WeOne

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the research and development manager at Litmus7. We are building a product that helps end users to migrate from one online retailer to another. We’re currently building our MVP and are looking to launch in a few months.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Semicolon Lab?

We needed outside help in building the scrapers, backend, and data pipelines and marketing website for our MVP.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to make a robust, scalable MVP ready to hit the market.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I’d worked with some of their developers on my previous projects.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They helped us build a solution for user account scrapers, build extract, transform, load functions (ETLs) for our data, and build a marketing website.

What was the team composition?

We worked with a senior full-stack developer, one data engineer, and a frontend developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our scrapers, data pipelines, and backend and frontend are up and running on both dev and production environments. Our code and infrastructure are ISO ready.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We worked in an agile approach, and we collaborated through Confluence, Github, and Jira, and communicated through Slack. We found their developers approachable and professional.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They understood our challenges fully, and that helped them to meet my expectations.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, we’re completely satisfied.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of Amach software. We focus on test automation delivery for enterprise customers, providing recommendations for technology stacks, deployments, and how to implement best practices. We then provide developers and architects rather than standard automated testers to accurately develop services and code to benefit operations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Semicolon Lab?

We were looking for a team of talented developers to augment our testing staff.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The developers from Semicolon Lab have in-depth coding skill, specifically with Java. Their team maintains the high-level skill set that we need for testing, migrating, and coding, while also managing our price point. Their technical skill and communication were perfect matches for our needs. They work remotely from Ukraine, so excellent communication was necessary. Any technical knowledge and skill other than Java, for example, Linux and setting up CIs, was just a plus.

What is the team composition?

We had a team of 12 developers driven by technical leads. We had our own onshore consultants that took care of project management; however, Semicolon Lab provided a no-charge project manager for their own people and management processes.

How did you come to work with Semicolon Lab?

I had a previous working history with one of their engineering managers, and he introduced me to the executives. We remotely went over a presentation about what they could provide us. Then we interviewed the people that we would consider hiring and were impressed with their technical knowledge.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $400,000–$500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in November 2017. They finished their work in the third quarter, but we were so satisfied that we rolled the work over into the current fourth quarter without any break in service.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have leads and architects that conduct peer reviews on the code, as well as spot checks to ensure they’re following and maintaining core standards and tools. However, when Semicolon Labs sees the opportunity to move to newer technology, they are happy to move forward. We give them the freedom to pursue new technologies, but they have the talent to implement the technology without affecting the deadline. Our clients are happy that they consistently use good technologies but that they’re not pigeonholed into repeatedly implementing the same technology.

Augmenting our team in a cost-effective manner with a resource that had the skill set we required, ensured that we were able to win contracts and continued business.

How did Semicolon Lab perform from a project management standpoint?

There is a two-hour difference between our headquarters, but their team would work extended hours when we needed to meet deadlines or address issues. They were committed, had excellent communication, and followed the escalation processes efficiently.

What did you find most impressive about them?

As a software house, we are concerned with coding ability, and Semicolon Lab’s ability at their price point was fantastic. Their skill set is high and the price point is perfect. That was something that we didn’t find with any other offshore vendors.

Are there any areas they could improve?

From a business perspective, I would like to see them scale more quickly. However, I understand that from a technical perspective, they’re being selective with who they hire. Their interview and hiring process is very stringent, but that means you have a quality team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would recommend being completely transparent with what you want to implement. That way they will compile a team with the appropriate knowledge, interest in the area, and skill set.