really interested in chatting though, like I said before, I’m your #1 fan and would love to be in the know about what you are up to and how you are growing your team. Hope you have an awesome weekend, and I look forward to seeing you soon! Holly

I TOLD YOU THIS PART WAS CRAZY! 🤯

After a little bit of back and forth, we decided to connect a couple days later, on Monday, February 16th.

Let’s do a refresher on the dates. As of Monday, February 16th, 2015:

I connected with Erica on the phone.

I’ve just started my last week at Atlassian with my last day being Friday, February 20th

I signed an offer with another company and have a start date of Monday, February 23rd

Erica and I connected to talk about the role, and she asked if I could go into the office to interview with her team on Wednesday, February 18th (2 days later). I interviewed with her team. The next day, February 19th, my second to last day at Atlassian, I had a phone interview with Erica’s manager at the time. It was a tough interview, and I was convinced I bombed it. That night was my Atlassian going away party. We went to karaoke, of course. At around midnight, I get a ping on Hipchat from my current manager.

IF YOU THOUGHT THE PREVIOUS TWO PARTS WERE CRAZY, JUST YOU WAIT… 🤯🤯🤯

I wish I had saved the text from this message on HipChat because I’m sure it was pretty entertaining to read word for word. It was something along the lines of “I really appreciate how you’ve handled yourself on your way out… I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and I think you should stay… call me in the morning so we can discuss.”

WHAT???!!! 🤯🤨🧐

Let’s do another another timeline refresher about exactly where we are at this point:

It’s midnight- technically Friday morning, February 20th , my last day at Atlassian

, my last day at Atlassian I am waiting to hear from the Salesforce recruiter who said she would call me in the morning, Friday, February 20th

The company I’ve accepted an offer from still thinks I’m starting the following Monday, February 23rd (I asked for a week off in between but they said no- RED FLAG)

We’re Going To Have To Move Mountains To Make It Happen ⛰

I ignored the message from my manager and went home. The next morning, my last day at Atlassian, I was in no rush to put myself together to get into work. I may or may not have had a few drinks the night before. Another ping on HipChat from my manager around 7am. Something along the lines of “I wanted to make sure you saw my message last night. I think we can give you everything you asked for, but we’re going to have to move mountains to make it happen before the end of the day. Can we schedule some time?”

I agree to schedule time with her at 11am. Then, maybe 10 minutes later, I get an email from the Salesforce recruiter asking if we can speak at 11. I literally can’t make this stuff up. So I then reschedule the meeting with my manager to 1pm.

You have to remember that at this point, I have no idea which of the three companies I’ll be working at on Monday- just three days later. My blood pressure was through. the. roof. 🆘

The Salesforce recruiter calls at 11 with a bunch of questions. No offer at this point, and she didn’t say she had an offer coming my way. Just asked the questions. I should have known, but at this point, I’m not sure what to expect. She said she’d call me back that afternoon. Salesforce knew I was starting a new role on Monday, and if they wanted me to work there, they had to get me an offer by February 20th (that day) at the latest. It was pretty crazy if you think about it. The email from Erica was just one week before, and there I was, hoping to get an offer from their recruiter just 7 days later. If you’ve ever interviewed at Salesforce, you’d know pulling this off would be a miracle.

At 1pm, I hopped on a call with my manager- she was out of the office that day (which checks out, since it was my last day, and she didn’t think she needed to be there, I guess). The conversation was weird to say the least. I started by asking how she knew about the list of things I asked Scott for since she mentioned it in her HipChat message. She told me that after I sent my list, she had a meeting with our CEO, Chief People Officer, and President of the company to discuss my proposal. I couldn’t wrap my head around why so many important people would be on a call talking about what to do with me. This was not a normal practice at Atlassian. Important people were talking about what to do with me because it was important to them. They wanted me to stay. Once again, I was flattered, and I felt recognized and appreciated.

My manager told me that she was the reason that my requests didn’t work out. She admitted that she told everyone in that meeting that I was difficult to work with. “But I realized you weren’t difficult to work with. I had put you in a box, and you were bucking. A bucking bronco! You just kept bucking!” She must have said “bucking” ten times on that call. I was floored. Not just because of the ridiculous use of the word “bucking,” but also because I couldn’t believe she had admitted all of this to me. She continued, “I think we can get you what you asked for. Or at least versions of what you asked for. What if you move to Austin in six months and we keep you at your current salary- which would basically be like a raise?!”

At this point I was exhausted, annoyed, and hungover. She waited until my last day to spring this on me and expected me to make a decision on the spot. Not only that, but she wasn’t offering everything I asked for. I was firm and clear. “If you can’t give me everything I asked for, I’m not staying. I also need everything in writing and signed by our President, CEO, or Chief People Officer.” I had zero trust in her at this point. Even if you do trust someone- ALWAYS GET IT IN WRITING. She pushed back, but I wouldn’t budge. The whole time, she was acting like she was doing me a huge favor by bringing this offer to me when she should have been acting like she didn’t want to lose me. I ended the call by saying I’d think about it and get back to her. She said that she needed to know soon if they were going to make it happen.

About an hour later, I got the phone call from Salesforce. I accepted the offer. A few minutes later, Erica Kuhl called me (OMGOMG) to welcome me to the team. I couldn’t believe it. Right down to the wire at 3:00pm on my last day at Atlassian.

I immediately emailed the other company to let them know I wouldn’t be working for them. I don’t love how things played out in that situation. I do wish that I could have told them sooner- especially since I had signed the offer. I know I made the right decision though.

My Atlassian manager called me at 4pm to ask if I was going to take her offer, and I let her know I would not be staying. She asked me where I was going, and I told her. She responded “Good luck having work life balance there!” and hung up on me.

One final looky-loo at this insane 18-day timeline:

Monday, Feb 2nd- Quit my job, gave 3 weeks notice

Monday, Feb 9th- Talked to Atlassian’s CEO. He’s amazing. Emailed him my list of the things I needed to happen if I was going to stay

Thursday, Feb 12th- Atlassian’s CEO said he couldn’t make it happen, I boo-hooed and basically wished at the sky that Erica Kuhl would call me

Friday, Feb 13th- I wake up to an out-of-the-blue email from Erica Kuhl asking to meet up, I tell her I’m leaving Atlassian. We make plans to connect.

Monday, Feb 16th- I connect with Erica. The role sounds amazing. We schedule interviews with the team.

Wednesday, Feb 18th- I do in-person interviews with the team at the Salesforce office.

Thursday, Feb 19th- Atlassian going away party. Late night Hipchat message from my Atlassian boss asking me to stay.

Friday, Feb 20th- My last day at Atlassian

REMINDER: I wake up on Friday, February 20th with no idea which of the three companies I’ll be working at three days later.