QuarkWorks

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of engineering for Handshake, a platform that helps students get internships or their first job after graduation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with QuarkWorks?

We developed an iOS mobile application approximately two years ago to target our student audience. Last year, our team hired QuarkWorks to build the Android version from scratch. The intended launch date was August 2018.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

QuarkWorks provided end-to-end development because we didn’t have in-house Android expertise. They built out the architecture, wrote coding, and deployed the solution in the Google Play Store. Our team followed their recommendations for UX/UI because the navigation is slightly different on iOS and Android. We used Kotlin instead of Java based on their advice.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 2–3 developers.

How did you come to work with QuarkWorks?

A colleague had a positive experience with them in the past.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2018 and the partnership ended in March 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were happy with QuarkWorks’ development velocity and the results. They hit every deadline, even having time to add more features than initially planned. The Android version currently has a 4.5 rating based on 350 reviews. However, some students have left negative reviews because they couldn’t secure jobs—which isn’t the app’s fault.

How did QuarkWorks perform from a project management standpoint?

We required light project management because one of our internal resources led development. But even without a designated project manager, the team kept us up to date daily. We used Slack and Clubhouse.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their top-notch developers were easy to work with. Likewise, the quality of work surpassed what we had seen from other vendors.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, QuarkWorks absolutely delivered for us. This is one of the best vendor experiences I’ve ever had.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clients should define the scope clearly because explicit instructions will enable the team to work independently with minimal project management in place.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a former VP of operations at an apparel company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with QuarkWorks?

We were looking for a vendor to help us create a Shopify website that had a custom UX/UI design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a unique business model, and we provided QuarkWorks with a list of features we wanted to build. They developed a custom software for us that enables a key strategic piece of our business. In addition to that, they built a Shopify website and integrated APIs. They mostly used React, .NET framework, PHP, and Python for development, and they managed some UX design as well. We usually gave them specific requirements, and they built the things that we needed, so they were like an extension of our internal team.

What is the team composition?

We mostly worked with Bryan (CEO, QuarkWorks) and a team of 5–6 people.

How did you come to work with QuarkWorks?

Their customer service was excellent, and they cared about the results. Also, they seemed to be very nice people, and I knew Bryan personally, so I was confident they'd do a great job.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in December 2017, and it was completed in January 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They delivered an exceptional product quickly, and we haven't had any issues with it. They became part of our team and worked remotely very effectively.

How did QuarkWorks perform from a project management standpoint?

They communicated very clearly and met all their deadlines. We had weekly stand-ups, and we used Slack to communicate. Also, they're very detail-oriented and have strong technical expertise.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were impressed with their work integrity and skill level.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don't hesitate to contact them. Everyone from our internal team was impressed with the quality of their work.  

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I managed the product development for notifications company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with QuarkWorks?

We engaged QuarkWorks to build our mobile app for Android, involving a notification-driven platform that sends out highly-targeted, localized notifications. (It had already been built on iOS.)

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

QuarkWorks built our mobile app for Android in collaboration with our developers to reach feature parity with our iOS version. In addition to notifications, the app includes live video-streaming capabilities. They also provided product advice throughout the engagement, bringing in some of their unique best practices for working within the Android ecosystem.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Bryan (CEO, QuarkWorks), Brett (CTO, QuarkWorks), and another developer. They were very helpful, integrating with our team seamlessly and providing valuable input along the way.

How did you come to work with QuarkWorks?

We learned about them through a mutual connection of ours and were impressed by their previous work. They'd worked on other high-profile apps that had similar technology needs to ours, so it seemed like a good fit.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested in the range of $10,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them last spring [2017] and finished the work within three to four months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

QuarkWorks helped us launch a high-quality version of the app quickly. They paid a great deal of attention to our specifications, and addressed any minor bugs as soon as they came up.

How did QuarkWorks perform from a project management standpoint?

Their developers integrated well with our team, and were very detail-oriented throughout the engagement. We really appreciated the feedback and suggestions they provided. Most of the collaboration took place through daily standup meetings and over Slack and Trello.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They genuinely wanted to partner with us and believed in our company. It was one of the rare contracts we've had that actually felt like the vendor was a true partner.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

From my experience, I'd definitely recommend working with them. They're great about integrating into an already established team and helping you drive the velocity of your products. Their staff has a wide skillset and can help you speed up the delivery of your products without sacrificing quality.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of Hello.com. We’re a social networking startup specializing in mobile Android and iOS platforms. Our goal is to help people with common interests discover each other and start forming new friendships.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with QuarkWorks?

We needed skilled mobile app developers to assist our internal team during surge periods and feature releases.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Engineers from QuarkWorks have been heavily involved in various aspects of our iOS and Android app developments. We utilize task management tools to come up with a list of weekly priorities. The QuarkWorks engineers grab items from those lists and interact with our core development team to work through coding problems, architecture changes, or bugs fixes. 

Since joining our daily efforts, they’ve helped complete a wide variety of tasks. This includes a full UX redesign, iOS to Swift conversions, and Java to Kotlin conversions. They’ve done backend architecture changes from Core Data to Realm and then to Room. They also assist event generation by making sure both platforms are sending the same information simultaneously.

