How we went from a growing business to a world-class competitive firm

Welcome to our 2019 recap

As a web development company, 2019 turned out to be the year when we went back to our roots, which are all about making our world more efficient and enjoyable.

We did this by developing innovative solutions to tough challenges, such as making the mining industry more efficient and sustainable, helping people with disabilities to explore new places with ease, simplifying and improving the quality assurance processes in the aerospace industry, and many more remarkable breakthroughs.

We worked alongside our clients, playing a key role not only as developers, but as their strategic partners. Through our discovery sessions, powered by Design thinking principles and Design Sprint methodologies, we now collaborate closely with our clients from the ideation phase until the final release of the product.

We also partnered with companies that are changing the world for the better through accessibility tools, ecological practices, and electric mobility and transportation.

Key highlights

Four key themes were at the heart of our activities this year: Growth, Innovation, Community Engagement, and Global Exposure.

Growth

Our Montréal office doubled in size, and we recruited great talent while diversifying our technological skills and experience. Expanding overseas had always been a dream of ours, so we were thrilled to officially open our second office location, in Nantes, France.

Osedea was also selected as one of the top growing businesses in Canada, as well as within the top 16 in Montréal.

Community engagement

Giving back to the community is something that’s always been near and dear to our hearts. In 2019, we proudly hosted our 4th edition of the Osedea Academy, a free design and programming school that we created to inspire and motivate high school students in St-Henri, the neighbourhood where our office is located in Montréal.

(Radio Canada also covered our efforts with Osedea Academy)

We were also very excited to launch our Open Source for Good initiative, which involved our team members investing time outside of business hours to contribute to Open Source initiatives around the Internet. Osedea pledged $15 for every hour a team member contributed to this initiative. The money will then be donated to the organization Refuge Des Jeunes in Montréal.

For the third year in a row, we hosted Code in the Dark Montreal, a free event that lets up-and-coming front-end developers shine in the form of an action-packed live coding contest. With around 300 people from the tech community in attendance, this was our biggest edition yet.

We also had the opportunity to partner with Concordia Bootcamps, a coding program that’s playing a key role in solidifying the job market for developers in Montréal.

Global exposure

To promote the new France office, encourage collaboration, and share best practices, we launched an exchange program. The Osedea team now have the option to go and spend 2–6 weeks working in Nantes. Rent and airfare are covered by Osedea.

In June, we attended Web2Day in Nantes to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace. You can watch our talk, “From an Afterthought to Everyone’s Priority”.

Our team had the chance to participate in several conferences and industry events this year, such as the Montréal Chamber of Commerce Trade Mission of Women in Tech in Silicon Valley, the Collision Conference in Toronto, and the React Advanced Conference in London, to name a few.

We also hosted the first-ever Nantes edition of Code in the Dark. Close to 60 people joined us, and we were able to make some fantastic connections with the local Nantaise tech community. A big win for our Nantes office.

Innovation

We continued to execute on our goal of being known as the absolute best place to work in Montréal, becoming the first company in the city to implement a 4-day work week (while paying our team as though they work for 5). If you are interested in learning more about how and why we implemented the 4-day work week, take a look at these two blog posts: The three big truths about the four-day workweek and A radical workplace initiative: a guide to implementing a four-day workweek.

On a mission to rework our brand, we ventured to Amsterdam, where we were able to reshape our messaging and visual style to accurately represent the growth and development of our business. We’re currently finishing up with implementing the changes, and we can’t wait to take over next year with our new image.

On the horizon for 2020

We’re ready, and it’s time: Osedea will be jumping into the world of AI. We’re bringing in some amazing talent to offer even more innovative solutions to our clients so that they’re empowered to gain real value from their data.

Our revamped branding is about to take over the Internet. A bold new look and a fresh, bright website are coming your way soon.

Yeah, we’re ready for 2020.