When exploring her next opportunity after almost five years working as a support engineer at Atlassian, Jessie Turpin decided to go in a new direction for her career, opting for the flexibility and potential of the ServiceRocket Crew Member Program. Here's why she made the leap and why she hasn't looked back.

For Jessie Turpin, choosing her next move was all about stepping closer to the customer. As former Support Engineer and global subject matter expert for Atlassian Analytics, Jessie spent years mastering the intricacies of the platform. She led video series, mentored global teams, and maintained a stellar CSAT score. But after four and a half years, she found herself at a crossroads common to many top-tier tech experts, and was excited about the autonomy of independent consulting.

Instead of going it alone, however, she joined the ServiceRocket Crew Member Program to take advantage of the unique benefits and opportunities of becoming a Crew Member.

What is the ServiceRocket Crew Member Program?

The ServiceRocket Crew Member Program is a global network of freelance Atlassian experts who want the autonomy of consulting without the isolation. Think of it as independence, upgraded.

Crew Members collaborate directly with our full-time team, tackling high impact projects for world-class technology companies. It’s more than a contract, it’s a community where you bring your specialized skills, share the knowledge and where we provide the infrastructure, access, and support to help you shine.

Benefits to Joining the ServiceRocket Crew Member Program 

Experts in Atlassian need access to the tools to be successful, including access to the products, instances to work in, environments to demo, and the latest features to stay sharp on.

"If I'd gone completely independent, I wouldn't have had access to the product itself," Jessie says.  "That would've been a total dealbreaker."

This is the catch-22 of consulting in the tech world: the freedom you crave can actually lock you out of doing your best work. 

For independent consultants within the Atlassian ecosystem, freedom often comes with a hidden cost: access. 

"Where Atlassian Analytics is an enterprise product, I don't know if I would be able to get access to the product itself if, say, I did choose to go out on my own," Jessie explains. "That would definitely be a blocker."

Without that access, independent consultants often struggle to demonstrate full features or upgrades to their clients. By joining the Crew Member Program, Jessie found the perfect middle ground, she gained the flexibility to control her own schedule, and she no longer needed to request PTO, while retaining the robust infrastructure of a Platinum Solution Partner.

"It's nice at ServiceRocket because you all have access to all the products," she says. "There's no headache. That's really nice."

Thanks to the ServiceRocket Crew Member program, Jessie got the flexibility of independence with all of the benefits of being a part of the Crew Member experience.

From Reactive Support to Proactive Solutions

As a ServiceRocket Crew Member, Jessie now dives deep into customer environments, building charts, querying Data Lakes, and owning the solution end-to-end.

"It's a lot more hands-on," she says. "I'm in the customer's instance helping to show them how to create certain charts or showing them where certain data lives... It's been a lot of fun."

Advice for the "Freelance-Curious"

Jessie says  that getting started with building a consulting career can feel risky, but that others shouldn’t be afraid to do it. Her advice to those on the fence is to reframe the risk as an opportunity for growth and to find the best support possible for their journeys. She encourages aspiring consultants not to "pigeonhole" themselves, and to view contracting as a low-stakes way to test new waters and expand their skills.

"There's not a lot of downsides to trying it out because it could just be a small little trial run for you," Jessie advises. "If you don't like it, that's okay. But at least you know that you tried it, and maybe you'll find something that you love about it."

Final Thoughts 

For Jessie, the Crew Member Program is more than finding you gigs, it's about having a team behind you and building a community that supports each other.

"It's nice having the support offered by the program managers and project managers," she says. "Knowing that if the customer is having a problem... it's not just all on me."

Whether she is decoding complex data schemas or guiding a client through an enterprise upgrade, Jessie Turpin is doing what she does best: helping teams get the most out of their tools.

Thinking about taking the leap to independent consulting? Join the ServiceRocket Crew Member program today and define your own journey.

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