Brocoders

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder of XellarDoor. It’s a web-based platform where fashion influencers can curate a collection and publish it for their subscribers through their blogs, SMS, or web pages. Whenever our influencers make sales, we share a commission with them. That’s basically the model of our services.

What challenge were you trying to address with Brocoders?

I’m not a tech guy — I majored in entrepreneurship — so I hired Brocoders to help build a web application for our company. I had been using another website, Polyvore, as a reference for our web app. I did some research and figured out that my reference website was using Ruby on Rails as its programming language. I had a hard time finding affordable developers in the United States who used Ruby on Rails.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brocoders did the mock-ups for the whole web app. I think we finished the mock-ups within a month. Afterward, they did its frontend and backend development. I'm not sure how many developers they have, but I had 2 assigned developers. When there was an issue, Brocoders would assign 10 developers to work on the problem at once.  

How did you come to work with Brocoders?

On oDesk, I found a list of developers who provided Ruby on Rails services. I think I interviewed 15 developers, and Brocoders was one of them. Brocoders’ leader and CEO was really devoted. He was the fastest to respond to me. It was also convenient that even though he’s from Ukraine, he could speak English well. All of his project managers spoke English, so the language barrier was not a challenge for us.

I asked all the developers to review Polyvore and tell me about the website as a way to see if they really checked it. A lot of the overseas developers would say, “I visited it and saw it,” without actually reviewing it. Brocoders really seemed to check out the website and my order request. Their price was also good.

How much have you invested with Brocoders?

We’ve spent roughly $50,000 on Brocoders’ services.

What is the status of this engagement?

The initial project started in May 2015 and concluded at the end of September 2015. In March 2016, we started working together again to add other features. That lasted for about 2 months. In September 2016, we asked them to implement a new design on the web app. That project took about a month.

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

Brocoders was great at keeping to the schedule — every estimate they had for how long a feature would take was correct. This was the main reason I kept working with them after each phase.

We haven't opened up our website to the public yet. It’s still in the testing phase. Our test users are the social network influencers, and they’re competent in the web app. To be honest, I think we have better features than our reference website.

How did Brocoders perform from a project management standpoint?

Brocoders assigned a project manager, Yulia, who helped me connect with our developers. If there were any problems, we would connect via Slack right away. If we needed to make a phone call, she would contact us immediately. I would call her or send her a message if we found some bugs. As soon as she got my message, she would update the Trello list.

One thing that was convenient with Brocoders was that we did sprints each week. On Fridays, we discussed what we would work on the next week. Monday through Thursday would be spent working on our sprint, and then we deployed the work on Thursday night. I could see our progress each week within the development. Within 3 months, we had finished the initial phase of my request.

What did you find most impressive about Brocoders?

Brocoders’ time management was really impressive, and all of the work was done on time. If they couldn't complete something within the deadline, they were willing to work overtime and would explain why they were delayed.

I had a chance to meet the Brocoders CEO in New York, and he was a really nice guy. He cares about his customers, and he’s always trying to reach out to them. The whole Brocoders team is friendly. Even though our work together has ended, I'm still in contact with the project manager and the CEO. We talked on Skype, and I asked how they were doing and how the website was doing.

Are there any areas Brocoders could improve?

Not really. The only thing I would recommend is that they hire 1 or 2 decent web or app designers. I really wanted to work with them again for the design improvement, but they didn't have any designers. I had to find another designer and then give their design to Brocoders to implement.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am founder for logistic solutions platform truck4goods

For what projects/services did your company hire Brocoders?

UX/UI Figma prototype for truck4goods 3.0 mobile app version

How did you select this vendor?

We searched online for the UX/UI developers and after interviewing them, we chose this vendor based on their past projects and cost estimate

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Their team helped us to find better UI solution for app users, everything was great organized and professional. Team did really good collaborate work with truck4goods team.

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

My team worked directly with their UX/UI designers and project manager.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We´re pleased with the deliverables from their team. The UX/UI serves as the foundation for the app we´re now working to develop in-house. Their work perfectly reflects the vision we had at the start, helping us create a user-friendly and easy-to-navigate mobile app.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The project manager was easy to communicate with and provided us frequent updates. We had both in-person meetings with board members and phone calls. Everything was delivered on time.

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

Their UI/UX skills have blown me away. They knew about everything from in-depth research to perfect execution. They were also patient and willing to walk us through their process while we learned.

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

Working with such a professional team is a pleasure, nothing they could have done differently to make more effective results.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a software solution provider for digital brands and agencies.

What challenge were you trying to address with Brocoders?

We needed their team’s software development expertise.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brocoders has developed one of our entire software offerings from scratch. We’ve specifically tasked them with building a real-time marketing performance analytics platform that can process millions of market requests. 

Their team has taken part in all stages of the development process, including the analysis and consulting, server and database architecture, coding, and implementation stages. We’re launching the product soon as Brocoders is almost done with their development work.

What is the team composition?

I work with a project manager and their developers.

How did you come to work with Brocoders?

Brocorders was recommended to me by a common acquaintance.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent €120,000 (approximately $141,000 USD) so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our ongoing collaboration with Brocoders in October 2020.

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

This is an important development project as there are about two million people who will potentially rely on the product — it truly matters to us that Brocoders will be able to generate a seamless platform with no downtime. 

We’ve tested the product and have acquired over two million interactions without experiencing downtime or bug-related issues, so I can confidently say that Brocorders has met our success criteria.

How did Brocoders perform from a project management standpoint?

