Brocoders

Please describe your company and your position there.

Founder & CEO of a US-based digital agency

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

Our initial engagement was for 2 developers to replace one of our clients' development teams. Over time, the team at BroCoders grew from 2 to a peak of 7, and expanded from purely Ruby on Rails development to React and Node.

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

Their engineers seemed the most competent when we engaged with them initially.

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

This was a multi-year engagement, starting with pure monolithic Ruby on Rails, and the latest revision was a react frontend, with native mobile apps, computer vision / ML systems on the backend processing data. It got progressively more robust and they were able to embrace and extend their capabilities to support the services.

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

At one point, 7, actively. PM, QA, frontend and backend developers, as well as an engagement manager. I liked them so much I went to visit them in Sumy when I was visiting Ukraine. They're great people and great hosts.

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

They exceeded expectations and were reliable, dedicated, and very understanding with a client stakeholder who is the definition of difficult to work with.

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

Agile boards, internal standups, checkins as frequently as needed. Skype/Slack/JIRA.

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

They remained sane and collaborative with a challenging founder =)

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

I think they did a great job, especially considering the challenge presented by the client. I'm sure one of their PMs still has PTSD from that engagement =)

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I run Beyond Green Sustainable Food Partners. There are two sides to the business, and one side involves food service. We cater to preschools.

What challenge were you trying to address with Brocoders?

We wanted a more robust ordering system that featured a customer ordering side and a production and labeling side for internal uses. Our system was old, and as the business grew, it was running out of steam. We needed a system that could grow with us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brocoders developed a complex ordering system to support our business in 20 preschools ranging from 50–400 kids with different allergies and dietary requirements. Unlike our old system that couldn’t put kids’ dietary information into a label, their team built an app that creates labels according to kids’ dietary information. Unlike restaurants, we can’t have tickets per table for the kitchen. Brocoders built the app to handle various production lists, which vary per school, and create labels following production records. Their team also developed the app to manage all of the billing. Customers have different price ranges, so there are different numbers per account.  

What is the team composition?

The owner is on every call. We also communicate with a head programmer and a project manager. However, there are others behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with Brocoders?

We wanted a custom system because we weren’t happy with any off-the-shelf option. We interviewed many companies all over America to find a partner. The US-based agencies cost too much. A colleague suggested that we interview Brocoders. We talked with them, and their team was prepared and asked all the right questions.

How much have you invested with them?

The initial contract was $10,000–$11,000. We probably spent another $3,000 and we budgeted for another $5,000 for this year.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement began in June 2020. We missed a couple of features on our end, so Brocoder is still working on the app.

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

Our customers and cooks love the app. Our office team also loves it. Whereas billing used to take eight hours, it’s now down to half an hour. Another measure of success is special labels, which are important. If we make a mistake, a kid could go into anaphylactic shock. We now spend a minute a day on special labels. Before, we spent 15–20 minutes a day on special labels, which we mostly created from memory.

Another success metric is our tight production records. They’re now organized in a way that makes sense to our cooks. We make 1,200 lunches, so the paperwork side used to take a couple of hours. Now, it takes a couple of minutes.

We also log any mistakes and go over the log as a whole company. When we make mistakes, we give money back to the customer, which can be costly. In the last three months, we haven’t given any money back to a customer because of mistakes. Our company’s small, and we’ll save at least $5,000 this year. Our customers are also happier because we’re not making mistakes.

How did Brocoders perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team’s great, and our project manager’s lovely. She was gone for three weeks. It was stressful for us to switch project managers. However, it worked out fine.

What did you find most impressive about them?

