Codup

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Burning Stick Creative is a creative agency that provides custom / web solutions to our local clients. My position at this company is senior web developer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Codup.co, and what were your goals?

We had a high influx of heavy custom work that I was unable to do by myself without much needed support. So our goal was to hire Codup and talk and walk through the process to achieve the goal of the client to deliver a product to them with all the bells and whistles.

SOLUTION

How did you select Codup.co and what were the deciding factors?

We found them through a company called Codeable, but from there our relationship has sow through the sky and we been using them ever since.

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

The scope of work in detail was to deliver a custom solution to a hospital that fits the needs for their HR and Creds department so they can fulfill all their medical needs.

Project steps was scoping out the project in detail at the very beginning heavily before moving on the project. Key deliverables was a message center, sms and email messaging, outputting someone's creds to see if they're valid.

Technologies used : Wordpress, Twilio.

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

3 people from their team has worked with us closely and their positions are listed below. Asim - CEO Ali Khan - Customer Relations Ali Raza - Project Manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Well the project is still ongoing, but we're about to wrap it out. But the first phrase was to input all the forms / fields they clients need, I would say the next phrase would be inputting all the information from the client and heavy testing involved.

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

Their project management skills were amazing, even though we have different time schedules. I and they made sure we're communicating with each other at whatever times. Honestly, it was like 24 hours.

But we mainly used Trello / Skype to keep in contact and whatever problems I had, was addressed very quickly and all the timelines I have provided to them was ALWAYS delivered before that.

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

Overall, how well they adapted to American customs and our weird life styles on how things were done from our point of view. While they had great insight and gave us great feedback, understanding the client was the best thing and that's why I keep going back to them.

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

I think the language barrier can be in the way sometimes, I wish I could speak in their language so they can fully understand me or my wishes from the client.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO and founder of a media company that specializes in web development, app development, online learning for healthcare by building LMSs, and that type of thing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Codup.co?

We were setting up a membership-class-booking site for our client, an indoor athletic training facility. We were custom building an athletic site so that athletes could purchase monthly memberships with renewed subscriptions to a variety of different classes.  

We were using three WooCommerce plugins: subscriptions, memberships, and bookings to achieve this. The challenge we faced was that WooCommerce Memberships Bookings was not able to track and monitor free sessions each month and limit users to what their subscription/membership covered. We were challenged with adapting the bookings to daily classes and monthly memberships session tiers. And then, allow customers to book classes without going through an entire checkout process each time.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Codup.co was able to look at all three of the WooCommerce plugins (memberships, subscriptions, and bookings) and build a code that would integrate the three so that a user could easily choose a class, the number of sessions a month (membership), have it renew automatically each month (subscriptions), have the classes monitored and tracked (Bookings and Membership), and switch user back to normal pricing once the session limit was reached (all plugins).  

Every user was different because they started a subscription at a different time. 
The other piece was that every time somebody booked something, they had to go through the whole cart process, even though it’s free. Then they had to check out. It was a big pain. We built in a feature so that when the class was no charge because of membership, the system would circumvent the entire checkout process.

What is the team composition?

I worked with five people including the sales contact. The primary person was the project manager.

How did you come to work with Codup.co?

We go through something called Codeable where you submit your project and a number of people bid on it. I chose them because of their proposal and professionalism.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $3,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from November 2020-January 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I was so excited when this went live. I was watching it over the weekend and everything was working. It was a wow for me. It’s really good when you get to the end despite little glitches. It’s a really good feeling. They were right there the whole time.

I don’t have any metrics. Watching the client bookings of classes, they have continued. There was no stoppage in classes being booked.

How did Codup.co perform from a project management standpoint?

There was daily communication. We used a project dashboard. I was in constant contact with the project manager. He was on top of this every single day. He was right there. I also got on the call with the developers. As things were getting put together, we had to have round tables. 

I tested on my end too. We’d set up a staging site and they’d show me a part that was ready. I’d go through it and I’d send them screenshots. Every week, we’d go through it and make changes as needed. We pretty much stayed within the scope but there were little changes we had to make.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Codup.co’s enthusiasm for the project was really impressive. I got the feeling that they really enjoyed this project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were a couple instances where they kind of anticipated that this is the way I wanted it and it wasn’t really what I wanted. They were little things like the wording of a pop-up message. That’s really the only thing that I saw. It was a nice feature but not something I really needed.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be as detailed as possible in the scope of work. Give as much detail as possible in the whole user flow. Explain exactly what should happen at every step of the way for the user. That worked for us.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the engineering manager and product lead for TrackStreet. We’re a software company that focuses on crawling data for big brands. We help clients know who’s selling their products and at what prices.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Codup.co?

