Alex Cachia

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

El Toco is a new search engine based in the UK. I am its founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Alex came in at very short notice to revamp the front end of El Toco's website. This involved following designs produced by our graphic designer in order to standardise pages created by several prior developers and give the whole site a consistent feel. It also entailed making the website fully responsive, as well as ironing out numerous bugs.

SOLUTION

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

We select vendors on the basis of experience, price, and personality. In this case there was also an availability factor, as we needed to start at quite short notice. Alex understood the scope of the project and had demonstrated abilities with the type of web development we need from previous projects. She also came across as very friendly during the quotation process and was available to start quickly.

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

Standardise the look and feel of pages across our website to ensure everything was using consistent styles. Make this responsive so that it displayed correctly on all screen sizes. Iron out bugs in the front end code.

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

Alex worked as sole developer on this project, in tandem with a graphic designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Alex delivered a great looking website which matches the visuals provided by our graphic designer. It handles well over different devices and is very easy to use, which were our primary goals for this project. She also solved some particularly thorny bugs!

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

They kept us fully up to date with progress, so we were never left wondering how they were doing. We used a loose form of agile development on this project, with a combination of email and Jira to manage tasks.

Early on, Alex established a steady pace which meant sprints were delivered every day or so. This made it easy to schedule feedback, so that she could work on the next tasks while we checked what had recently been delivered. This provided the project with good momentum and allowed us to finish on time.

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

Alex has a deep all-round knowledge of the web development stack and a can-do attitude. We have quite a complex development environment, including various databases and payments processing services, but setting this up was no problem at all.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a digital marketing company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Alex Cachia?

We needed help with website development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Alex Cachia has been helping us with website building and design, fixing issues, and developing further features for the platform. She does a lot of coding behind the scenes, so she gives us a customized version of WordPress. She also adds plugins, which can slow the site down, but she’s also really good at writing 1–2 lines of code, rather than 500, which keeps the site nice and fast.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been only working with Alex (Principal).

How did you come to work with Alex Cachia?

Alex offered her services through a networking WhatsApp group, and after an interview, she passed our tests, and we decided to work with her.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent £1,200–£1,500 (approximately $1,630–$2,000 USD) with her so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of her work is great; she’s been able to identify our problems very quickly. She also has the ability to push everything through and live. Overall, she has good skills and delivers good results every time — I’m 100% satisfied with her work.

How did Alex Cachia perform from a project management standpoint?

She’s been very conscientious; she often goes above and beyond, which means working late into the evenings and weekends to ensure that she’s meeting our goals.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s impressive how she can take someone else’s work and start from there. Also, her turnaround times and ability to nail down a problem and quickly solve it are outstanding as well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on from a work perspective.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Ensure to write all of the briefs on email, reducing the time you have to spend briefing.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of an educational charity based in the county of Kent, England. We work with secondary schools on a variety of issues based within 4 departments — careers advice, events, project-based work, and internships for work experience.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Alex Cachia?

Our events department was hit due to the pandemic, so we couldn’t produce large-scale events where we bring employers and businesses into schools. Since that came to a halt, we wanted to create a virtual fair experience for students to access from the comfort of their homes.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a rough blueprint of how we wanted this virtual fair to look, so we gave it to Alex (Freelance Web & Data Developer) and told her that we wanted full control of the platform.

She took it and used her coding wizardry to create it from scratch, and set up to engage with the employers, acquire their data and information, and upload it to the system. We populated the platform with data for the first six months as she developed it.

We launched the product in the second year of the pandemic, and around 25,000 students accessed the virtual platform. Since then, we’ve created several new areas within the platform such as virtual internships, which we piloted last summer and ran successfully. 

Alex used WordPress to create our platform and she gave us the parameters regarding how we could upload information, and how the content had to be delivered. She also helped us understand how we needed to translate the huge amounts of information that we were getting from employers, and turn them into something that would be accepted by the system.

One of the best things that we were able to create was the platform analytics, which is GDPR compliant so we’ve been able to show the schools that the students have been visiting our platform.

