It was 2003, the year
Switchplane began…

For one thing, the internet was still a bit Wild West. We didn't have social media as we know it today, but we did have chat rooms and forums where we could connect with people from all over the world. Of course, these online interactions weren't always the safest or most productive, but they were definitely a lot of fun.

2003 saw the release of the first version of WordPress, which would go on to become the world's most popular blogging platform, as well as MySpace, which gave hundreds of would-be developers their first taste of learning HTML.

We were very much into our Nokia phones with their interchangeable fascias, Snake, and we were getting into texting in a big way - albeit through a combination of abbreviations and acronyms to get around text length limits (“g2g, tlk2u l8r!”). It was still a novelty to be able to send short messages to friends and family without having to actually call them up. Plus, who could forget the classic Nokia ringtone, immortalised with Dom Joly’s Trigger Happy TV? “HELLO?! I’M ON A TRAIN!”

One of the most notable things about the technology of the time was how quickly it evolved. Remember when MP3 players were all the rage? Then, seemingly overnight, everyone was talking about this new thing called the iPod. And speaking of music, we were all using programs like Limewire and Kazaa to illegally download our favourite songs. We didn't know any better back then!

And let’s not forget, 2003 was the year that our directors Joel and Tom founded Switchplane, working out of a converted garage in Brassey Avenue, Eastbourne. But what were the rest of the team up to 20 years ago?.

• Our COO, Donna, was about to start her final year of Uni, so would have been at home over the summer trying to earn some cash;
• Sarah C, our Operations Manager, had just finished Year 10, completed her French and German GCSEs, and was learning to rollerblade so she could take up inline hockey at school;
• Lewis, our Senior Tech Lead, had just started primary school;
• Geoff, our Office Manager and Joel and Tom’s Dad, was working at the head office of Londis in West London as a programmer on their warehouse, distribution, and finance software;
• Our Graphic Designer, Christian, was working for Ebookers and Travelbag in Farringdon, London and living in Kingston upon Thames;
• Sarah B, our HR Officer, was finishing Year 10 and working at BB’s Cafe in Eastbourne at the weekends, making all the coffees;
• Steve was living in London and working as a transfer engineer in a post-production sound studio;
• One of our developers, Dean, was working at Insure and Go and living in Essex;
• The rest of our developers, Tom P, Yi, and Alex, were still at primary school;
• Carrie, our Growth Marketing Executive, had just moved back from Bournemouth, where she went to university, to live in Eastbourne with her future husband.

Looking back on the technology of 20 years ago and what we know now, it's clear that we've come a long way since then both as individuals and a company. As Tom once described it, “video calling at that time was just reserved for Star Trek; it was never going to be a thing that happened in our lifetimes - but look where we are now!”. It's fun to remember the simpler times when we were all just figuring out this whole internet thing and having a laugh along the way. With AI just hitting the mainstream, who knows what technological marvels we'll be embracing over the next 20 years? The sky's the limit!

Today we are all a bit older, all a bit wiser, and we all continue to love working with people to build the software they need to create meaningful change in their business.