We were building a referral tracking platform. Although we have software engineers, we don’t have team members who specialize in building plugins for WordPress or WooCommerce. As a result, we needed a contractor to help us create a plugin.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

After writing detailed specifications for the plugin, we handed them to Codup. Their team then handled the project from start to finish. They developed a WooCommerce plugin that adhered to our guidelines. Their team also tested the product to ensure it worked. They built the plugin for our specific platform.

What is the team composition?

We worked with about four people including a project manager, a developer, and two QA people.

How did you come to work with Codup.co?

We posted the job on a freelancer's platform and received many applicants. During recruitment, we looked for engineers, a project manager, and a QA team. I also asked applicants to provide a cover letter and examples of past projects as well as complete a coding test. After reviewing 20–30 applications, I narrowed our options to 2–3 companies. CodUp had all of the necessary qualifications. From my interactions with their team, I had a good feeling about them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $5,000–$6,000 on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started around May, and the first phase finished in August 2020. While the engagement’s paused, we anticipate re-engaging them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their team delivered a fully-fledged plugin. As the engineering manager, I reviewed their work. The quality of the product was great. I’ve worked with a lot of contractors and agencies; Codup’s definitely one of the best in terms of their communication, the quality of their work, and their ability to follow specifications.

How did Codup.co perform from a project management standpoint?

We set up weekly check-in calls, and they were present on those. I was impressed by their responsiveness. We added them to Slack and anytime we messaged them, we received a response. Our time zones are quite different. Codup went out of their way to align with ours.

They assigned us a dedicated project manager, but I also worked as a project manager. We defined tickets within Jira on our end. Additionally, they had their own ticketing system. Our assigned project manager collaborated with their engineers using that system.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Codup was engaged and responsive. We were impressed by their level of communication. I was also impressed by the quality of their code and their ability to align with our time zone. The overall quality of the product for the price was great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’m happy with what they produced for the cost.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

With any outside agency, it’s good to have concrete specifications. By having detailed specifications, you both know what needs to be built.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the operations manager for Profit Prospects. We publish a bunch of financial newsletters, including Investment Whisperer and Oil and Gas Investments Bulletin. We specialize in providing paid research to a subscriber base, and we focus on the management of small- and mid-cap stocks.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Codup.co?

Over the years, we’ve had several issues with our payment processor and have tried several different companies.

We originally used Bambora and ended up switching back to them in order to save the accounts for one of our publications. We had set up gateways with another vendor, but we nearly lost another account. When these things happen, our revenue stream just goes dead. We took one bullet, dodged another bullet, and went on.  Once COVID-19 hit, payment processors were looking to get rid of several sectors so we needed to find a new partner.

Meanwhile, we’d used Bambora for a decade, and we had to build a new custom gateway to that, as an insurance policy in case the other ones yanked the rug out from under us. That’s how we got to this project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Codup.co gave a time estimate of about a month to build it, and they delivered the product. It took us another 3–4 weeks of testing to actually make it work with live accounts.

What is the team composition?

I worked with their estimator/salesperson initially, and then with a project manager. I spoke to the developer once or twice. We had a couple of spec calls, followed by a lot of emails and chat conversations.

How did you come to work with Codup.co?

I made a web search and came across a platform for contractors.

The software we’re working on is in a fairly obscure niche. Bambora is  actively maintained and updated, but it’s not very widespread or popular, so the chances of finding a software team that had prior experience working with these software products was slim to none. I put out an estimate, and Codup.co answered back saying they could do it.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $5,500.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started estimates in April 2020, and we wrapped up in June.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s not fully implemented into production simply because the markets have been super busy and I’ve had other projects, but it’s been tested to the full functionality. I’m happy with it, and I have an insurance component now.

