Macadamian Blog

15 Years of Macadamian

When Macadamian was founded in 1997, social media didn’t mean a website with status updates, cell phones weren’t smart, and iPods were merely a fantasy. The company began with a handful of developers, a designer, and one boardroom. It’s amazing how much technology has evolved and how fast that time has gone.

The Early Years
When the company was first founded, we were five guys designing and developing. We had lunch together every day and played NHL ’97 in the one boardroom. At the time there was a loose focus on design and Macadamian used the skills we had to create a product, that was the Syndeo era. Although it became clear that being a product company was not what was our passion, to this day there are still a few Syndeo based application still running, one of which won an award back in the days. This application was a precursor for social involvement on the web in this case dedicated to the preservation of the Inuktitut language.

Going off-shore & Y2K
Various factors made us embrace a distributed workforce. From customers wishing a better deal to the rarity of expertise (caused partly by parents discouraging their child to go to the high tech field after the 2001 technology bubble burst) we saw the necessity to engage in partnership and learn how to work with various off-shore service providers.

This was also a time when we began shifting from desktop based applications to web based.

Things Start Picking Up
In 2006, Macadamian purchased local design firm Maskery. This purchase demonstrated Macadamian’s dedication to the developing field of user experience and gave us an advantage over our competitors. We were a quickly growing company that no longer made a product, but rather, made clients happy by delivering customized products.

Addition of the Romania and Armenia Based Labs
In 2007 and 2008 as our vision for a distributed workforce was materializing we had opportunities to open our own offices in eastern Europe, this was the birth of our office in Cluj-Napoca and in Yerevan.

Present & Future
Macadamian has progressed over the past 15 years from 5 guys in Ottawa to over 200 people in four countries. The company continues to develop desktop and web applications but has also added mobile to the repertoire. We are a company that has become an industry leader by showcasing and speaking at conferences and becoming product experts on emerging technologies.

Clearly, we’ve come a long way from Christmas parties at the CEO’s house and one boardroom. Through lots of hard work and dedication, Macadamian has progressed and evolved with the technology changes, industry standards and client demands. No longer are we struggling to survive, we are experts eager to educate and share.

As we celebrate our 15th anniversary, I know I look back fondly on the memories but I also look forward to the exciting new challenges our company will tackle.