Codeus

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am an online (and personal) fitness trainer with an M.S. in Human Nutrition and almost a decade of experience working with several thousand people and hundreds of success stories. I am as well owner of the https://markostojanovic.net domain.

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

I had a “simple” problem. As a one-man enterprise, I was losing opportunities (and current clients) due to a lack of time.

There was a constant need for me to dedicate more and more time to my client base, but I was against using additional human resources due to the personal touch approach to business that I have built in the past decade or so. I needed an IT solution that could not just support my business model but expand it as well.

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

I have known the owner of Codeus via mutual friends, but I engaged them after I had quite a few conversations with other development agencies and did not get the feedback I was expecting. Codeus understood my needs after just one meeting.

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

They helped me with defining the scope of needed work through constant communication, several workshops, and by leveraging their knowledge of similar platforms we mapped customer journey that exactly reflected my chain of thoughts and daily work activities.

I was, as well, very impressed with them being able to gather domain knowledge swiftly by asking the right questions. They showed me that there were a lot of repetitive processes that could be automated and quite a bit of latency that could be avoided by centralizing all communication that I had with current and future clients.

They helped me with the Design and development V1 of the platform, utilizing technologies that they know best, PHP, and React. Currently, we are on the V3 of the platform and preparing for taking the solution mobile.

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

There were 2 main developers (FE and BE) covering the website and admin portal, as well as PM and UX designer on a part-time basis. Recently 2 React Native developers joined for the mobile part.

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

Since we started working together, my monthly profit tripled with the same amount of time and energy spent.

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

As someone who is not IT savvy, they were (and are) patient with me and my constant questions. They are good with knowing just how much of the transparency I need. Keep me informed but not overwhelm me with the details. We used tools like Slack and Trello.

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

Codeus knows what I need most of the time before I even put it into words.

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

Not really. As a one-man show, I am not the easiest person to work with (from the enterprise point of view). I can be quite demanding and detail-oriented. The first time we met, they showed me that they could understand me, but as with everything in life, there was a learning curve to really get the way I function.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Joybird is an online furniture retailer and manufacturer that offers mid-century and vintage modern furniture, among other things. We’re a startup, and I’m the managing director. I oversee mostly the tech and development of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Codeus?

Our in-house team developed our customer-facing platform’s front- and backends. We also created our own ERP (enterprise resource planning) and MRP (material requirements planning) systems. However, we needed help linking our two sides, namely our consumer- and operations-facing processes. We hired Codeus to help us with our internal API layer.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Codeus is in charge of our internal API system. They make sure that all of the components of our systems are functioning by ensuring that the communication layer works well using Caravel. The team uses other technologies such as PHP, JavaScript, React, and Zend Framework. They also help with our payment and merchant accounts.

What is the team composition?

There are three developers who work with us.

How did you come to work with Codeus?

I asked one of my developers to look for people who could help us. He found Codeus, and he interviewed and reviewed their work. In the end, I trusted his opinion. We also selected Codeus because of the quality of their code and communication capabilities.

How much have you invested with them?

We have already paid them $200,000

What is the status of this engagement?

Our collaboration started in January 2019, and it's ongoing.

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

There’s not a formal way of measuring their outputs, but they quickly finish things. As a result, we deploy daily, and we change things rapidly. 

How did Codeus perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re doing great, especially given that we have a complex platform that entails an extreme learning curve. They’ve been able to learn and operate while keeping on schedule. We also use Jira to plan, track, and manage our development projects.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication skills are impressive. Additionally, they are extremely dependable. We can easily reach them during emergencies.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think that they have any areas they could improve on. However, I just want to note that their improvement has come through time, and they continue to learn our platforms with more experience. Moreover, they continue to understand our operations as well. In that sense, I’m pleased with the service they provide.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Everybody’s situation is unique, but just try to set up weekly or daily calls. I think that’s the best practice for any type of development.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of product engineering at a company that provides machine learning in the retail space for enterprises.

What challenge were you trying to address with Codeus?