When we discussed our ideas, Brocoders reminded us to keep it simple. Usually, development companies want to work on complex projects. Brocoders’ leadership team told us to keep the product simple, which made it better. They also never guessed what we needed. All the other agencies that we interviewed took big chances and told us what they thought we needed. They’re a team of authentic listeners.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Brocoders could push us to think even more. We told them what we needed but we didn’t have to defend it. I wish that they pushed us harder to help us think our needs all the way through.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Sketch out what you want over pages and pages. Think about how you want the screens to look, where you want the buttons to be placed, and what examples you can provide to their team. As their team can’t read minds and don’t work as part of your business, you need to clearly describe what you need.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Prospect Labs is a LinkedIn lead generation software where I am the Founder

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

Brocoders were responsible to make a custom website for Prospect Labs that could be made quickly and work perfectly to launch our new business

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

I was highly impressed by the level of detail and attention Brocoders give to you before the project even starts. It was clear from the first conversation their expertise but even more so, their willingness to get to know you as a client and to understand exactly what you need help with and what you want to achieve.

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

Brocoders created a mock-up framework of how my site would look and where very accommodating in any edits that I needed. After that the transition from mockup to live site was very quick and even after the project had ended, they were still very supportive in giving me advice on things such as domains and hosting.

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

I worked with 2 different people including a project manager and head of sales

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

Within 1 week of the site going live I had hit my target of 100 trial customers signed up. I had done a huge amount of marketing work to get people ready but I knew they would not convert if my site did not represent the look and feel of how my software will be. The site that Brocoders created enabled me to focus on sales and marketing.

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

Brooders are highly polite, supportive and very creative in trying to find a solution to your problem. They kept things very simple for me to understand and gave me a clear scope of how the project would look including costs and potential areas to focus on.

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

They delivered exactly on time and on budget. No job was too big or small for them and I am already talking with them on creating another site for me

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

Nothing to change. Really enjoyed the experience of working with Brocoders and highly recommend working with them

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a renewable energy startup.

What challenge were you trying to address with Brocoders?

We wanted to push finance into the off-grid energy industry in order to accelerate the adoption of solar energy systems. To do that, we needed someone to develop our platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brocoders built the whole platform from the ground up; it was a huge project. Our platform connects consumers to lenders who are lending to people transitioning to solar energy. It’s a place where consumers, essentially schools and hospitals that want solar systems, can access these deals, but can’t finance them themselves.

On the same platform, we have distributors. They’re people who are bringing solar systems from the US, India, and China into Africa. We have retailers on the continent who are pushing the projects down to their villages. The retailers are helping us connect the dots. By connecting those dots, we hope to increase transparency and confidence in the industries so they can easily make decisions.

What is the team composition?

We work with 2–4 people, depending on the need of the project. There is one great project manager.

How did you come to work with Brocoders?

I found them on Upwork and initially hired them through the platform. They did a part of the project and then moved off the platform to continue our engagement.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2017, and the work is ongoing.

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

It’s been a very extensive, complicated project. Brocoders does a great job with the coding process. I build the project step-by-step as I acquire funding and implement it with my partners in Uganda. These partners have given me positive feedback so far, that I then relay back to the developers.

Brocoders implements new steps, makes a trial, and then I give the feedback. They’re able to implement the changes effectively. Everything functions well for the most part. If it doesn’t, they’re able to deal with and fix it.

How did Brocoders perform from a project management standpoint?

Everything has gone well. It really helps to have an organized project manager. Their project manager keeps up with the work and distributes the payments and financial needs of the project. We communicate via email, texting, and video calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Communication is very good. We even communicate on the weekends and at night. I’m always able to ask for timely feedback, and I have a great relationship with them. Since we acquire funding in tiers, sometimes we’re not able to pay for the bulk of the project. However, Brocoders continues working and invoicing us. They patiently wait until we can pay them once we receive the funding money. I appreciate the flexibility.

Are there any areas they could improve?

So far, I’m very happy with them. They’re very capable of performing and meeting my needs.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be sure to have a solid idea of the project and kind of framework you want. Communicate regularly and ask them for advice because they’re specialists in the field. Sometimes, they’ll advise changes that make implementation easier. Try to have group meetings or a summary of information for both sides.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of an accounting and document management company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Brocoders?

We needed a partner to build the frontend of our client service solution. We’d created the backend but were looking for a company with web and mobile development experience that could take on this project for us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Based in a React framework, Brocoders developed the entirety of our web app’s frontend, which they integrated with the backend we’d built. Their team developed our mobile app using React Native.

