Most months this blog covers technical topics related to Power Pages. However, this month marks a special milestone for us here at Engineered Code – on May 27th, we’ll be celebrating 10 years in business. So I though I’d take a break from the technical stuff and instead take the opportunity to reminisce a little bit.
The story of Engineered Code is one of many lucky breaks.
I grew up in Prince Albert, a small-ish city in Northern Saskatchewan (although not so small for Saskatchewan). In high school I became somewhat interested in computers, and it seemed like a promising career path, so I asked my guidance counselor where I should go to school. He recommended the University of Waterloo in Ontario, so off I went to study computer engineering. When graduation time came in 2009, I had a hard decision to make – stay in Ontario where I had made a great group of friends and there were lots of opportunities with well known technology companies, or return back close to home. In the end, I decided I wanted my post-university life to be in Saskatchewan.
Saskatchewan has two major cities where most of the job prospects in technology are: Saskatoon and Regina. Saskatoon is larger and closer to my hometown, but Regina is home to my favourite sports team, the Saskatchewan Roughriders. It also happens to be the home of a couple of my cousins who I was close with growing up. And those cousins happened to work at a company that was looking for software developers. So it ended up being a pretty easy decision – I could move back to my home province, get season tickets for my favorite sports team, and work with my cousins. My decision had nothing to do with what that company did – all I really knew was that they did web development, which I had some experience in and seemed interesting. But I took the job because it was in the city I wanted to be in, with the people I wanted to work with.
That company was Adxstudio.
I didn’t know it at the time, but taking that job turned out to be a life-changing decision. I spent almost two years at Adxstudio, learning about web development, Dynamics CRM, and of course, Adxstudio Portals.
I left Adxstudio because I was offered the chance to be a part of a technology startup that was developing CRM software targeted at a specific vertical. I had never really considered starting my own business, but when the opportunity presented itself to take on a leadership position, I jumped at it.
While working at this startup, two important things happened: I was presented with opportunities to continue working with Dynamics CRM and Adxstudio Portals in my spare time (and with full knowledge of my partners in the startup), and the requirements for the vertical-specific CRM became increasing more complex, to the point where the decision was made to transition from a custom CRM to customizing Dynamics CRM instead. As the opportunities to work with Dynamics CRM and Adxstudio continued to grow, I made the decision to incorporate that business, and transition the support of the vertical-specific CRM customers to be customers of that new business. Engineered Code was incorporated on May 27, 2014.
At first, the business was just me. I hired the first employee later that year – I had worked with him at the startup, and he’s still working with Engineered Code all these years later!
In addition to working with clients and partners all over the world on what was then known as Adxstudio Portals, we also helped clients in our local market with Dynamics CRM projects and general web development.
Our next big break was when we were awarded the contract to build the Saskatchewan Lobbyist Registry via an RFP process. We pitched Dynamics CRM and Adxstudio Portals, and to make things interesting, the acquisition of Adxstudio by Microsoft was announced the same week we presented our proposal, so we needed to make a few last minutes changes.
At the time we submitted the RFP we were still working out of our homes, but based on this positive momentum we took the step of moving into some office space and expanding the team in the second half of 2015. In 2017 we moved to a new office space, before finding our permanent home in 2018 at 1329 Scarth Street in Regina’s Warehouse District. We’ve continued to grow the staff over the years as well – we currently have 10 employees, six who work in our Regina office, while the rest work from their homes in Saskatchewan and Ontario.
Also in 2017 I attended the eXtreme365 conference in Long Beach. Here, I had the opportunity to meet a group of Microsoft MVPs who were extremely welcoming and offered to help me become more involved in the community. This resulted in the creation of this blog, our YouTube video tips series, the Portal Community Calls, the podcast, and all the other various content that we share. I was thrilled to receive my first MVP Award in 2019.
In 2018 we started working on a learning management system (LMS) using our expertise in Power Pages and Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement. COVID shifted our focus for a while, but in 2023 we announced ecLearn – the LMS built on Microsoft Dataverse and for the Power Platform.
As we start our 11th year, our focus remains the same – delivering value and quality to our clients while being the best place in the industry to work.
As part of our anniversary celebrations, we’ve been working on a special video series. I asked a few of my Power Pages friends if they’d sit down with me to chat about Power Pages. We talked about their first memory of Power Pages, what they love, and don’t love, about the product, and their advice for someone who is just starting with Power Pages. I hope you enjoy watching these as much as we did putting them together. Keep an eye out during the month of May for these interviews.
I wanted to finish this post by expressing my appreciation. Engineered Code has given me the privilege of working with such outstanding colleagues, partners and clients over the last 10 years.
To the current and former staff members of Engineered Code – you’ve all played an integral part in keeping this going for the last decade.
To the founders of Adxstudio – what a legacy you have created.
To my circle of business friends in Regina – without your mentorship and support there would be no Engineered Code.
To all of our clients and partners – thank you for putting your trust in us.
To my MVP family – there isn’t a better group to be a part of in the world.
And of course, to my real family.
My wife has supported me on this journey from the beginning. She never hesitated when I suggested that we take the leap into business ownership. When our first child was born in November 2014, just as things were getting started, she always took the overnight shift so I could get a good night’s sleep. She did the same in 2016 for our second child, and ever since has put up with me being late for dinner when I just needed to get one more thing done at the office, and single parenting as I’ve traveled the globe talking about Power Pages. Her belief and strength has gotten us through the lows and I’m so thankful to be able to celebrate this high with her.
My parents read all of my blog posts and listen to all of my podcasts despite having no idea what any of it means. My sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc., have done everything from getting me the job at Adxstudio, doing my taxes, and most importantly, helping me practice my patience by being their on-call tech support person.
What a great 10 years, and I’m looking forward to the next 10.
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