Our immediate challenge was that we didn’t have enough staffing for us to put more focus on our demo site that we use for sales. With the timelines of our current projects, all of the engineering teams were busy on projects with product and feature developments.

We have up-and-coming, prospective sales clients that we needed to talk to, but our demo website was out of date. We needed a team to refresh the platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team at Codeus worked off our existing site that was built on WordPress. We wanted to move away from that to a more manageable system. We also wanted to scrub data and make that for presentable for sales purposes.

Codeus took a version of that and drafted mock data that could be generalized for any type of sales demo. The mock data could also be configured to change according to different retail verticals like food & beverage or health & beauty.

All of the work that their team does impacts the frontend of the site, making the experience more user-friendly for our customers.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with Milos (Co-Founder & Full Stack Developer, Codeus) and Milan (Consultant, Codeus). We’ve also engaged with two other developers.

How did you come to work with Codeus?

A mutual contact introduced Codeus to us. They offered decent rates.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $22,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Codeus in December 2019.

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

We’re still working with Codeus, and we expected development to take until mid-March. Their team worked through what we gave them quickly, but we’re still waiting for feedback from the sales team. Because of that, I paused the main project, and I’m seeing where else we can use their team until we can get the platform development running again.

From what their team has completed, I’ve noticed the speed quickly has dramatically increased with the newer platform. WordPress was slower because of all of the plug-ins we installed for the data, so our page speed was extremely low. The new platform, which is built on React.js, is extremely streamlined and isn’t depended on the backend. Everything loads in a few seconds.

Throughout the engagement, they’ve been accommodating with different time zones. Their team is also flexible when we give them feedback regarding the scope of work or contract.

How did Codeus perform from a project management standpoint?

In terms of development speed, it’s been swift. More of the challenge was managing a team across a different time zone. The team at Codeus was six hours ahead of us, which meant that each morning, we had a lot of questions to shift through. Otherwise, they would be waiting for us.

From our side, we also wanted to be gatekeepers on the code itself, which meant a lot of code reviews. This process did slow things down a bit, but that was on us. I’m pretty happy with their project management approach.

Milos and Milan check in on the developers regularly and gives me a heads-up when anything occurs. For example, if their workload low or if they’re blocked. As for communication, I created a dedicated Slack channel for them. We also gave them company accounts, which made them their own email accounts. I also set up Wednesday meetings where we go over our JIRA board to have more face-to-face time. During those, I also ask them to provide a demo.

They’re great at keeping our JIRA system up-to-date in terms of progress being made. They provide a lot of comments and track their hours. It was good reassurance that they were always on top of things.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their discipline stood out the most to me. The team at Codeus is eager to work. They’re accommodating, remaining open to any feedback, and following instructions. It’s been nice and easy.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were a few times where they would ask questions prematurely, and I wouldn’t be able to get to them in time because of the time difference. They would eventually resolve it by talking to each other. There were a few instances where they could’ve easily unblocked themselves by collaborating a bit more. It’s a fairly minor thing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open to remote work. It’s one thing to work remotely with someone in your time zone, but there’s a difference when it’s six hours away. It can impact your productivity and be a bit of a challenge. For example, we wanted to put them on another project a few weeks ago that involved another vendor based in Vancouver. Being able to coordinate with all of those teams slowed down our speed, so we had to end that.

Whoever works with a remote team like Codeus needs to remain cognizant of situations like that. It can involve adjusting hours and expectations of their availability.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of HostNdine. We’re helping consumers find alternative ways to socialize in a dining environment.

What challenge were you trying to address with Codeus?

We needed someone to develop a dining platform for chefs to meet up with hosts.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I spent a few months working on a prototype and proof of concept. By the end of that process, I had a pretty solid blueprint of what I wanted in my product. We brought Codeus in to refactor the existing proof of concept into a scalable solution. 

The solution is a web-based platform that features a Laravel framework, PHP, and MySQL. We also integrated with Stripe for payments and implemented single sign-on. Heroku, AWS, and Google Maps are also involved in their builds.

