Former Atlassian engineer 'exposes' inner workings after layoff
A former senior engineer at Australian tech company Atlassian, which owns Trello and Jira, has gained attention after uploading a lengthy YouTube video. In the video, he discusses the systems and technologies he built during his tenure at the company following his redundancy in March.
The former employee, Vasilios Syrakis, worked at Atlassian for around eight years before being laid off last March. The Sydney-based company previously announced it would cut 10 per cent of its global workforce.
Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes stated the restructuring was aimed at funding greater investment in artificial intelligence (AI) while streamlining the company’s workforce.
The video has since gone viral, with over 1.8 million views on YouTube and millions more on X, as of this report.
Some internet users have interpreted the video as an attempt to ‘expose’ Atlassian’s internal operations, as Syrakis detailed various systems and platforms he developed while employed there. He also shared insights into the company’s work culture.
One Reddit user posted: ‘An Atlassian software engineer was laid off after eight years. His response: a 38-minute YouTube video showing how the company’s entire technology works, freely available for anyone to copy.’
The post quickly went viral and sparked extensive discussion on Reddit.
However, upon closer inspection, Syrakis does not appear to have malicious intent in revealing the company’s fundamental secrets. He merely wanted to ‘expose’ what he had accomplished during his career at Atlassian.
‘I was recently affected by Atlassian’s layoffs and wanted to take time to reflect on my journey working there,’ Syrakis said at the start of the video.
‘I worked there for about eight years. During that time, I built many things and wanted to discuss what I created, particularly the aspects I found interesting or was proud of,’ he added.
He also expressed hope that his video could assist others facing similar situations.