Return to Switzerland

In the previous episode, I told you about my first years in Vietnam and how the new control panel came to life. This is the story of how that chapter came to an end.

The panel takes off

The Angular prototype taught us a lot. We cleaned up, started over where we had to, and built version 2 of the control panel: a Django REST API, with an Angular front end that runs in every browser. It went live at panel.djangoeurope.com, and it’s the panel our customers still use today.

For the first time, adding a new service didn’t mean fighting with old templates. Websites, domains, databases, mailboxes, SSL certificates and backups all found their place in it, and our customers could do more on their own than ever before.

djangoviet.com

My team in Ho Chi Minh City had grown with the work. In March 2024, we gave it a name and a face of its own: djangoviet.com, a Django and front-end development studio. We built websites and applications for customers, and we were proud of what we did.

Time to go home

But in the end, DjangoViet was not going to be the future. Building a studio needs more than good developers. It needs a steady flow of projects, and someone who sells them every day. My heart was with djangoeurope, and I couldn’t do both well.

In July 2025, we discontinued the djangoviet.com project. Not long after, I returned to Switzerland, this time with my family.

Looking back, I’m grateful for every year in Vietnam. I left as a hosting provider with a budget problem, and I came back with a modern control panel, a lot of experience in leading a team, and a wife and family I wouldn’t trade for anything.

What I did next surprised even me. More about it in the next episode.