Farewell Friends

Community
1

Dear Open edX Community,

With a heavy heart, I bid farewell. This week is my last with Open edX.

I am impressed by how far our community has come and thrilled to see our continued growth.

  • The growth in energy and activation of our community, especially since the 2020 launch of our tri-fold Open edX flywheel strategy of Core Contributors, Blended Development, and Preferred Providers, is inspiring.

  • We committed to investing in our platform architecture, with extension frameworks (link, link), eventing design patterns (OEP-41, OEP-50, OEP-52), and standards integrations (xAPI/Caliper - OEP-26, LTI, Common Cartridge). These fundamental advancements are directionally aligned with our architecture principles and building blocks of our architecture strategy (aka BEES).

  • We revived and initiated multiple vibrant working groups who are making strategic impacts on our brand, our platform capabilities, our developer experience, and our ecosystem.

  • The latest news of the 2U acquisition and the birth of a new non-profit to secure our future is a fantastic milestone and a testament to our collective efforts. This new phase will bring forth even further investments and strong collective leadership.

I am truly grateful to have been on this journey with you.

It has been a pleasure to be a part of this warm, welcoming, and supportive Open edX community. I have learned much from you about leadership, technical strategy, collaborative development, and open source. I have had the opportunity to meet with wonderful people who drive with a purpose to better this world and who value the journey as much as the destination.

I am moving on and will miss you terribly.

After nearly 8 years, I am stepping away. I will be joining a consulting organization (ThoughtWorks) that leads organizations in their own digital transformations. With me, I will bring along a bit of each of you, who have helped me with my growth and my grit, as I guide other organizations in our global community.

Time together tomorrow and staying connected

If you have time, join me tomorrow for an hour of final words and Q&A. I will share my thoughts on the Education part of EdTech, the Technology part of EdTech, and the People part of EdTech.

Thank you, everyone. I will continue to root for the success of our platform and our community. Looking forward to staying connected.

With a heavy heart, I bid farewell.
This week is my last with Open edX.
Proud of what we have achieved thus far,
Excited for future successes and more.

I thank you all for what you have given me.
A purpose no smaller
Than changing lives of learners,
Opportunities to build for scale and foster our community.
And through it all, lasting friendships to keep with me.

How lucky I am to have something so precious,
That makes saying goodbye so bitingly onerous.
The leaves will soon fall at no perfect hour,
Too, my humming bees flit from your flower.

Friends, ere we part, wish me good luck.
As I embark on a path
I have not tread in the past.
To ThoughtWorks I go, to what exactly I don’t know,
Missing you terribly, that I do know.

So let’s stay connected and keep in touch.
From your far end of the globe to mine,
Buzz me, greet me, meet me,
By email, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn.

Nimisha
www.linkedin.com/in/nasthagiri/

23 Likes
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Nimisha thank you for everything and wish you good luck in your new exciting journey!!!

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It’s really been a pleasure working with you Nimisha, and an inspiration. Thoughtworks, and its clients, will be lucky indeed.

4

Thank you for all you’ve done. Your posts have helped a lot to understand the way Open edX works.

Best of luck for your adventures ahead !

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@nimisha It’s been great to work with you! I wish you the best in your next move! We’ll miss you, your posts and initiatives.

6

Thank you for everything you did. I wish you good luck on your new journey.

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@nimisha You are my hero. I admire the work you’ve done to clarify the vision and purpose of the platform. You are brilliant, a shining star. I appreciate your consistent kindness and openness, and how welcoming you always are to new people, different ideas, and new challenges.

Wishing you all the best for your next venture! Please, do stay in touch.

8

We will miss you!
Wish you all the best…

9

It was a great pleasure to work with you Nimisha, online and in person. I’ve always been impressed by how talented, kind, open, and generous you are. Your contribution to this great community has been gigantic, and you will be missed. I wish you the best of luck in this new venture, and sincerely I hope we cross paths again!

1 Like
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What time is your Arch Hour AMA?

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It’s at 11 Eastern, today! Zoom link: Launch Meeting - Zoom

12

Oh man! I’m so sad I missed this!

Best of luck with your new adventure! It’s been an absolute pleasure whenever our paths have crossed. Truly the end of an era.

13

The Open edX community owes you a lot, and I am very grateful for all the work you did here. Merci beaucoup !

14

Thanks for everything @nimisha. You have been for me a very important mentor and I learned a lot from you and all the work you did on this community.

All the best in your new work!

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Thank you everyone.

I uploaded the video and slides from today’s farewell talk on Education, Technology, and People at Arch Hour with Nimisha, Adieu & AMA - 2021-09-22.

As I say at the beginning of my talk, I share these thoughts with the intent of leaving edX and the community with a few reflection points to boost our success and impact on society.

If any of you would like to enroll in the “Secret Sponsor” program, send me a direct message in slack by 2pm ET tomorrow (Thursday).

1 Like
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Dear @nimisha I hope I won’t lose sight of you, though, because I think a community will always need people like you. For me, you are a person who has had an influence on me and especially on the community, and who has always been able to open up new paths. I am happy to have met you. I wish you all the best for your new choice and for your future. Stay with us. A big hug

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Thanks for all the amazing work you’ve done @nimisha I’ve learned a lot from your work, and hope I can continue doing so as you move on to your next venture!

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Sad to see you go, @nimisha! I always appreciated your work at edX - your devotion to improving the platform, and your efforts making things better for both designers and learners. Good luck at ThoughtWorks!

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You will be missed Nimisha. You’ve been a wonderful project leader and a class act all the way.

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Nimisha, although we’ve met once, but I was so much inspired after talking to you. I hope we will meet again sometime. Good luck to you!