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Meduza’s Chief Technical Officer. His full name remains undisclosed for security reasons

Meduza was, in principle, conceived as a high-tech bulletproof media organization. Bulletproof from state or any other influence. From the very beginning [in 2014], we decided that we would be prepared to bypass Internet blockers, and we assumed that they would get stronger over time. And we set up overseas from the start, so that there would be no physical pressure from the state.

The start of the war was a shock. By that point, we’d established processes in the department, everything was working well and stably. I’d even started to put my phone on Do Not Disturb mode. This mode can be bypassed if someone calls three times in a row. At six in the morning I got an alert: they told me the war had started. More shock. I don’t even remember anything about it. Well, then you’re sitting at your laptop and the calls are coming in super quickly. We need some kind of plan, what we’re doing and in what order, what problems might arise — and fast.

At that point, we had no office, we had an apartment we could gather in. And we started flocking to this apartment. I remember that I ordered a ton of McDonalds. And we were sitting there and it was really scary, everyone was shaking. I also remember the shock when I went outside. I stepped out and there were people skateboarding, someone laughed, that is, people were continuing to live as they had. But for me, the world was turned on its head. It would never be the same. Yes, and since I turned off Do Not Disturb then, I haven’t turned it back on.

That was a marathon that lasted for almost with no break. We were solving extraordinarily complex problems that none of us had solved before — from evacuating colleagues to rebuilding our infrastructure for a new working mode. And a huge amount of security, security, security for our coworkers. It was just such a hard year. It’s a little easier now. Today I saw an ad for infrastructure services on sale for 30 percent off if you sign a three-year contract. I had the thought, "I have to get this". And then I had the thought, "It seems like there are some prospects".

This doesn’t mean everything is great now. Today I had a call that began with the words, "We have a perfect storm." This is the state we live in. First, some kind of panic sets in. You need to sit down and calm yourself. I do as we were taught in school. The data. The current conditions. What we need to solve. If the problems are complex and unsolvable, you need to break them into two — if necessary, 50; if necessary, into 1,000 easily solved problems — and then you solve them. This allows us to remember that even a hopeless situation has a way out. When you’ve lived through three or four such crises, in principle you’re as calm as if you were a forensic pathologist.

One of the more recent blows was the Russian authorities’ order to remove apps from the App Store in Russia. It started with the removal of VPNs. Then it spread to the apps of media organizations declared "undesirable", like Meduza. This is a direct threat to us. Unambiguously risky for us. So, this is a reason to conduct some risk-mitigation planning for what we’ll do.

Over there — on that side — many people work, and there’s a lot of money, but that’s their weakness. They have a lot of money, but they’re not creative, they shower everything with money, but they’re not motivated. Those people have tasks passed on to them by not very effective managers. They just perform their tasks, do their jobs. They’re not very creative. That is, for them it’s KPIs. But for us, it’s a quest, a question of survival. This is our advantage, our strong point. We’re always trying to think up something clever, something strange, creative, like a version of the site that you can print like a newspaper, and when it takes off, it’s just super.

I was a successful employee of a large pharmaceutical company. Why did I choose to work at Meduza? Social responsibility. The second reason is that it’s the opposite of a corporation. There, expensive consultants are trying to make a teal organization. Here, we’re already teal, but no one knows what that means. It’s possible that my previous work wasn’t just a random choice — it was a company that deals with serious illnesses. Everyone has different reasons, of course, but the majority of developers have empathy, a desire to not stand aside, to do what they can. The sense of injustice, and the desire to restore justice, also work as fuel… But the most important thing is still impact, getting a result. When you’ve done something with your own hands, and you see the consequences, the impact of those actions, it really nourishes you.

At some point, before the war, there were rosy dreams. Like, for example, I thought that I would move to Switzerland, breed geese, live on a farm. I’d be a happy person, like in the movies. Then those dreams were fully shattered. I was left with the sense that I had to just stay alive, just not go crazy. At some point when I was a kid, I realized that people retire when they get old, they receive a pension, and don’t have to do anything. I thought, "I’ll play video games! I’ll spend my old age playing video games and beating them all". All the games that came out while I was studying and working. That was my childhood dream.