As Polar Squad turns 4, we reflect on how we’ve built a company on DevOps, what the term means today, and what lies ahead.  

Polar Squad turns four years old today. Well, to be exact, it might have happened last week or the 22nd of November. But definitely around this time anyway, so we’re just planting the flag on the 12th of November.

A lot has happened in these four years. We didn’t initially have any clear vision of what the company would look like in four years. Since 2017, we have grown from a Helsinki-based company of four people to an international organisation of 50 people in three different offices in two countries.

The company has grown not only in size but also in how we define ourselves. We have a vision, a mission and a strategy, but more importantly, we have a culture and a purpose.

Early on, we defined ourselves as the Best DevOps Company. Now we’re well on our way to defining what that actually means. Technical hands-on consulting is still a significant and essential part of our business, but we’ve succeeded in expanding beyond it while maintaining our focus.

There are 106 miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark out, and we're wearing sunglasses. Hit it!

We’ll get back to the topic of focus later on, but first, let’s go through some of the highlights of the past four years.

Our Helsinki HQ is awesome

Starting in an 86m2 space, it soon became apparent that it wouldn’t last for long. In the autumn of 2018, we found the place we currently inhabit. It needed a complete renovation, so we got the chance to design the space to fulfil our needs. And we still like it.

We have an actual working company in Germany

Polar Squad GmbH was officially launched in December 2019. Going international, like many of our other considerable advancements, was a bit of a lucky coincidence. As we hadn’t planned the whole thing ahead of time, the first year or so had quite many live-and-learn experiences. There’s still a lot to do, but we’re certainly on a fantastic track. 

We have had a great time building the company

When reflecting on our journey, the topmost feeling can be summarised by “Wait, we did what now?” Somehow we seem to have managed to attract just the right people to join our journey. Every company has its ups and downs, and we are no exception. So far, we’ve been able to deal with each challenge and celebrate our victories. The overall experience of being part of this story has been a superb, if also a humbling experience.

Most importantly: we have brilliant colleagues that are tons of fun to spend time with

We’re all about the right balance between work and play. Of course, most of the time, it’s the usual nine-to-five stuff. But that needn’t be dull. We have a group of top-tier professionals who can always rely on each other for any kind of support. We have friends to chill out with after work hours. We have hobby clubs to enjoy non-work-related things. We have parties to party together. We’ve even had two company-wide trips to different countries. We really look forward to much more of all those things!

The future, according to us

But what’s next? We have done quite alright, and a big part of the success has been keeping our focus. We have had many chances to grow in different directions, but having set the boundaries from the get-go, we’ve been able to stick to doing DevOps.

As a result of knowingly limiting our core focus, in May 2021, we decided to found Hidden Trail; a company focused on quality assurance. Holistic quality assurance is in demand and has massive potential in the market. Founding an independent company was clearly the right decision for us: it allowed us to maintain our focus on what we are best at – DevOps.

The decision to keep a close focus has proven to be the right call. In today’s tech world, the process of software development is becoming more and more nuanced and experts need to specialize to an ever more fine-grained extent. This means that communication across development disciplines is a growing challenge.

A connecting force is needed to keep teamwork going, prevent silo structures and gain oversight of as well as enhance the entire tech development process. This is ultimately what DevOps is about.

The term DevOps has been fashionable lately, but the concepts behind it are timeless. Improving both technical and cultural aspects of a software development organization to become resilient in an environment of increasing velocity and complexity is now more relevant than ever.

So, we might be growing as a company and as an ecosystem, but the tenets of DevOps will continue to be at the heart of what we do. It’s the main thing that enables us to have the best experts for our clients, and the best colleagues for our employees, after all. That’s what makes us Polar Squad – The Best DevOps Company*.

*) According to us.