Codempire

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the directors of a technology product company that provides services to the telecommunications industry. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Codempire?

We were contemplating a new software development process for the Indian market. We wanted to create a social media software system and needed a partner to help us develop the product. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were open to either using Python or Java environments for app development but chose Java because it would be more interesting. We thought using React Native applications and associated products would be better. Then, Codempire began to develop the cross-platform app, implementing our designs. 

What is the team composition?

I work with the project manager and developers. 

How did you come to work with Codempire?

While looking for a technology partner to help us with the development, we got some recommendations to look for technology experts in Eastern Europe. We were tentative but began looking for eastern Ukrainian companies with experience implementing and developing Java designs. 

After a lot of research and discussions with several companies, we found Codempire. Their team was more experienced, professional, and collaborative than others. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested $50,000–$100,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in August 2021. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

The project is still ongoing, so there aren't any specific metrics to share. The quality of their deliverables is excellent — they've put in a lot of hard work to deliver great service despite the complexity of the project. 

How did Codempire perform from a project management standpoint?

Codempire's developers reach out whenever they have questions — this is a highly collaborative partnership. Their communication and collaboration are a five out of five. Typically, we communicate through Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. 

Their scheduling is good, but there are times when they can't keep up with our timelines, but that is expected with projects like this. Delays are usually beyond their control. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They've done a good job so far. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there's nothing to improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I'd recommend Codempire, especially if customers have simpler projects than ours. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am founder and CEO of Digilooms. Heavily involved in the Product design, functionality, user experience and very close to the development team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Codempire, and what were your goals?

Our goals were to build an App for IOS and Android, plus a Web Back end that would allow users to create, curate and secure their precious digital assets / memories in a type of digital TimeCapsule that could be passed to other generations. www.digilooms.com

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We looked at a range of possible vendors from Ukraine, India and Serbia. We compared costs, experience, size and longevity of company. We took into account their flexibility and ability to guide us along a suitable and fair App Development path. In the end, we also had to act of trust and the personality of the team that we met.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Codempire led us through a simple but thorough process to spec our requirements and agree the architecture. They did this for free. This allowed to build a project with around eight milestones and associated payments. We did this a few times before we were agreed on the final project deliverables against cost. We also had to take some requirements on trust as we didnt have all the answers on day one.

We expected to pivot during the process and this is indeed what we did. Codempire accommodated our changes. On most occasions as not additional scope, but included in the project T&Cs Technologies and platforms React, React Native, React and Typescript for the Web, AWS, Github, Team and Slack

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

There were around 9 people involved at various times. Mostly on a part time basis. CTO, PM, QA, various developers and designers, and the CEO of Codempire often involved to make sure the project stayed on track. www.digilooms.com/about-4

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

It's been a tough last few months with the ongoing situation in Ukraine, but the guys have managed through it and found a way to make it work. www.digilooms.com/ukraine

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We visited Ukraine before the Russian Invasion, and benefitted by getting to know the team over a few dinners and beers. They are young, but serious and professional. Dedicated to the client and good fun to work with.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They are very willing to listen and hear our concerns and ideas.. equally they are quick to suggest other better ways to achieve the project goals.. they changed our minds a few times.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Perhaps the documentation, but this is nitpicking. Their flexibility more than makes up for recording everything. And I don't think I'd have appreciated a more formal process. It was all about ideas, improvement and progress.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I run a small tech company that builds behavioral health software.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Codempire?

We wanted to build a new, more sophisticated version of a mobile application that we had previously built. We turned to Codempire to make the app accessible across multiple platforms.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We built the REST API for the app and Codempire was tasked with building the front-end. We started with a kickoff meeting where their project manager arranged and led the three-and-a-half-month process. 

The application was designed to gather information from users about their current mental well-being and, in doing so, suggest resources that they could access to help address any issues they might have. For example, if a user is feeling depressed, the system could recommend different resources and suggest support groups that could help them cope.

What is the team composition?

I primarily worked with the project manager, 1-2 software engineers, and a QA engineer. As the project matured, I mostly worked with one of the two engineers and the project manager. There were other people who did contribute, but for the most part, I did not interact with them. I set up the initial milestones and contract with the CEO.

How did you come to work with Codempire?

I went looking for a company that could help us develop the application. We interviewed multiple agencies by settled with Codempire because I felt most comfortable with them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2021. The project was completed in June 2021 but we’ve since expanded the application and have asked Codempire to polish the experience.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The new version of the app that Codempire built had many of the specifications that we asked for. We were quite happy with their work. We listed all the features and went through each of them, finding that a vast majority of them were completed successfully.