In addition, Alex also created a theater area for showcasing interviews with career specialists and industry leaders. It acts as a video resource library that we can keep uploading files to.

What is the team composition?

We mainly work with Alex.

How did you come to work with Alex Cachia?

We work with thousands of employers every year and build several relationships but since we’re a small charity, we’re not awash with funds and I was quoted with some incredible figures to create a virtual platform that’s far beyond what we could afford.

One of the people who work for us is a consultant and knew Alex from their time at the university. They said that Alex was an IT whiz and brokered the collaboration between us two years ago — we haven’t looked back since.

The first meeting I had with Alex had me sold thanks to her passion and enthusiasm and we ultimately chose her based on her competitive pricing.

What is the status of this engagement?

I made the initial contact with Alex in August 2020 and our collaboration is still ongoing because we have some big projects lined up.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Around 25,000 students have accessed the platform since launching back in December 2020. Moreover, up to 120 organizations have provided support within the exhibition fair, and between 40–50 schools have used the platform — what Alex has created has had a huge reach and has been seen by many people.

We worked with a school last week with around 200 students, and around 92% said that using the platform has been a positive or exceptional experience. Alex couldn't have created something more simple and innovative to use for non-technical people like us to upload information to.

How did Alex Cachia perform from a project management standpoint?

Alex has delivered most of the tasks that we’ve asked her for in an efficient manner, and she’s able to explain her work in simpler terms that we can understand — uploading content to the website has been almost a cathartic experience because she’s made it so simple. 

Alex is professional, punctual, and very easy to work with, and we normally communicate over quick phone calls and emails. We also used Zoom or Google Meet to share screens to go over designs and functionalities.

What did you find most impressive about them?

When you work with Alex, you’re getting a personal touch. She genuinely cares and wants the projects to succeed. She’s also very passionate about what she does and she’s always available to talk.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Constructive criticism is always useful but we’ve been pleased throughout the project. What Alex has created is unbelievable and I’m a very happy customer.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have that initial meeting with her and really get to know her because Alex is friendly, engaging, and down-to-earth.

The thought of working with someone who develops websites can be a bit off-putting and intimidating when you don’t really have knowledge about it, but that couldn’t be any less the case with Alex. She gets the job done and you’ll be very happy with the results.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the proprietor of Kirkness Associates Software - we provide bespoke Low Code solutions for clients based on a small number of Low Code and Integration tools.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our client needed the ability to produce labels for dispensed medicines provided through their mobile hospital at multiple public events. This is not something the platform we were using was ant to do natively and so Alex was hired to provide a solution.

SOLUTION

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

I had known and worked with Alex for some time and didn't consider any other developers.

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

Dispensing prescription medicines needs to be right and we needed to be able to produce labels from a label printer with details for the patient to follow. It needed to work reliably in the field and be quick for the user as the dispensary could be busy. This was not possible from within the platform in use directly but it does include the ability to extend using Javascript.

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

Alex worked on this with us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The extension was produced quickly and was flawless as usual (Alex has done similar work for u in the past).

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

This was a small project - but was just one of several small projects which Alex has handled for my clients over time. Communication between us is generally by Slack - with Zoom if required.

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

Alex is always positive about tackling work for us and keeps us informed of progress. Good communication is all!

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

Not really.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director and founder of Future Coders, a community interest company. We provide coding workshops for young people and develop apps for charities and community groups.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Alex Cachia?

We wanted to develop a prototype for an exposure therapy web app for an autism charity. The main purpose of the prototype was to help the client determine what they wanted the app to do and look like.

I already built the backend app, so I needed someone who could develop the frontend app and integrate it with our CMS, backend, and database.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Alex Cachia developed the web app’s frontend using ReactJS. We built the web app in a way that there were two separate apps, the front- and backend, but they’re both integrated into the same database. We then integrated the content management system into a separate database.

The main functionality of the app involved delivering a set of video content to somebody with autism or anxiety so they could experience new venues without actually being there.