How did Codup.co perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re in Pakistan, so we always had a 24-hour cycle. There were a few brief hours during the day where we could talk to them in real-time. Overall, I found the communication to be quite good. I paid them out when the project was completed, but they remained responsive during the testing phase.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The highlight was actually getting the software to work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The sandbox testing was mostly done through a clone of the WordPress site, but the live testing could’ve been done better before the handoff. I had to do a fair amount of testing myself, which was to be expected. The handoff might’ve been a bit rougher in the case of a client without a testing background.  

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Codup.co works well with people who are familiar with the software development industry. For Codup.co to take the next step, they’d have to adopt a synchronized approach, with a documentation expert and a tester to build cases and scale that to larger projects. This is advice I’d give to any development team; I’m not picking on Codup.co.

BACKGROUND

I’m an IT professional at Optimum Window, a manufacturer of steel windows and doors throughout the U.S.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

We were looking for help with integrating our new, upcoming, customer-facing website to a CRM.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us to integrate our WordPress website to a Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Their work involved making forms to submit information. The team also did some UI modifications to make it more professional.  

What is the team composition?

We work with about three teammates.

How did you come to work with Codup.co?

After doing some research, I decided to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent less than $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in February 2020, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m very comfortable with the work. Even though we’re in different timezones, they are surprisingly always available during our working times. 

How did Codup.co perform from a project management standpoint?

They provide us with good feedback. Codup.co is very methodical in the way they do things, which is a plus.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very good at keeping track of tasks, which allows us to look back and see the project progress.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really. They’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the operations manager at an environmental nonprofit. We connect with businesses, schools, and individuals for campaigns.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Codup.io?

We were in the process of transferring our CRM to Fresh Sales and needed to build some customized features.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed a custom application integrated with our CRM that stored our Shopify data.

What is the team composition?

We initially started working with two people, and we eventually scaled up to five team members. This included a technical consultant, project manager, and CEO. 

How did you come to work with Codup.io?

We attended a conference for Fresh Sales, and that’s where we met the CEO of Codup.io. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested between $10,000-$50,000 over the course of the engagement. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in the fall of 2019, and we put the project on pause in January 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They did everything that we asked of them and delivered exactly what we wanted. We haven’t been using the add-on, but I can see that it could be of use to us in the future once we optimize it. 

How did Codup.io perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication was good, though there were some hiccups because the team was working for us remotely. They were open to having calls with us every week because it was sometimes difficult to communicate over email. We also used Trello to track the project. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They delivered what they could within the confines of Fresh Sales and our budget. The reason we aren’t using the add-on is because of factors outside of their control. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

They were great in terms of being available for us and were easy to work with.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the owner of an online membership site for models. It’s a modeling agency site where aspiring models can be seen by international agents and get signed to top agencies in the industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Codup.io?

We needed them to develop the backend of our site. We were trying to include a variety of e-commerce features, and a lot of content management functionality as well, so it had to be very customized.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us move to an entirely new Wordpress website. The site required a lot of backend work to automate notifying members about the reports and notifying us about submissions. There is a lot of communication going on in the backend and we needed to be able to make sure everything related to e-commerce and membership is functioning and talking to each other properly.

What is the team composition?

In the beginning, I only dealt with the leader of the team, so I’m not exactly sure how many people have worked on the project. There are at least two that I know of, but I believe more people were working behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with Codup.io?

We found them through a coding company search website. We entered our project and then people respond, and they were actually the only group that reached out to us that asked really good and detailed questions. At that point, we could tell that they really knew what they were doing.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested a little over $10,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2017 and are continuing to work with them on a variety of projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The best piece of evidence we have is that our revenue went up as a direct result of the new site. We don’t really have statistics to compare to, in terms of engagement or click rates, but we’ve been very satisfied with how smoothly the site works and with how everything looks now.

How did Codup.io perform from a project management standpoint?

Codup.io is excellent at project management. We speak 99% through email, but when things became more complicated, I could just hop on a phone call and they would make themselves available. They always keep the project on track and have continued to make progress since launching the site as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really follow through on everything they say they’re going to do. I think their skill level is incredibly high which, combined with their willingness to work on a difficult custom project, means you’re really going to get a great result in the end.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’m going to continue to use Codup.io forever.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just be sure that you make what you want to be done clear and then relax because they are going to get it done.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the global manager of brand communications for our globally-used mobile app and web platforms.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Codup?