How did Codempire perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed great from a project management standpoint. The project manager spoke English well, which made communication very easy. We met once a week with the team and maintained constant communication through email and Slack. Also used Google Drive, Google Docs, and Jira.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most impressive thing about working with Codempire was that they did quality work. They were also very responsive and easy to work with. I really appreciated that the main folks I interacted with spoke English well, it made a big difference.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind. The pretty much exceeded my expectations.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of a market research technology company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Codempire?

I’ve had some bad experiences with development companies in the past year. We were looking for a better company to work with where it was founder led or founder driven. We needed to build out an engineering team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a product vision completely outlined. We had designers on board, and we already conducted user research done. Codempire was our partner for developing our product.

What is the team composition?

We work with a frontend engineer and a project manager. We like them so much that we’re moving our backend development to Codempire as well.

How did you come to work with Codempire?

They were recommended to us. We interviewed 2–3 candidates there and found an excellent engineer.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $20,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2021, and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

When we got Codempire to start working on our app, we did more in a month than we had done in 3–4 months with a different team. It was a pretty eye-opening experience for me.

How did Codempire perform from a project management standpoint?

The combination of their project manager and their lead frontend engineer was kind of a game changer. They established a good, tight process. They run everything in agile. It’s been a really good experience in that regard.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Everyone that I’ve met at Codempire actually cares. Many development firms are very contractual by nature. One of the things that attracted me to Codempire was that they only work on jobs that they believe in. It helped foster a sense of trust between our teams.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There are some people on staff that know English really well but there are a few people on staff that are still struggling.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They expect from you what you expect from them. You have to have a well-formed idea that is exciting. Going to them without a plan is a poor use of their skills.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work for Avid Adventures. We are a career consultation company based in Singapore helps students and working professionals navigate the changing world of jobs by conducting workshops and providing useful resources.

We have worked with partners to conduct workshops for schools, Fortune 500 companies and the government of Singapore. As Head of Product, I drive the vision and strategy of our products by managing and building out our website, digital tools, and online game.

We outsource all functions except for business development and project management, and I am in charge of hiring and managing freelancers and agencies for the design and development of our tools.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Codempire, and what were your goals?

We hired Codempire to build our comprehensive Web App - an educational Career Design Simulation Game and Admin panels. The game is a life simulation where players are free to make decisions in education, careers and more, with an Admin panel controlling game rounds with graphical analytics of player statistics.

Our goal was to find a long-term development partner who could help build our newly designed game and launch this attractive product to the market at a global scale.

We were able to achieve this with the excellent team at Codempire and the game has been played with hundreds of students and working professionals in many countries, including US, Singapore, Australia, China and Bangladesh.

SOLUTION

How did you select Codempire and what were the deciding factors?

Among the 63 teams and freelancers who applied for our project, Codempire stood out head and shoulders above the rest with their smart team, excellent communication, problem solving, critical thinking, project management and technical skills. We posted our project on a freelance platform to search for the right team, and many teams and freelancers applied for the project.

After analysing their reviews and conducting initial interviews, we shortlisted 10 agencies. During the second stage of the selection process, we gave each of them a test task which described our game with UI mockups and asked candidates the following questions -

• Task 1: Provide a summary of your development process for our project.
• Task 2: Write a simple API specification for an acquiring education which will be used with a Node.js back-end. Provide a simple API flowchart.

Through these tasks, we wanted to determine the quality, proactive and critical thinking, communication and problem-solving skills as well as technical ability to analyze general requests in order to write code according to user requirements.

The team at Codempire impressed us with their test task with their thoughtful answers and deep analysis of the task and project. They provided an excellent breakdown of the expected process for the project, including the technical stack, asked good questions, and explained their flow in a diagram clearly.

Their combination of excellent technical expertise, critical thinking and ability to communicate was what led us to choose them in the end. Through the final interview, it was very clear to us that Codempire was the right choice for our technical partner.

Within a short few days, they had deeply analyzed our requirements, provided us with their detailed estimation and demonstrated a clear understanding of our project.

We also knew our project was in good hands because their well-organized and brilliant team uses the latest tech stacks, who follow a strict review, sign off, deployment and development process.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Codempire grasped the full project and features quickly, analyzed our UI mockups in detail and proposed to complete the project in 6 milestones according to features (Education, Work, Shop, Admin panel etc).

The first version of our product was done within 3 months and completed within 6 months, with new features currently under development as we expand our product and market. The game is designed to mimic the real world for students and professionals to learn career design principles in the ever-changing job market.

There are complex rules and real-time mechanisms incorporated within the product (game and admin panel) in order to run this game as a fully virtual experience in online workshops.

The front-end of the webapp was built using React.js and we went with Google Firebase for the backend in order to launch our product as soon as possible and be able to scale to accommodate more users.