We rely on Jira and Notion for project management. Brocoders is a timeline-oriented and communicative team — I haven’t encountered issues that have impeded the flow of our development project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Brocoders is an encouraging partner — they’re always confident that our software solutions will work, and that makes us look forward to everything they have to offer.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We can benefit from more transparent and documented reports that we can present to our partners and executive team.

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 =)

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

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.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Supply Chain and Procurement Professional with consulting and sales background and overall +14 years of experience in various industries. The experience I have and interest in the elderly healthcare and wellbeing, helped me to launch a project with Brocoders aiming to change a caregiving industry first in Poland, next in the rest of Europe.

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

I needed to find a vendor who could help me work out various parts of my project. The first requirement was to complete a proper UI/UX solution, friendly for older people and caregiving professionals. The second challenge was to construct a search service involving many filters. Lastly, I needed to define a justified amount of the features needed to validate my product concept. Although I had been a newcomer to this field, Brocoders helped me manage all parts of the build process.

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

I received their proposal on Upwork, after posting my requirements there. After having a few calls with the team, I found out they were proficient to complete the project

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

The Brocoders team was required to build the project from scratch, including the prototyping, UI/UX design, front-end and back-end development. The scope concluded a few types of UI, specifically for each user role: admin, caretaker and caregiver. The admin's dashboard would allow users to view user activities and manage a verification process. The crucial part of the platform was to enable a hiring process within the application flow. The service seekers could post the job opportunities and view the profile details of applied candidates. Chat with potential contractors, contract sign and the job review after it was done also envisioned in the project's scope.

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

The project's team consisted of a project manager, UI designer, back-end and front-end developers. I also participated in the development process as a product manager.

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

The team has improved the UX concept of the project, contributing it with appropriate design patterns and usability solutions. The prototype that I previously sent them, was significantly revamped and adjusted with my final vision. The company gave many consultations regarding the efficiency of the product build process. It was useful to cooperate since I leverage my knowledge of Agile and Scrum. Following their priority-driven approach,

I could find out how to deliver more, saving resources. From a technical point of view, Brocoders used the Single Page Application (SPA) approach for building the project. Going this way, Geriana's architecture has flexibility and scalability, making it possible to upgrade it without much rework. As result of the project and investment of 20k$, we released an MVP which could be viewed on the website https://geriana.com The system works with Polish and English language versions.

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

Brocoders provided me with a project manager, fully responsible for the product build. She was result-oriented and demonstrated good progress during her work. Apart from it, she never billed me until certain features were tested and deployed.

The timeline was efficient and aligned with my strategy. While the rest of the project was developing, I could go on with marketing activities. In the middle of the process, I could demonstrate its working features to early adopters and get their feedback.

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

Software development is complex work that requires considering many points at the same time. The hardest thing, I guess, is to have the same vision of the product, when you are located in different countries. But I think that the team did their best at this point.

They set new calls, drew new sketches and produced new specifications to match my requirements. They listened to me and used various tools to get on the same page with me.

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

When working with their clients, Brocoders provides the critical input for the solution design. They have a broad understanding of the product flow and share their insights during the first meetings. What they produce is not just a code, it is also consultations on marketing, usability and management. Really enjoyed the experience of working with Brocoders and highly recommend hiring them.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a Project Manager at Apiko, an outsourcing and outstaffing development company, based in Ukraine.

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

Our team hired a Brocoders backend developer to initiate and manage the development of a security mobile app.

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

The company is our standing development partner.

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

Brocoders backend developer has joined our in-house team to reinforce the delivery process of mobile app.

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

We have hired a backend Team Lead to set up infrastructure and manage the backend development of the project.

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

Our team has delivered the project within time and met all deadlines.

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

Together with Brocoders specialist, we have followed agile technology to meet client’s requirements and expectations. Brocoders’ developer was a highly responsive and communicative person.

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

Our work with Brocoders has turned into a win-win cooperation - both our in-house team and hired a developer did their best to proceed with the development process and delivery effectively.

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

We, at Apiko, are extremely satisfied with our collaboration and continue our partnership in the future.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Owner

For what projects/services did your company hire Brocoders?

DevOps

What were your goals for this project?

deliver a web based solution for supply chain mapping

How did you select this vendor?

referral

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Development of Web Services

What was the team composition?

Front End, Back End, Project Management, UI/UX

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

no

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

very effective and efficient

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their personal approach to customer needs stands out.

Are there any areas for improvement?

not really

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a product manager for Kiddom, a company that helps K-12 teachers meet the needs of their students.

For what projects/services did your company hire Brocoders?

We had a backlog of features and tools to add to our internal administrative app.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to support internal operational efficiency by rolling out much-needed automations and tools.

How did you select this vendor?

After reviewing several proposals, we decided to choose Brocoders because of their timeliness, clear communication, and conservative costs.

Describe the project in detail.

Our internal Rails app needed several database management tools, a bulk data importer, and several workflow tools for managing our platform. The code was written entirely by Brocoders.

What was the team composition?

We had a project manager who owned the projects. A developer from Brocoders worked with one of our own developers, who reviewed the work.

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

All of the apps work and were deployed on schedule. They created the solutions in a generalizable way and left the app cleaner than they found it.

How effective was the project management?

Anton [Project Manager, Brocoders] was a great liaison. He solved problems as they came up and kept us ahead of schedule changes and time off.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They adapted very well to our internal processes and code.

What tips or recommendations do you have?

It’s best to use video chat to communicate with them.