We actually went a bit further than the prototype stage. We were able to publish the app and make it available to users.

What is the team composition?

We hired Alex as a freelance developer, but we had a team of seven people working on this project. All of the other members of the team were from our company.

How did you come to work with Alex Cachia?

I’ve done a lot of training workshops over the years, and Alex was actually one of my students when she was 18. Back then, I already knew that she had talent. So, when I met her at a networking event just before we started the project, I decided to give her the opportunity to work on it.

How much have you invested with them?

I paid Alex an hourly rate, and I’d say we spent a total of £2,000 (approximately $3,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on this project from October 2019–January 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The client was very pleased with the prototype. It was obviously not exactly what they envisioned because we didn’t really have a very clear brief to work with in the first place, but the fact that Alex Cachia and the team were able to produce a usable prototype from scratch within three months was what made the project a success.

After we published the prototype, the client was able to use it to get funding, which allowed us to redevelop it and produce the final app. Alex Cachia wasn’t available for that project, but we scaled the app based on the code she’d written. Thanks to the work that Alex did for this project, the app is commercial now and has become a big success.

How did Alex Cachia perform from a project management standpoint?

Alex Cachia performed really well. Most of the work that she’d done was remote, but she was able to consistently meet deadlines. She came into the office three times during the project to take part in meetings.

We primarily communicated through Slack throughout the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Before we began the project, Alex Cachia was totally open about the fact that she wasn’t very experienced with ReactJS. Despite this, however, she did an amazing job of learning this framework to get ready for the project.

I really appreciated her commitment to making the app as best as it could be. I think she’s quite good at recognizing what she can’t do, and she always looked for ways to improve and to learn how to do those things.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think Alex Cachia could benefit from being more confident and comfortable with her capabilities. She was quite hard on herself at some times, especially when she thought that she could still do better than she’d already done. However, that definitely didn’t impact her ability to meet deadlines.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you already know what you want, make sure to communicate that clearly and provide accurate information about what you want the product to do.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Alex goes above and beyond to ensure she could put our vision into reality. Alex made a user manual and showed us how to use the system so that we could update it ourselves. She got our budget, listened to our needs and ensure the work was completed on time.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed a whole new website for 2 parts of the business. Sometimes we make adaptions and Alex charges are reasonable considering the quality and time we put in.

SOLUTION

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

Communication, speed and managing expectations

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

The ease of use was important to us. The building of an accessible website was key for target audiences

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

1 this was Alex

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We gain many leads and lots of traffic through the website. Many people in our education and employability sector have commented on our website

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

We had regular intermittent calls and deadlines. Email and calls were used

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

The ease of use, speed in updates and making changes

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

None

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the General Manager of a company that delivers English language courses in schools across the globe.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed some help adding some additional features to a Wordpress website. Specifically, we wanted a portal for tutors to update their own availability without any input from our side.

SOLUTION

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

I chose Alex because she was local, she had the necessary skills and she was professional and approachable.

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

After our initial discussion we agreed on what the solution would look like. We agreed a date for the work and testing to be done. Once complete it was rolled out to the production site.

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

We only worked with Alex.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The work was undertaken in response to user feedback. We haven't surveyed users since the work was done but we haven't received any more complaints about the issue Alex helped us to solve.

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

This was a small project but Alex did what she said she would do, in the time she predicted, for the price she quoted.

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

I got exactly what I asked for, nothing more and nothing less.

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

Not as far as I am concerned.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the managing director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed a mortgage database for our clients which could be web based.

SOLUTION

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

Alex spent a lot of time sorting and ensuring that the right things were done for each sector. Attention to detail was incredible

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

Full creation of a fully functioning CRM

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

Just Alex (Web Developer) — she was amazing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Perfectly working CRM which tailored to our needs.

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

Easy to communicate with via Zoom, email, and mobile. My assistant Janice couldn't speak highly enough of her.

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

She was a great problem solver.

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

No.