Once this project is in the market, I intend on engaging them for another application development project. For now, I’m happy with the work they’ve done. 

What is the team composition?

Milos (Co-Founder & Full Stack Developer, Codeus) is my main point of contact. He was the tech lead who managed two additional developers. 

How did you come to work with Codeus?

At one point, I was the COO of the San Francisco Marathon. We engaged developers with connections to Codeus while writing a new registration platform. It was through that contact that I reached out to them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $38,000–$45,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in September 2018, and everything was completed in January 2019.

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

The final platform was delivered and is now being executed. There’ve been delays on my end, so it’s in a hibernation period right now. However, our advisors and board members were all happy about the work they completed. 

It does everything it’s supposed to do and boasts a strong look and feel. People are excited and interested in using the product. We’re looking to do a redesign to boost usability and make it more mobile-friendly.

How did Codeus perform from a project management standpoint?

Once we had the project roadmap together, we used GitHub to manage the work. Every morning, I’d see new updates and assign them new tasks. If I spotted any issues with the completed work, I could note them on the platform, and their developers would rework those sections. The next day, we’d start the same cycle over again. We’d also have an evening call every three days or so. Even with the time difference, we communicated easily.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to look beyond the requirements, considering the big picture of the project was most impressive. They’re interactive in making recommendations and thinking through the UX. The end goal of the product is always top of mind. We were in sync throughout the whole project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything right now. They delivered what was expected.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you have two-way conversations throughout the project. While you engage them with requirements and guidelines, they should also be able to approach you with their feedback and advice. They work well when you ask for their recommendations.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of Tibalo Aps, which is a company that provide online education.

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

We hired Codeus to work on a system that we launched back in 2015. We have had a lot of different developers involved over the years, so the code was not the most accessible. The main goal was to look at bugfixes and implementation of new features.

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

Codeus was recommended to us by a developer that we previously used, but who was no longer available to help us. We found it difficult to find local developers with the proper experience to work with our system.

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

We have used Codeus for our ongoing development of the system. Our system has been live since 2015 and we receive constant input and feedback from our userbase. The system is running on the php-based framework Symfony that Codeus specializes in.

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

We have 2 full stack developers from Codeus.

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

We have been able to deliver on requested features and thus have a much more mature system thanks to the help of Codeus.

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

The communication with the developers is great. We have bi-daily online meetings and everything is happening according to the schedule. In case of critical work the developers have been able to assist out of regular office hours and resolve the issues quickly.

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

The team is hard-working and dedicated.

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

Nothing I can think of.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Samfastgheter is a fast growing Real Estate company in Sweden focusing on public Real Estates all over Scandinavia. Me, Poyan is the CEO of the company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Codeus?

We used Codeus for full development of the website including project management and design/UX.

What were your goals for this project?

To have a well representative and professional website that's primarily informative. The target group of the visitors is governmental, institutional as well as financial.

How did you select this vendor?

Through recommendations.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

As we described the usage of the website and the feeling we wanted to provide, Codeus formed a plan to execute the project in the fastest way possible. Codeus provided a very detail oriented project planning and managed to complete the whole project within 2 months. The language barrier was no problem at all. With constant correspondence and updates, the project went as smooth as it could go.

What was the team composition?

Project management, lead dev, developers, UX-designers. The whole team did whatever it took to delivery within the delivery time. Even though it required late evening work as well as weekend work.

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

As we had quite conservative deadline, and codeus managed to deliver within the deadline. This had a severe impact on our business and our marketing plans.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Great project management with great efficiency. We were informed all the way from start to finish. When new problems occurred, Codeus was quick on the ball and solved potential problems.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The service and the problem solving mentality.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Keep it up!

Please describe your company and your position there.

Botello is presenting a new way of living in Sweden. By renting a small piece of a villa owners property and building a min villa there which we rent to a suitable tenant we aim to help solving the growing housing problem in Stockholm. I am the CEO of the company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Codeus?

