It’s not just another day. June 3, 2020 marks the 4th year anniversary of OpenSense Labs. If it wasn’t for the unprecedented situation caused by Covid-19 pandemic all over the globe, the OpenSense Labs Team would have headed out for a luncheon and taken part in some exhilarating and adventurous activities.

It’s the times like this that make us come out better and stronger. The OpenSense Labs Team has always found a way to stay together, help each other out, work collaboratively and bear the fruits each day. Even though the Covid-19 pandemic has made us stay indoors, we have kept on marching ahead. We have always believed: Wherever We Are, We Are One.

A small customised workstation at our homes beside the window is not that bad either. As we sit down, reach our hand out, lift a corner of the curtain with our fingers and white light floods the desk, hope for the return to normalcy becomes firmer. As we move into our 5th year, our resolve to get bigger and weather headwinds along the way becomes more strong.

Humble beginnings

It feels powerful to put the experience down in words. It’s like trapping it in a jar and it can never fully leave you. For Vid (CEO, OpenSense Labs), the humble beginnings of the organisation is a reminder of all the hard work that went into it. It’s something that drives him to keep moving forward.

It was the time when he was on a break and contemplating the future roadmap of his professional life. What better place than the open hillsides and deep woods to start the foundation work of a new startup! Working alone against the lovely, idyllic, and picturesque backdrop can be inspiring. The wings of the rushing wind seem to be bearing you onward. The voices of the air are singing to you.

At a place like this, with thrilling chlorine-blue sky stretched taut and featureless like silk, woods all green and golden, hills looking glorious in the flashing sunlight, Vid drew the definitive blueprint for an organisation that would go on to become one of the best Drupal agencies in the global marketplace. Today, he proudly looks at OpenSense Labs’ invaluable contributions made to the development and promotion of Drupal. Vid still remembers the days that went into the planning of an organisation of this scale. They will linger long upon the retina of his memory.

The first office

The birth of a refreshing idea accompanied itself with the task of setting up an office premise. But, how much of workspace would three people require to start the proceedings? Well, a small room with a table and chairs for three would suffice. So began the journey of OpenSense Labs and it saw significant growth in a short period of time. Soon, it was time to move to the bigger office.

Open-source innovation with Drupal

By the time, we celebrated our first anniversary, our team had already grown in number and we had moved to a bigger workspace. Today, into our 5th year, we now have 50+ talented individuals helping the organisation move by leaps and bounds. From Drupal development to unique staff augmentation offerings, Drupal Commerce to web performance optimisation, web personalisation to Drupal 8 upgrade, Drupal 8 migration to support and maintenance, we have made the foray into everything Drupal. We utilised our Drupal expertise and various open-source software projects, yielded great results with our open-source thinking, and triumphantly carried out small to large scale projects.

Our fourth year anniversary also coincides with the launch of Drupal 9. We are looking forward to providing ambitious digital experiences with an all-new Drupal.

Building an amazing organisational culture

Envisage yourself looking at the faces of Linus Torvalds or Elon Musk or Quadro Nikola while trying to give your best in the project you are working on. That’s exactly what you get here at OpenSense Labs’ office. Posters of these influential persons give you enough motivation to pour in everything that you have got and give your best shot.

We always strive for creating a company culture that embraces and promotes mentorship. When new guys join the team, a designated mentor makes sure to look radiantly pleased to hear their questions. They survey their thoughts that seem to be shuttling through all the coils inside their brain like fast, frantic centipedes. It’s almost like opening their skull, unspooling their brains and sifting through it, trying to catch and pin down their thoughts. We feel it’s important for senior pros to understand the newbies’ minds and make them feel comfortable and do their best.

The friendly and positive environment makes you feel at ease. There is a strong sense of tranquillity felt in the office premises. Even a time-sensitive project, that can sometimes be a high-pressure job, can be dealt with easily.

And, being a part of the OpenSense Labs family makes you want to celebrate your birthdays in the office. There is always someone who would throw cakes on your face. Someone would open a bottle of wine (with a crest of white spilling over the lip of the bottle) and pour a glass for you.

We make sure that you always get an ample amount of opportunities to learn new things and try newer avenues. When opportunities do knock on the door, everyone makes sure that they sweep them into the palm of their hand, close their fist around them and pocket them. For instance, whenever a DrupalCon or a DrupalCamp is held in India or anywhere else in the world, we encourage everyone to present a session in such national and international conferences.

Annual retreats are something that we look forward to every year. Everyone seems to be in a jolly mood during the bus journey. Different playlists being flipped through and finding one everyone on the bus seems to be enjoying. Music bleating from the speakers at night while everyone takes a quick nap preparing themselves for the exciting day that lies ahead.

As you reach your destination, the sky dims into a cooler blue and silver clouds lie on the rim of the horizon. You look forward to dancing all night under the night sky. The bonfire illuminates the features of jubilant individuals in the darkness. As the sun rises again, you can’t wait to play a match of cricket. It’s even more wonderful to witness light rains. You cherish the moments when grey stone darkens to black and rain moves over the grass and whispers on the slick roof tiles.

We have always believed that the employees are the pillars of strength for any organisation. So, we do everything we can to contribute to the happiness of our employees for the extraordinary contributions that they make towards the organisation’s growth.

Post-Covid-19, the world hasn’t been the same. With the people world over trying to stay connected and bond over digital platforms, we too have kept ourselves connected through virtual bonding sessions. As a matter of fact, we have played virtual games even before the Covid-19 pandemic. So, it hasn’t been difficult to organise online activities and interact with our colleagues. The kind of camaraderie that we share with each other is phenomenal. Which is why our pre-Covid-19 and post-Covid-19 work atmosphere has only changed on the map. Our Delhi office remains vacant. The Team has got distributed and has been working remotely since the outbreak of this pandemic. Nevertheless, our success rate hasn’t gone down a bit.

Thank you

If not for the hard work of each and every individual of the OpenSense Labs’s Team, we wouldn’t have reached all the milestones and come this far. The launch of Drupal 9 on the fourth year anniversary of OpenSense Labs means one thing: It’s the beginning of great things to follow. We will keep prioritising digital innovation, build remarkable websites and web apps with Drupal 9, and keep getting better at everything that we do.