What is the team composition?

We work with more than five people including a project manager. Since our engagement isn’t project-based, it's more like a full-time job; their team works exclusively for us.

How did you come to work with Brocoders?

A colleague who had previous experience working with their team recommended them. We flew to Ukraine to meet them and a few other companies, ultimately deciding to go with Brocoders.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent between $200,000–$999,999 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in April 2018, and our collaboration is ongoing.

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

They’re a team of professionals, which is hard to find. Brocoders isn’t a subcontractor, but a part of our organization—it’s great.

How did Brocoders perform from a project management standpoint?

We speak to their team around five times per day. Brocoders has worked weekends to meet deadlines when necessary. If there’s an issue with the backend code that we haven’t noticed, their team will notify us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Brocoders is great. They’re not just looking to get paid; they’re interested in quality.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s always room for improvement. We’ve had bad experiences with a few previous vendors, but I can’t think of anything Brocoders could do differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Bring them on as part of the team if there’s a big project to complete. Brocoders will be successful.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder of a mobile currency startup.

What challenge were you trying to address with Brocoders?

We wanted to develop a mobile frontend for iOS and Android to couple with a backend API I had already developed.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They first developed designs for the UI/UX. Once I reviewed the work, I gave them the contract to develop the software for both the iOS and Android applications. Some of the features include currency transfers and currency creation. It was built using React Native.

What is the team composition?

I worked with a project manager. Through her, I worked with three developers indirectly. I also coordinated a few elements with people higher up in their firm, mostly in the contracting phase.

How did you come to work with Brocoders?

I posted a project on Upwork. They applied for the design portion of the project, which was the first phase. I was satisfied with their work, so I decided to award them the software development of the mobile app.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost is about $40,000, which I'm paying for in installments as we reach each milestone.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in May 2019 and will probably wrap up in December 2019.

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

They've almost finished the first milestone and have delivered an APK for me to test what they've completed. Everything works as they promised, and they've delivered all the features they said they would.

How did Brocoders perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform very well and are very results-oriented. It's a big, complex project, and they've delivered. They're thorough, and the project is fairly bug-free.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a lot of experience, and we've avoided all the common pitfalls for this kind of project. Their professionalism, experience, and focus on delivery are excellent.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Software development like this is hard, but I can't say their work is anything less than optimal. If they had done things differently, I might not have gotten everything on time. I can't identify anything they should change.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Settle on all the project objectives before you begin. That will keep everyone on the same page, resolve any questions, and make the project run smoothly.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder and CEO of Casers - Ukrainian case community aimed to improve the higher education in our country. On Casers, companies publish their real business cases that students can solve and gain practical experience in their sphere.

Casers unites the ministry of education, businesses, educational institutions, and young professionals and leads to a productive partnership among them. Cases are proposed to be resolved on the basis of competition and students can work either individually or in small teams. Later on, they pitch their solutions to the company and have a chance to win prizes or get an internship at the company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Brocoders?

I hired Brocoders to design and develop the whole platform for me which is the main resource for my EdTech project.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to develop the platform to make it very appealing, easy-to-use and user-friendly for students but also quite professional for businesses who are to publish their cases. I didn't have any preferences in terms of technology and relied on Brocoders choices.

How did you select this vendor?

I met Rodion, CEO of Brocoders, at a local entrepreneurship event in Ukraine, we exchanged thoughts and I presented my idea to him. Since he owns a development company, it was a natural partnership and decision to work together on Casers.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The team started working from scratch, having only the idea from my side. Brocoders created documentation, prototype, design screens and then started the development. The whole process is led by the Project Manager on Brocoders side.

The latest initiative that is being tested on the platform is Championships. This feature allows to create more than one case in the same area of study and engage a bigger number of candidates to join the competition.

For now, we are at the maintenance stage and planning new functionality on the platform to allow universities to publish their cases, too. Also, the team takes a proactive approach, participates in meetings regularly and is very trustworthy.

What was the team composition?