We needed to build a website that partly could attract new customers but also be the host for our rental administration. We hired Codeus to help us with both the technical part but also finding us a good and experienced UX-designer.

What were your goals for this project?

To quickly get the site up and running but in the mean time not sacrifice building a solid foundation for the coming features of the platform.

How did you select this vendor?

We got recommended Codeus from one of our partner companies.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

From our vague initial description they mapped out what we needed and in cooperation we came up with a list of features needed to be completed and in what order we needed to prioritize them. They proposed a suitable solution for everything from team to hosting services. Once set we worked on a basis of weekly sprints.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of project management, lead dev, developers, UX-designers. When the time preassure hit the roof they really showed the meaning of all hands on deck. It came to a point where we put unrealistic demans but Codeus chose not to complain just put more resources into the project, including, the founders on the company.

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

The project is absolut vital for our business. Without it we wouldnt be able to handle as many requests as we do today. It replaces a lot of the manual work that had to be done before.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project management were impeccable! Even though we hade super tight and many times unrealistic deadlines they managed to deliver on them every single time.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their way of always putting the customers needs first was impressed. I have never met a web developing company that delivers this kind of customer service. They are super keen on evaluating that we got what we wanted and for every little detail we weren't 100% happy about they fixed immediately.

Are there any areas for improvement?

From our point of view there isn't much to improve.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO and founder of FriendFund, a startup helping groups of all sizes save up for travel using their spare change from everyday purchases.

For what projects/services did your company hire Codeus?

I hired Codeus to resolve a complex backend task that had brought my business to a standstill.

What were your goals for this project?

My goal was to find subject matter experts who I could trust as partners and advocates for our end-user customer experience. I wanted to speed up development, which was not going fast enough with another vendor.

How did you select this vendor?

Codeus demonstrated an aptitude for finding the best solutions and estimating time accurately. When they completed a preliminary task, we had a code review and thought the work was great.

Describe the project in detail.

We received a complete payments solution for our app. Codeus integrated third-party services that verified customers and completed transaction round-ups with a fast and easy sign-up. They made it possible for us to track this information in a backend website, allowing us to prevent fraud, give refunds, and send payments to other vendors.

What was the team composition?

We had worked with a project manager and 2–3 engineers.

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

Not only did Codeus resolve our issue, but they also created the engineering roadmap for an entire quarter that would ensure we hit our launch dates and other business goals. Now, our users can easily sign up, connect their bank accounts, and track their progress toward their travel savings goals.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was awesome. Early on, the team identified opportunities for improvement and did a cost analysis for each project and subtask. I received daily progress notes and fast responses to my questions. I could contact the team on Slack, and they resolved issues efficiently. They always let me know what they needed to move forward and what to expect next.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

If you're looking for experts in PHP and JavaScript, I highly recommend Codeus. The communication and quality of the code far exceeded my expectations.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There always is, but I'm quite pleased with the level of service I received. If anything, I would have like to use this team for more than backend support.

Please describe your company and your position there.

At South Pole, we work with businesses and governments across the globe. We help realise deep decarbonisation pathways across industries, based on a thorough understanding of climate risks and opportunities in specific sectors, as well as the highest emission reduction standards.

I am the Head of Applications at South Pole, and I oversee the development of several IT products.

For what projects/services did your company hire Codeus?

An ecommerce platform that allows customers to buy carbon credits from Emission Reduction projects around the globe.

What were your goals for this project?

Revamp and integrate several existing solutions.

How did you select this vendor?

They were recommended by another supplier.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

• front and back-end development
• advice regarding system architecture
• public API development
• migrate existing data

What was the team composition?

2 front-end developers and 1 back-end developer (and system architect)

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

Part of the system is already live, and we have signed up a number of large clients onto our platform.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Not applicable - I was in charge with Project Management

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their flexibility. They were able to cope with changing priorities.

Are there any areas for improvement?

some difficulties in understanding our market and what the end customer expects