I accidentally created my career in Odoo and have never regretted it, even after 15 years. It has been a super exciting journey, from being an intern to becoming the Co-founder of an Odoo Consulting company.
On September 1, 2009, Odoo (then known as Tiny ERP) hired me as a trainee. At that time, the world was passing through the Great Recession, and even though I was a top performer in my master's degree, I hadn't been able to join any big multinational companies.
I desperately needed a job and appeared for an interview at Odoo. I remember very well that day when Mantavya Gajjar (Odoo India Director) took my interview, and after a few days, Dr.Pragya Joshi (HR Head) called to congratulate me on a phonecall on my selection.
It was a small team—I don't remember the exact number, but there were around 40 people (currently, Odoo India has over 700 employees). I had no idea that I was working with many future Odoo influencers and founders of Odoo consulting companies, including some big names like Amit Mendapara, Husen Daudi 🏆, Jay Vora, Dhara Shah, Navrang Oza, Dharmesh Rathod, Dharmesh PATEL (Odoo Certified Consultant), Mustufa Rangwala (Odoo ERP), Parthiv Patel Vinay Rana , Anup Chavda, Yogesh Sakhreliya etc
At that time, I had no idea how fortunate I was be learning about Odoo and work on it to create my solid functional and technical foundation for odoo framework and functionalities. Odoo has evolved significantly over the past 15 years, but those early days ignited a passion in me to learn and follow the evolution of Odoo as a product.
During that time, I spent hours learning about business processes, understanding how manufacturing units operate, what trading companies need in an ERP system, and what CRM is etc — all as part of my side reading. These readings were driven purely by curiosity and had an interesting connection to Odoo’s features.
As part of a small and agile work culture, I was given many opportunities to lead teams in documenting Odoo’s functionalities, writing Odoo upgrade scripts, and delivering functional and technical training to domestic and international clients. I always said 'yes' to new opportunities to contribute to the growth of Odoo, even when I thought I wasn't fully prepared—though I spent days and nights preparing to deliver excellent services and earn great client reviews.
I enjoyed working at Odoo and spent more than four years there. I am grateful for all the people I spent time with during that period.