Leaving awesome OneSheep

This is a post that I didn’t foresee myself writing for the last 3 or 4 years. It is amazing how long but short that time has been. Every day was always so fresh and full of promise, all because of the wonderful folks I was working with. I remember it like yesterday when I got the offer to become a full time contractor at OneSheep. Having been a Drupal contractor 2 years prior, I jumped at the chance to work on some awesome (and very diverse projects) and what a whirlwind it’s been with so many great memories made!

I tell a lot of people that you know you are living your best life, and doing what you love when work is not work. I woke up every day looking forward to what I would be working on for the past 3 years. But to say it was all hunky-dory would be a lie as well, there were days when I was stuck on some technical challenges and didn’t sleep at all, but I always found great leadership steering me towards the best solutions.

For context, I joined OneSheep without an academic foundation in software engineering. The few websites I had made, had been cobbled together through sheer determination to know how things worked, more out of wonder than design. I had majored largely in Drupal to the point of writing my own modules, themes etc so I was well versed in that but something always bothered me at the back of my mind that I didn’t actually know why the abstraction (Drupal) was the way it was. I had never designed an API, I had not even mastered jQuery which was all the rage back then. That OneSheep decided to give me a chance to prove myself is a testament to the great folks they are.

During my time working with OneSheep, my skillset grew immensely. Having started out as a junior/intermediate developer I am moving on after having architected and led some projects by myself. That gave me sheer pride, to be entrusted with the future of such big clients and also left to figure out some things that only opportunity can challenge you to learn. Looking back, it’s amazing to realize even how my thinking grew from seeing software as either magic/part guesswork, to realizing it can be an exploration of a methodical, scientific approach. You can never figure or know everything but to a great extent you can control the overall direction.

It’s going to be a very lonely time going forwards, without the Sheepcons we hosted every year. It was such a great culture to meet every year in London as a team, and plan the future. I am going to miss the lovely pairing sessions I had with Jannie in Cape Town, so much that I learnt from him, Sam’s great leadership, Arun’s activations (if that’s what it’s called, but this guy always thinks about what needs to happen next, and presses that button), and Jo’s unwavering passion and execution. Last but not least Mark’s calmness and thoughtful approach is something I wish to carry and emulate too.

This was one of the most rare chances to not only work but fellowship with others and work on the most impactful work for Christian organizations. I wish OneSheep all the best for the future, and hope our parts collide again in the future.