What is the team composition?

We work directly with Bryan (CEO & Co-founder, QuarkWorks) and Brett (CTO & Co-founder, QuarkWorks). They oversee a lot of the high-end structure and appoint other engineers to fill the role of technology lead when they aren’t available. There are usually 2–5 developers assigned to our projects at any given time.

How did you come to work with QuarkWorks?

Our CEO met Bryan at an event. They developed a rapport and that started a long-term relationship between our two companies.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent roughly over $1 million throughout the contract.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2014 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The engineers at QuarkWorks are professional and always accomplish what they say they’re going to do in a given week. Occasionally, they’ll go above my expectations and email me over the weekend with new development ideas. Their code quality meets our standards in terms of architecture design, coding style, readability, and maintainability. They feel like members of our team instead of just a firm we hired for a few hours of work.

How did QuarkWorks perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s always a little tricky working across remote locations. We went through a couple of different tools to grant our management staff a detailed look at what QuarkWorks was working on without consistently looking over their shoulder in an overbearing way. Their project managers are readily available to answer our questions regarding development logistics.

What did you find most impressive about them?

When faced with a challenge, their developers will often reach out to resources that aren’t assigned to our project. As a result, we sort of have access to the entire QuarkWorks organization. For example, we’ve gotten code reviews delivered by senior architects because they noticed something and wanted to ask a question. It feels like we’re working with a startup-style group of people instead of one or two assigned resources.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Having a better understanding of their engineer and team schedules in advance would allow us to better plan sprints and releases projects around vacations, travel, or classwork. This matters because we engage with QuarkWorks more as though they are part of our development team, as opposed to contracting them to complete a project/task on their own.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you take the time to get to know your project manager and senior engineers and really explain the project vision and goals to them, then they can bring their full expertise to the project. If you only hand them small piecemeal tasks, you'll really miss out on what QuarkWorks can provide. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of a business that specializes in offering last-minute ticket-buying opportunities for sporting events, concerts, and theater productions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Quarkworks?

We asked them to perform updates on our existing iOS app. After they completed that work, we wanted them to build our Android app. We wanted apps that appealed to a younger demographic.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were responsible for the full development of our Android app. We collaborated on the wireframes, and they were involved with our design, building the prototype, its implementation, and its release into the Google Play store. For the iOS updates, their most notable work was building the loading screen with custom animation, along with some UX/UI design.

What is the team composition?

We worked closely with their owner and a small team of developers.

How did you come to work with Quarkworks?

We met them at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, and we were immediately impressed. We discussed potentially working on a project together, and eventually, we were able to.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $100,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June 2013 through December 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve had millions of installations, and in 2016, we reported $50 million in sales. The apps are impressive in their functionality and visual design.

How did Quarkworks perform from a project management standpoint?

They worked very efficiently, and their turnaround time was impressive. We communicated mostly with email and Skype, and we met in person on occasion. They also worked out of our office at times.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their attention to detail is notable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I think they’re an outstanding service provider.

Any advice for potential customers?

We found it valuable for them to work in our office whenever possible so that we could better communicate.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the founders of a general-purpose software engineering firm. We make some of our own products in the mobile music space and we also do work for hire for other clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with QuarkWorks?

We had a client that we were doing some work for on iOS and we needed an Android version of what we had done. We didn’t have the bandwidth to do it ourselves.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built most of the Android app that we working on. We did a bit of the work in interfacing with some hardware that was involved, but they did all the UI and networking to make it communicate with the backend. We provided them with wireframes, an existing iOS app, and the iOS code. We told them we wanted to match the existing app as closely as possible. They were able to match a lot of the elements of the technical design too. The initial project is finished, but they’re providing work for us on another project with that same client.

The application is a smartphone interface to a personal breathalyzer hardware. It allows the owner to blow into it and record their breath alcohol test, then the smartphone interface to it allows you to control the breathalyzer with your phone. On a smartphone, we can provide more detailed instructions about how to use the device and walk people through the steps to get accurate readings. The device provides data storage and management including cloud backend.

What is the team composition?

Bryan (CEO & Co-Founder, QuarkWorks) does most of the project management and Jacob (Lead Android Developer, QuarkWorks) does some as well. The rest of the team is developers with different specialties. I’ve met 80% of the people we’ve worked with.

How did you come to work with QuarkWorks?

I was introduced to Bryan through a colleague.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2013 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work is great and it’s good to work with them. The code is very easy to maintain, clear, and readable. We’re engineers too and it’s really important to us that any subcontractors we work with are doing high quality work because we have to maintain the code.

How did QuarkWorks perform from a project management standpoint?

We have no complaints. All the projects have been completed on time and on budget, while the communication has always been very clear. I have a specific contacts who I let know if I need something, then it always gets done. We use Redmine, Subversion, and Git for source control.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their professionalism and can-do attitude is the best.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes I’ll rely on outside software dependencies when my instinct would be to redo the work. Sometimes you can finish a project quickly by relying on a dependency, but maybe in the future that dependency might be abandoned by its maintainers and then you have a problem. They’re very good at working with me on this.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Do it. They’re a great group and they’re very easy to work with.