The game is well architectured - utilising react framework for better DOM handling and project scalability, redux for centralising data consumption and firebase for reliable high volume data usage.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with Alex (CEO) and Dima (CTO) to scope out and plan the project. When development began, Dima managed the project, stand-up calls and supervised the code quality, development and deployment with 2 developers - Denis being the main developer and Jacob who helped out with some features.

Currently, in the second version of the product, Dima is our main contact point for new features. We have also been assigned a new developer, Roman, who now works full-time on our project. Guided by Dima, there was a successful transition and handover from Denis to Roman, and we are very satisfied with the quality of their development team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Since the game launched in October 2020, we have successfully attracted many new potential customers globally, from interested schools and organisations in Singapore, US, Australia, India, China etc.

Due to the excellent execution of the game, we have been able to win deals with schools and other partners around the globe. The game has performed well and has been built to be flexible and scalable.

It has been played successfully with the admin panels with no critical issues. Avid Adventures has been able to run numerous workshops since product launch. The game is being played by around 300 concurrent players per session.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

We use Slack for day-to-day communication, Trello to manage tasks, Zoom for project meetings, and Google Drive for working on shared documents. The Codempire team has excellent communication skills - they are very clear in their responses, reply quickly with a quick turnaround of deliverables, are well-organized and professional.

They are able to pick things up very quickly, and are always eager to work on new requests. At the start of the project, we had regular weekly stand-ups with the team. As the project progressed and we saw the steady pace and quality of the team, we had meetings after each milestone for feature demos.

Since Nov 2020, we have changed our engagement with Codempire from project basis to hiring a full-time developer, Roman, as we have a full backlog of new features. We have a weekly stand-up call to set tasks and expectations for the week, track the tasks/tickets via Trello board on a daily basis, and Roman updates his daily progress on Slack.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

With new features being requested by our customers on a regular basis, we are extremely happy to have the Codempire team as our long-term technology partner at a reasonable cost to us. Alex and Dima have an excellent team and we trust their recommendations, expertise and quality.

Given that we don't have any technical expertise, communication and critical thinking were the main criteria when we selected our technology partner. We needed a team who could propose new ideas, solutions, question our assumptions and direction, as well as execute with quality in order to build a quality product which can scale.

Whenever we provided feedback to Dima, either on the product development or our issues with the team/performance, he always takes it constructively and finds helpful solutions to the problems we have raised.

Codempire ticks all our boxes and so much more and I cannot recommend them highly enough. We look forward to a bright future with them to improve and expand our product offering.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We had minor issues during the transition of full-time devs (from Denis to Roman), and felt that performance had been affected during the handover. Dima took our feedback seriously and stepped in to facilitate and ensure a smooth and full transition.

We are now very happy with Roman's performance under Dima's supervision and guidance.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We work with facility and cleaning services and are located in multiple locations around Sweden. We are two sister companies with over 30 employees. I am the founder and CEO of the two companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Codempire?

With increasing digitalisation in Sweden, the competition demanded that we digitalise and automatise as much of our booking process as possible. We were calculating price for each customer separately and leaving offers and quotes through email. We needed to find a more efficient, automatised and faster way for our customer to get a quote.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed a responsive landing page, about us, and booking system on the website that made it possible for our customer to calculate based on different criteria, their own price and send the booking confirmation after chosing date that suits them and us.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found this vendor through a platform online that helped give us options of developers. Codempire proved to be the best choice we could have made.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They helped us gain more insight into how the flows look like, they developed and coded the full website and booking system very nicely. Every small detail that the design included were made beautifully by Codempire. They helped us create the landing page, the about us page, booking system fully functional and beautiful.

What was the team composition?

The project had designer, full-stack developer, project leader who managed everything from their side.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The impact that this project has on our business is very strong, digitalising and automatising tasks that were previously very expensive in handling and time-consuming. It also creates a stronger brand identity for the company, resulting in increased revenue.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project leader from Codempire was available very often and it was never a problem to get in touch and check in on how the project was being carried out. The deadlines were met, responsiveness from the team of Codempire was very good. Slack was used to communicate, and GitHub was used to push all the updates. English was used for communicating and they are fluent in this.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We were impressed by their skills and knowledge of both front and backend development. We were very surprised at times, when small details were created which we didnt think was possible to make.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing they should improve. Everything was amazing.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a digital marketing company empowering companies that do not have any online presence through ecommerce solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Codempire?

Our customer's in the laundry industry needed access to an online platform to sell their services. We contacted Codempire, and after a successful interview we decided to move forward with them. They have become our partners in many other projects.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to have a fast responsive app in IPhone and Android, with a great shopping cart experience and an online payment system.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I contacted many development teams and based our decision on their previous projects. My interactions with Alex were great, and I could tell I was in good hands. They did a quick demo for me in a couple of days (something simple), but they really demonstrated their skills.

