2020–2022 — Tested in Ukraine

As a result of the 2017–2020 developments, the minimally-viable platform was rebuilt and a method was available to match. The project now needed real ground to test on.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic changed the landscape. Sporadic advertising in Ukraine produced unexpectedly strong recruitment results. The onboarding materials were translated from English to Russian — widely spoken in the region at the time — with Marina, in Ukraine, instrumental in the switch. The approach was put to work.

Recruiting participants, running the pipeline, and learning what held up outside a controlled setting sharpened both the method and the technology. GitLab was installed, and a prototype for what is now Opplet Kitchen became operational.

Among the most active participants were Karolina, Alexander, and Margarita. Alexander helped to shape onboarding. Margarita produced learning graphics.

However, the single most significant contributor was Karolina. Most notably, she led the expansion of the standalone Proxmox server into a server network featuring a high-availability cluster. That network ultimately became Opplet Basement. Karolina was instrumental in soliciting vendor proposals and selecting its contractor.

In early 2022, Russia envaded Ukraine; this was a turning point for the endeavor. Before the war, around 2,000 people started onboarding and 200 completed the formal learning. On the day of the envasion, the project had 10 active participants. All of them gradually stepped away in the upheaval. The recruitment was stalling.

Sonya and Vitaly were few exceptions. They joined the development because of the war; the envasion displaced both of them. So, the Opplet development filled some void until they found jobs according their specialties.

The war made many desperate; they needed a steady income, not temporary testing gigs. In Ukraine, the recruitment campaign targeted people actively searching for jobs; it worked before the war, while the market was balanced.

The war also boosted another trend. The Opplet development was never regular employment. Some participants complained that they didn’t understand the nature of the project long before the war. Scammers often emerge during periods of rapid changes. Project’s irregularity prompted more and more people to suspect the whole thing was a scam.

To counter that, Sonya experimented with broadcasting and, generally, better visibility. At that time, “Tech Guided Tour” series emerged: Natalia with her root access demonstrated Sonya actual technologies deep inside.

Later, Vitaly, who was a school teacher before the war, suggested refocusing on school-age students — the seed of what became iDosvid (‘And experience’). In Northern Virginia, that demographic had produced promising results for early skills testing.

Another idea was confirmed: the platform should not be a finished, closed product — left deliberately unfinished, it can host participants’ own early experiments.

The Russian invasion eventually ended that effort at that time. Infrastructure was destroyed, participants’ focus shifted, promoting the opportunity in Russian became untenable, and the major job sites cut off access. It was a hard stop — but by then, the approach itself had been proven. What remained was to find new ground, moving the project to the 2022–2025 Kenya stage.