Brilliance Logic (Out of Business)

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

This was a personal, rather than business, project. I occasionally bet on horse racing for leisure, but when it takes 2–4 hours it becomes more of a chore than an enjoyment. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brilliance Logic?

I wanted to have an automated script to scrape data from websites where I get information to make betting decisions. It would save me a lot of time with data collection compared to manually cutting and pasting. This wasn't an easy task, and I'd tried before with no success. Five years later, I decided to try again with Brilliance Logic. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brilliance Logic offered their services specifically for data web scraping. They followed my spec and were easy to work with. The automated script takes 10–12 minutes to run on a desktop. Once users double-click the icon, it tracks all the data into Excel and formats it correctly. Once I import it into my Excel software, it analyzes the data using criteria that would take me four hours to manually consider. 

What is the team composition? 

I worked with Dima (Co-founder, Brilliance Logic) and Ruslan (Python Developer and Database Management, Brilliance Logic). 

How did you come to work with Brilliance Logic?

I found Brilliance Logic on Upwork. I chose them because they'd done a similar project before with scraping data for horse racing from a different source. They were familiar with the terminology, which helped a great deal. 

The second and most important reason was the cost. Brilliance Logic offered much more affordable prices than comparable vendors and didn't include an outlandish number of hours in the quote. I didn't find anyone that came close to comparing on relevance, value, and expertise. 

How much have you invested with them?

I paid them about $500 for this project. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Brilliance Logic completed the project within a week during October 2018. I was surprised by how quickly they finished. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Brilliance Logic delivered a script that's currently functional. Since it's just for pleasure, it takes the boring part out of gambling, which is bare data collection. Whenever I engage with it, whether it's once a week or every few weeks for fun, I can research horse races much faster.   It saves me an enormous amount of time. 

Brilliance Logic managed to improve my time efficiency 24-fold. That is absolute categorical measure. They finished in quite a short period of time, even though it was a fixed price contract. There were no significant delays. It was a win-win all around. 

How did Brilliance Logic perform from a project management standpoint?

Brilliance Logic manages the project superbly. They understood the spec from the start, asked sensible questions, and came back with useful answers. Although they can discuss technology at a high level, they broke it down to make it easier to understand. They didn't give overly complex explanations. 

Even though they're in Ukraine, they were highly communicative, and their English is perfect. I didn't have any problems contacting them. They sounded informed and professional, which gave me a high level of confidence. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I've worked with programmers for 20 years, and I was really impressed by everything about Brilliance Logic. Their communication and knowledge are brilliant. They were continuously available to answer questions. I always thought they would respond the next day, but I heard back from them instantly. Compared to UK developers, they had an excellent balance of value and price. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I didn't come across any shortfalls. There was nothing that Brilliance Logic did wrong whatsoever. They even did extra work at no additional charge.