The team is composed of a project manager and 2 developers. At the first stages, there was also a designer working on the prototype and UX/UI design. Rodion also joined the team as a mentor and technical lead. We selected the agile approach in order to have the possibility to quickly test the functionality, get feedback and adapt to the students’ needs.

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

To create the platform was the main thing that was needed in order to successfully run this project and business overall. So I can tell that this was a major achievement and the foundation to make Casers known in Ukraine and start all the other operations, such as promoting the platform, getting companies to create their cases, partnering with universities, and working on the monetization models.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

As stated above, the whole process was led by the project manager who made sure of the following: get my needs and priorities, document the functionality and website matrix. Then, the manager organized the team and was monitoring the prototyping & development process, scheduled regular meetings, features and sprints planning, retrospective meetings.

We use Trello for management and Skype for communication and everything proved to be very effective. The team is always available, honest with timing or any issues appearing, so I was aware of everything happening.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed by Brocoders startup mentality and ability to think long-term, taking a proactive approach in discussing the future of my project. It seems that they take my project personally and aspire to make it succeed. I felt that they were truly interested in the idea and wanted to make the best out of it.

They were always very quick to adapt to my changes, new ideas but at the same time could suggest what could be improved. We are even visiting each other offices now as friends so I am happy about how everything turned out.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I was satisfied with everything Brocoders has been delivering so, in fact, there is not so much they could improve. The only suggestion might be to improve the onboarding of new developers onto the project because the newcomers need more mentoring at the beginning in order to be more efficient and proactive.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder of a company that provides a network of independent doctors for insurance carriers to collaborate with on disability examinations.

For what projects/services did your company hire Brocoders?

I hired them to add new functionality to my application but they convinced me to develop a new project from scratch, which was the right decision.

What were your goals for this project?

Our main goal was to have a fully-fledged application.

How did you select this vendor?

I spent at least three months on freelancer websites interviewing and trying out various developer teams through a virtual hackathon period. Brocoders was the most professional, but most importantly, they were the best developers.

What was the team composition?

I worked with their lead developer and he had a team of two or so developers for handling most of the work.

What outcomes or results can you share that demonstrate progress and/or success?

The project was turned in on time with all our specifications included, which is truly unbelievable in this line of work. Their team was wonderful to work with through the twists and turns of development, delivering everything I asked for.

I've worked with many teams before and can empathize with anyone that has had bad experiences—it's the worst. After working with Brocoders, I literally felt the world was a better place.

How effective was the project management?

They were the best hands down.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their ability to get things done on time and within budget is what’s most impressive about them.

What tips or recommendations do you have?

I don’t have any recommendations for Brocoders. They’re doing an amazing job.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a B2B education platform for enterprises. I am the founder and CEO of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Brocoders?

We were building the second version of our platform and it was critical for us to find partners who could code and think strategically from a product development standpoint. Brocoders helped us achieve our goals.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brocoders learned our goals and objectives, got behind the coding and specs, and really listened to us. This allowed them to provide insights we may not have had, and was exactly what our product development needed.

The backend was built using Ruby on Rails and Javascript. More importantly, Brocoders provided advice on the technologies being introduced and how we could solve specific problems. For example, Brocoders found the solution for some video conversion issues that worked best on our platform.

We have worked with 3-6 people from Brocoders’ team over the last several years.

How did you come to work with Brocoders?

We had bad experiences with firms we’d worked with in the past. We reached out to the worldwide development community, which led us to Brocoders in Ukraine. We spoke with them and besides their technical skills decided to work with them because of their ability to think outside the box and not just think about the coding.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Brocoders in the fall of 2014, and I visited them at the beginning of 2015. The initial phase was completed around March 2015, and we’ve since continued to work with them on improvements and technical issues.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We have a finished product that is being sold in the marketplace. The important thing to us is that the platform does what it was designed to do, and that customers are happy with it.

How did Brocoders perform from a project management standpoint?

We can speak freely with their team, identify what needs to be done, and refine it. It’s important to define what needs to be done, mock up the concept to ensure that it performs accurately, and then code.

What did you find most impressive about Brocoders?

They listen, provide input, and actually care about what we’re doing.