Describe the project in detail.

We had some work left over from a previous developer who left us without any explanation. Codempire reused the design and improved it by tenfold. After this we sat down and started planning by breaking down the tasks into use cases and set realistic timelines. Codempeire did not disappoint and met all of my timelines.

What was the team composition?

We were assigned a developer, and Alex was a project manager was always with us making sure we knew what was going on.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Through the design and functionality of this app, we have been able to secure many more customers in many different market sectors.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Extremely effective. They were always available to discuss, and we could keep track of each other activities on Trello.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I really enjoyed the way that they care about my success as if it was their own. They stood beside me as a partner, and I always refer to them now as part of my team.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I was satisfied with their work, throughout all stages of this project. I thought there would be a language barrier, but there was absolutely none. After a quick call, we were all always aligned and pushed forward together.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a COO at Suzie ltd, a tech travel startup that aims to connect solo travelers and create business networking funnel across the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Codempire?

React-native mobile app development, however, Codempire did a great job by also helping us to understand the project architecture and even manage a team that works on web development which is really amazing.

What were your goals for this project?

We were looking for a truly quality product with a sleek and well-thought design yet scalable.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were looking for a team to work on this for about 2 weeks. We received around 20 proposals and most of them where simply not there, Codempire really stud out of all of them because from the first interaction it felt that these guys are proactive which was exactly what we were looking + had a great portfolio and an in-house team.

Describe the project in detail.

We certainly had a series of calls, projections, negotiations and etc, and again the whole team was impressed by how Codempire handled this.

What was the team composition?

We were aware that Codempire has the capacity to assign more team members in case we would have a short deadline, which we didn't so it all went smoothly. I think both teams appreciate such an approach with no rush nor stupid deadliness only pure quality work and seamless communication.

 I was also surprised in the first (or second not sure) meeting to be on the same call with their CTO going through our plans - we didn't even signed the contract yet!

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Within 4 months, the app is nearly there and will be launched soon. I'm sure Codempire could have done this faster, however as I mentioned we didin't had a strict launch deadline + we were waiting for 3d party partners integration. So far from test groups, we get really great feedback which often leads to certain design improvements and I'm sure we will launch a truly quality product.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Seamless. Codempire suggested required PM tools that we use and communication could not be easier.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Having a 30min response to any of my messages from the company CEO. Hard to achieve and really impressive. CTO providing comments to our junior web dev team. I could not ask more from Codempire to be honest.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I can hardly find anything.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We're a leading developer of custom plug-ins for Adobe products since 2002.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Codempire?

A development project that leveraged React to create a custom solution for a large corporate client that integrated internal databases with Adobe's products.

What were your goals for this project?

To quickly develop a working and fully functional project on a very tight timeframe.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I did research using a Ukranian consultant living in America to help isolate a fresh and outstanding engineering resource.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project involved a custom REST API to a backend database on the one hand and the Adobe product's DOM on the other side. The React application not only handled the user interface but also provided a bridge between those two elements. The engineer had to have a sophisticated understanding of React but also had to be able to learn a great deal on both the Adobe and the database end of things.

What was the team composition?

1 dedicated fulll time engineer actively supervised and supported by CodeEmpire's CEO and CTO.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The CodeEmpire team was reliably able to respond to shifting needs and could come together to answer difficult to resolve technical questions that in turn made my company shine. Having both the collective expertise and the personal commitment made a big difference to both the success of the project and the success of my company with my client.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

I handled most of the project management, which is my preference, but CodeEmpire's CEO and CTO were actively involved in technical reviews and in keeping their engineers on track and successful.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their commitment and personal attention stand out. The dedicated resource I had was outstanding Tthe personal attention I got from company management was impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not really

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Co-founder of digital health comany

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Codempire, and what were your goals?

We needed a MVP version of an app developed x-platform. The goal was to get it developed on the basis of pre-defined product specification and within pre-defined brand guidance within 3-4 months at a low price.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Using Upwork. Selection based on capabilities, price and personal chemistry with the owner.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Team was provided with brand guide, content, wireframing and a Figma prototype. Key milestones were:

1. Setting up accounts for databases and various others accounts like Apple and Google developer,
2. Build database structure,
3. Upload content,
4. Wireframing and design adjustments

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

One project manager and 4 coders.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Not launched yet.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Good timeliness. Project management using Excel. Weekly 30-minutes progress meeting using Google meet.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We're impressed with their ability to deliver within the deadlines and budget.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

A few design flaws in final designs that could have been captured. More advise on UX and good UI. The coming team needed some direction and guidance.