How do we work at OpenClassrooms? (chapter 3: Our Story)

OpenClassrooms has a long, interesting story. It all started in 1999! If you haven't seen it yet, we made a documentary out of it for its 20th anniversary:

As in every company, we have had different historical phases since its creation. Here they are (excerpt from our course "How do we work at OpenClassrooms": https://bit.ly/3ddfc9X) 👇

1999-2003: The Early Days

Back in 1999, my co-founder, Mathieu Nebra, was still a young boy. At 13-years-old, he wanted to learn how to build a website. He searched his local bookstores for a beginner’s guide to web development. He couldn't find one that would teach him how to code from scratch. Every book he found was designed for experienced IT professionals. Despite not finding what he was looking for, he settled for the one his parents gave him for Christmas that year. He started learning with this book, but he was still not satisfied because it seemed too complicated. Mathieu decided to rewrite the book the way he would have liked to read it.

Instead of publishing a book, he turned it into a blog and website. He launched the site in 1999 and called it "Le Site du Zéro".

2003-2007: Everyone Is Invited to the Party

When i met Mathieu in 2002, we didn't know that we would ultimately launch a company together. I was one of the first visitors to the website, and I wanted to lend a hand with the code. We started working together and a few others to rebuild "Le Site du Zéro", allowing anyone to create an account, ask questions on forums, and even create their own courses.

Mathieu and myself were finishing our studies in IT, and the website started to take a lot of their time. Ultimately, we decided it would be great to create a company together.

We created the company in 2007.

2007-2013: Starting a Company

With the newly created company, we started to work more closely together. We found a small office in the Paris suburbs, and then we hired our first staff.

At the time, we sold advertisements on the website and books from the most successful online courses. It went so well that we ultimately sold over 150,000 books and managed to raise 2 million euros from a famous Paris-based VC, Alven Capital, to help expand their projects.

2013-Present: Becoming OpenClassrooms

In 2013, we officially transformed the project into OpenClassrooms and we developed paths. In these programs, students can earn French state-endorsed, associates, bachelor's, and masters-level diplomas. Our paths cover many careers and are offered mainly in French and English (but we also have Spanish courses). Careers include web development, UX design, HR, marketing, data analysis, AI, and much more. Since our humble beginnings, the company has grown to more 300 employees.

✏ Would you like to continue writing this story with us? Discover our open positions, here: https://jobs.openclassrooms.com/

See you soon,

Pierre