Are there any areas Brocoders could improve?

I’m pleased with my relationship with them. Brocoders has gone beyond the call of duty, and has always been there with an idea, response, and an ear to listen. I highly recommend them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and owner of a consulting and recruitment firm working with technology companies. We have a small MVP consisting of an auction website. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Brocoders?

I needed help with expanding the idea and conducting the development of my MVP. I reached out to Brocoders in order to get a sense of the cost and possibilities.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brocoders was responsible for the entire codebase of the project, as well as wireframes. They developed everything from the ground up and turned my idea into a more functional scope.

They used Ruby on Rails 5.0 on the backend, which had been recently released at the time, in July 2016. All of the backend developers on Brocoders’ team are Rails people, but I don’t know if they’d used the 5.0 version before.

We used ReactJS on the frontend and a Bootstrap theme. The platform was hosted on DigitalOcean. We rely on Twilio for SMS authentication. This tool allows users to verify their accounts through the use of a mobile number, which lets them receive confirmation codes. We also have a MailChimp integration.

Brocoders handled all the sign-in integrations. Users can log in through Google accounts, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

The algorithms that power the auction engine sit at the core of the platform. There is a level of automation through which users can generate their own auctions. This means that they’re essentially playing against the system and receiving instant feedback, giving an impression of playing against someone else. Brocoders built this logic into the Rails framework.

They brought others members on board for the frontend elements and supplied coders for hardcore elements. A few people on their team have a deeper understanding of software development.

I communicated with a project manager from Brocoders’ side, and I also had a dedicated frontend and backend developer on the team. All the communication was done through Slack, and a few additional people worked on ad-hoc components. Overall, 4–5 people touched the codebase.

How did you come to work with Brocoders?

I found a team member on Upwork and prodded around Google until I found Brocoders’ site. I reached out to them because I felt they had a clean and stable tech stack. I do a lot of recruitment within software development and can usually spot good developers. I researched some of the people on Brocoders’ website and looked at their public repositories. I was fairly impressed with the consistency of the technologies they were using, especially the Ruby on Rails stack and ReactJS. I didn’t have my current platform in mind when I first contacted them, but I wanted to have a conversation and find out what they were like. One thing led to another.

How much have you invested with Brocoders?

The cost of their work has been around AU$20,000 [$15,000].

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with Brocoders around May 2016. The initial phase of the project was completed in December. The collaboration is ongoing, and I will assign more work to Brocoders. 

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

I don’t have any metrics since the whole project was built as an MVP, and I’ve run it concurrently with my day-to-day activities. Brocoders excelled in building the technology side, but there are massive gaps in terms of marketing and launching the platform. Those are areas I’m looking to manage.

How did Brocoders perform from a project management standpoint?

There is a big time-zone difference between our teams. I communicated on Skype 2–3 times a week with their project manager, usually during the evening on my time. We reviewed what the team had been building, and any issues I had would go straight into Trello or Slack for further action. The communication has been almost instant, despite the time difference, and they’ve implemented swift updates.

What did you find most impressive about Brocoders?

My project manager has been helpful with suggestions—from wireframing and ideation to letting me know when I needed to stop. If I had my way, I would’ve kept building and adding unnecessary features. Brocoders told me that they could build whatever I wanted, but it didn’t make sense to keep spending money when I hadn’t validated what was already in place. This demonstrated a lot of integrity on their part. They genuinely wanted to help me achieve my goals.

They focus on listening and acting. I had a single point of contact, who was able to act on what I requested and provide constructive input. I spent a few hours chatting with him on Skype about subjects outside of the project itself. It became a friendly relationship as well.

Their team is close-knit. I don’t know how many developers there are on Brocoders’ side, but they seem to be a bit of a brotherhood. There is low staff turnover, which is a big positive when it comes to understanding each other’s way of working.

Are there any areas Brocoders could improve?

They’re very good at backend and frontend development, but there are other areas where I need help, especially for the marketing, branding, and UI/UX of my site. I could make use of these services, but they’re not offered. Brocoders supplies project management and consultation on products, but there are gaps in the offering. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though.