Five years After the World Ended
March 10th, 2020. The world didn’t end in fire or ice. It ended in silence.
The shutdowns happened fast. One minute, the three of us—Mason, Jordan, and I—were planning to meet in Indianapolis for the Big Ten Tournament as TerpTalk was covering the tournament. The next moment, the entire event was canceled. Everything was canceled. Flights grounded. Offices emptied. The world froze.
For those of us in tech, though, the work never stopped. We were essential. Our core team continued coming into the office, even as the rest of the country locked down. It didn’t feel like COVID times for us the way it did for most. Instead, at our Rockville headquarters, we navigated a seven-story office building that was nearly abandoned, passing dark, empty conference rooms and deserted hallways that had once buzzed with life. The roads outside were just as lifeless—no traffic, no honking, just eerie stillness.
The strangest part were the Beltways. For both Washington, D.C.’s and Baltimore’s notorious traffic nightmares had become ghost highways. With no congestion to slow them down, drivers tested the limits of speed and fear. Reports surfaced of people caught doing 100, even 120 miles per hour. It was the kind of world you read about in dystopian novels—an empty landscape where the few who remained moved fast, as if outrunning something unseen.
Five years later, we mark the anniversary of those surreal days. We all lived through what we hope will be a once-in-a-lifetime event, and it changed everything. People reevaluated their lives, their priorities, and how they worked. The “Work from Home” movement wasn’t just about convenience—it was a revolution in thinking. Now everyone is expected to WFH at all hours of the day and night.
For Technology providers, it wasn’t just about working from home. It was about proving the Work from Anywhere (WFA) model. If the world shut down tomorrow, business wouldn’t stop. The infrastructure is there, the expectations are set. WFA technology is no longer an option—it’s the standard. Even if everyone returns to the office, the world of work has evolved permanently.
We adapted. The world didn’t return to what it was. And neither did we.