We reached out to Codup.io to provide development support for some of our BuddyPress and WordPress platforms. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Codup.io develops our BuddyPress platforms based on the requirements and style guidelines we provided them. They did some of the stylings of the websites, customizing templates as needed using core languages like CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL. 

What is the team composition? 

I work with a few key representatives and developers on their team, but they also delegate work to their larger team as needed. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working together since around November 2018 and they continue to maintain, update, and fix bugs on our sites as needed. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It's been a very positive experience overall. Codup's team of developers are very skilled at what they do. In addition to their digital IQ and expertise, they also have a high emotional quotient (EQ), making them great to work with all around. We feel very comfortable with them; they're approachable, responsive, and pleasant to work with.

How did Codup perform from a project management standpoint?

They're very clear in communications, keeping tickets and communications organized on Trello. They have a great process that makes discussions and tracking progress easy to follow. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're the total package: very competent in their field and easy to work with. They're also reasonably priced. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind. Whenever there's an issue, we let them know directly and they address it right away. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of a company that designs and develops websites and offers online marketing services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Codup.io?

We had been working with a team of developers on a difficult project, but they didn’t complete the work due to its complexity.  Because of this, we needed to find a team on short notice to pick up where they left off on the website development project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Codup.io has provided support for dozens of our clients’ websites. The majority of the work is focused on the front- and backend development, including WordPress installation, updates, and configuration. They develop new plugins, custom Post Types, and provide frontend design services that we occasionally collaborate on. 

We’ve also recently gone through major updates to our hosting platform, upgrading about 70–80 sites to a newer version of PHP. This process included ensuring all of our sites were compatible and on correct versions of WordPress. 

More specifically, they’ve built sites for our clients that have secure document repositories, allowing end-users to see private documents. They’ve created membership systems, both directories and complex subscription systems. Another tool they’ve built is a complex contest submission systems that are integrated with backend databases. Their team has also done Salesforce integration on several sites. 

What is the team composition?

At least nine team members from Codup.io work with us.

How did you come to work with Codup.io?

I found them online. We began working together on a specific project that a prior development team dropped the ball on. After they successfully completed that one for our client, we decided to start using them for larger, more complex tasks. 

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested $80,000–$90,000 thus far. We have them on a monthly retainer. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in May 2018. Their work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been able to give them more work over time because of their success in completing projects for our clients. They’ve been the perfect fit for our needs and feel like a part of our team. 

I’m confident that our collaboration will continue because of the work they’ve been producing. 

How did Codup.io perform from a project management standpoint?

The Codup.io team is fantastic to work with. They work during our hours, and we haven’t had any issues with timezones or language barriers. We use Skype and RocketChat for communication and Jira for support tickets. They’re always available for us. They provide a dedicated project manager and we have multiple weekly calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a fantastic team and I’d highly recommend them to anyone looking for those services. They’re absolutely our go-to team for our outsourced development needs.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We provide preparation for various standardized tests, including the GMAT, GRE, SAT, PTE, and IELTS. I am looking after the company as the principal as well as the resource development manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Codup.io?

We hired Codup.io for web development. We needed a well-functioning website with a learning management system (LMS) to start with. Later on, we added their services for SEO and digital marketing. They are still looking after our SEO and marketing.

What were your goals for this project?

We started from zero, so we required an online presence that would project our image professionally. Our goal was to have a website that ranks higher on organic searches and has enough engaging content. It needed to be easy to use to keep visitors on the site for longer periods of time.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We selected Codup.io following a thorough vetting process after creating an initial list of possible solution providers. This list was created using the Internet, our friends, some experts, and more.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They developed the website from scratch, did all the design work, and coordinated with us to improve the look and the functionality of the final product. Later on, they worked on SEO and digital marketing, which is still ongoing.

What was the team composition?

Certain individuals were with the project from the beginning and are still working on it. Others came and did their part as and when required.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have a good product as a result. We got good reviews from our stakeholders, and they liked the site in comparison to other competitors.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The initial project was managed professionally. We had a dedicated project manager who was a one-person contact for all of our needs. When the team grew with time, this project manager kept on coordinating all efforts in the right direction.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I am impressed by their easy communication and good understanding of our requirements. They are also available whenever we needed them.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Having more staff to cater to a growing business will definitely improve their services.