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Join us as we celebrate 30 years in business
2022 marks the 30th anniversary of Wise Owl Training. Much has happened since we started work in a basement in South Manchester!

Posted by Andy Brown on 15 November 2023

In 2022 we celebrated 30 years in business

2022 was a big year for us here at Wise Owl Training, as it marked 30 years since we started computer training!

Early sponsorship from Jenny and Andy, the original owls. Jenny drew the owl in Freelance (which no one else will remember!), and it shows.

It all began in 1992 (this was also a big year for Microsoft, as Windows 3.1 was released in March of that year).

Microsoft sold more than 3 million copies of Windows 3.1 in the first 2 months it was available (we sold slightly fewer spaces on our courses that first year ...).

In the beginning we were working from a cold and dark basement in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, and travelling to training in our trusty Ford Escort van.

One of several in a series!

These days things look quite different, both for Wise Owl and the rest of the world, but keeping going for 30 years was reason enough to celebrate, we felt:

The cake for our official anniversary celebration on Monday 16th May 2022.

Here are some things we thought we'd share:

Area	Notes
Different areas of work	When we began, we didn't realise that we'd be publishing videos, blogs, exercises and skills tests (perhaps the key to keeping going as a business is always to be trying new things?).
5 messages for others	We've taken our 5 worst moments of the last 30 years (you can probably guess what number one is) and used them to give 5 bits of advice to any would-be entrepreneurs.
(Software) memory lane	A nostalgic look at software packages we have trained in over the last 30 years.
A geographical history	Wise Owl has had 8 nests in the last 30 years - we hope our current one is our final resting place, but you never know!
Changing clients	A look back at how the nature of our clients has changed (since we started keeping proper records, anyway).
A history in websites	The story of Wise Owl (at least since our first website) as told through a sequence of embarrassing screen-shots of old websites.