Orange to Blue: OpsGenie is agreed to be acquired by Atlassian
A fantastic ride with amazing people

Disclaimer: This is a personal blog and I’m not a co-founder of Opsgenie. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer.
I mostly write technical posts but this one is a bit different. This is a personal one. I feel sad and happy at the same. I even cried a bit when I hear the news :)
One thing is certain. I feel lucky.
I’ve joined OpsGenie as a software engineer 2.5 years ago and became a technical evangelist a year ago. We were 15 people when I joined. We are now more than 180 when we are acquired.
What an amazing ride!
I went to Ankara on 31 August 2018, after one of our (OpsGenie) co-founders, Abdurrahim, called me a couple of days ago.
The conversation went roughly like this — apparently not this formal :)
Abdurrahim: Serhat, can you come to Ankara on Friday?
Me: I’m getting engaged on Saturday, is it that important?
Abdurrahim: Yes. If you can, you should come just for the day.
Me: Wow, is it that important? Just tell me. Did you sell the company, to, maybeee, Atlassian? :)
Abdurrahim: Just come on Friday :)
I knew we were going to sell the company at some point. And Atlassian has always seemed like a good fit. But I was expecting this to happen maybe in a year or so. Not this close! :)
Personal history with Atlassian
Atlassian and I have some history which goes back to my time in integrations team.
I’m one of the first developers of our HipChat add-on integration. While developing the integration, I talked with lots of great folks from Atlassian on how we can put the word out there for our hard work.
One thing led to another, and I got an invitation for their Connect Week 2017 event where developers work with Atlassian folks to create new add-ons for various Atlassian tools.

I was lucky enough to go to that event. It was a unique experience. I loved Atlassian’s Amsterdam office. And I still think that the Atlassian Connect Week was the seed for my journey to being an evangelist in OpsGenie.
Oh! And I had my first public speaking experience in Atlassian’s Amsterdam office (see my speaking history and my post on the Connect Week).

After a couple of months later, it was time for Atlassian Summit in Barcelona — where our agreement for acquisition is announced today, wow!
This was also a first for me. I had never attended a big event like that and never had booth duty before. We had a small booth there. But it was fun!
Now that is our event — how cool is that!
The new adventure with Atlassian
Atlassian’s Co-CEO Scott joined us in Ankara on 31 August Friday. Berkay and Scott announced the plan for acquisition and answered our questions.
I know that we are very much alike in term of culture. I believe Scott was showing up in Ankara and talking with us in person proves that. I’m excited about the future and the value we’ll bring to dev and ops teams, together!

Final words
Joining OpsGenie is the best decision I’ve ever made in my professional life.
A startup born and engineered in Ankara-Turkey is sold to Atlassian today. OpsGenie is an inspiration to not just Turkey, for all the folks living outside of Silicon Valley.
A big shoot out goes to OpsGenie co-founders. They are amazing folks. What they build is special. Without their vision and guidance, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
What I feel most lucky is that I’ve got the chance to work with an awesome guy like Berkay, our CEO, on a daily basis. Anyone who has the opportunity to work with him would be fortunate. He brings out the best in people.
I trust that Berkay has made the right decision for everyone. He always does.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity- and a hell of a ride!
Thanks for everything Berkay, Sezgin, and Abdurrahim.
I’m excited for what is next with Atlassian!
Let’s keep rocking ❣️

