Cult of Coders

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the owner of a software startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cult of Coders?

They helped me with UI design and web app development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I have two projects with Cult of Coders. The first project is to create a new design for our app; I’ve asked them to redevelop what I already had, but keep the database in the same state. The next step is testing before going live in its new form. In a nutshell, this is essentially a code refactoring of the existing database.

The second project, which isn’t live yet, is for development. I’ve created a prototype on my own to see its feasibility, and together with Cult of Coders, we’ve gotten a lot further. We are in the testing phase and are hoping to go live in the summer with the first version. We use React for development.

I also get support from their marketing team when it comes to advertising, as well as creating Instagram and YouTube videos explaining our product. The app allows users to use an oculus, iPad, phone, or PC. It also has a voice and chat feature, which means that users can communicate with each other in the virtual space. 

What is the team composition?

They’ve delegated a team of three people, but we also work with other resources depending on the needs of the project. So far, I’ve worked with a project lead, web designer, a UI developer who specializes in React, and a full stack developer who does the front- and backend integration. I work with a marketing person as well.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent around €100,000 ($105,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

I began working with them in June 2020, and it’s still an ongoing collaboration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve defined milestones, which is how I measure the success of the project.

How did Cult of Coders perform from a project management standpoint?

They follow an agile process, communicate very well, and hold stand-up meetings on a weekly basis via Google Meet. When their developers have any sudden questions, they use Skype to ask us. They also use ClickUp internally, which enables me to view tasks at any time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have the ability to work on very complicated tasks in a good manner. We work with a lot of companies, such as IBM and Siemens, but they’re unable to deal with complicated tasks like this.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If people leave the company, which has happened twice so far in our collaboration, it would be good to know about it upfront. They always have a plan for how to overcome it, but it would still be helpful to be informed ahead of time.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you’ve done enough preparation in terms of the statement of work. It is important to have a clear picture of what the project is.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We have been an CNC machine manufacturer and we switched to produce 3d printers. We toyed long to have platform for letting people print on our machines but give our customers the chance to participate as well. so we used covid time to focus on cloud solution.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cult of Coders, and what were your goals?

We started MVP using meteor and cloud technology. but as requirements grew Cult of coders helped us a lot. We had to twist the project because of requirements and had a lot of technical specialties to solve. they delivered. They wrote 2 integrations direct to 3d printers and changed it to an Graphql solution. They also helped a lot in complicated UI constellations.

SOLUTION

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

The vendor is an specialist for meteor and they did understand our problem right away. The work was splitted in waves and it worked well. Even some implementation where verry verry tricky because 3d printers of some vendors didn't behave like the manual says.

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

We use agile approach where user stories where written estimated and the signed for development. iteratively all error where fixed and handed over to users for test. meanwhile we where working on next MVP so we used MVP-1 to MVP 6 till product was ready for first release.

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

we had 3 different people mostly developers because we did requirements , project management and testing ourselves

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are happy with the result due to covid and closing borders etc. all plans are useless.

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

We used agile (kanban ) style communication was latest next day and we used. Google tools for meetings and sharing documents. Started with GitHub as a central source of truth switched then to GitLab because we wanted better control on CI/CD pipeline

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

The hands-on approach is what we needed to get our isses with the printers solved.

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

we should have started earlier to work with them

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Transmate is a freight management and procurement platform that connects all value chain members in the cloud. Transmate covers the whole range from freight procurement, rate management, shipping operations and invoice handling in a single platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cult of Coders, and what were your goals?

We needed an additional feature for warehouse picking. It needed to be intuitive for warehouse pickers (large buttons, easy steps, etc)

SOLUTION

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

We had experience working with CULT, so we happy to initiate a project with them.

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

after the kick-off meeting work started on the front-end work on picking screens with React.js, apollo graphql, and react table.

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

We had a front-end developer and one full-stack developer working with us

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The final product is to be used in a B2B environment, for a specific customer. The feedback from the end customer was positive.

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

Slack, daily standups

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

There was a very profound knowledge of web development, data management, and data structures in Cult of Coders. As we are delivering data-driven solutions to our customers, this is a must-have in a dev company.

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

A minor improvement - they are already very well in providing transparency in their invoice (their worklog tool gives all the insights). The developer could give some more text on what he is doing, but for the rest all fine!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the owner and product manager. We are a wine and craft beer wholesaler based in the Netherlands with EU wide distribution.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cult of Coders, and what were your goals?

Our website didn't meet our mission citeria any longer. We needed to rewrite it to a more future proof setup, add functionality for a new product range, develop and API platform which could be used for plugins and mobile apps.

SOLUTION

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

Cult of Coders was recommended by the developer of our previous mobile platform.

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

The current website was replaced with a version based on react. A platform was created to host api services in parallel. After creating this base we were able to add new functionality. Next to this Cult of Coders developed an app for mobile devices on IOS and Android. To further integration with our partners a plugin was created in wordpress which is freely available for clients.

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

The project was managed by a project managers and a varying team of developers specializing in f.e. javascript, UX design, react native etc.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The IT platform created is key for our business and essential for future growth.

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

We have a weekly video checkup and communicate on slack during the day.

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

I was impressed with their flexible and easy communication. They are also critical and want to understand problems from the clients perspective.

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

Forced us to explain our needs better and in more detail, it would have saved in development time.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company develops platforms and applications for learning materials for kids.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cult of Coders?

Developing an accessible for kids web app for learning the Talmud (the Jewish anthic wisdom).

What were your goals for this project?

Creating a fully developed web app, which we will be able to create Talmudical pages and create lessons.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

He wes suitable for our project by type of activity and size of project. and of course his reviews.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We characterized the web together with the vendor, then they start to develop the app. they provided us with solutions not only technical but also logical solutions to the structures of the data.

What was the team composition?

We talked with 3 teams. The assembly manager, the frontend team, and the backend team. We had regularly video calls conferences.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This project was used as a demo to interest investors.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project manager arranged all the meeting with the rest of the team. Their organization helped the project progress step-by-step.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

With their technical solution for logical challenges.

Are there any areas for improvement?

This is the hardest part.. I really don't find anything I can say. Maybe the schedule was some unclear.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Leverage.Capital tracks closing due diligence without annoying follow-ups for the commercial real estate finance industry. I'm a principal overseeing the operation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cult of Coders?

Cult of Coders was hired to collaborate on the creation of a new web app that streamlines an antiqued industry practice of tracking required lender paperwork.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to make a commercially successful product that would minimize the chances of a deal falling through late by serving both people who work on closing due diligence regularly and others who monitor their clients' closings.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I did an exhaustive search before choosing Cult of Coders. The process helped me feel confident in the decision and the results ultimately proved that out. This was before I knew about Clutch.co, which would have been a helpful tool.

I first spoke to a few trusted Southern California connections about the project I had in mind and they advised on what they believed would be the best framework for the build. Next, I researched the suggested Meteor framework and found a worldwide directory of official Meteor partners on their website. This was a great directory for researching relevant companies, checking out their websites, and ultimately contacting my relatively short list of the development groups that I thought would be the best fit.

I started conversations by reaching out through the Contact Us section of the websites I visited and presented a brief description of the project I had in mind as well as some documentation I'd put together in terms of homemade wireframes, common workflows, use cases, etc. After hundreds of emails and dozens of Skype calls with potential partners around the world it became clear that Cult of Coders was the best choice.

There's a lot to consider when making this type of decision including cost, responsiveness, work style, etc. but to me what really separated Cult of Coders from the close to one hundred other firms I considered is that from the very beginning they made an effort to really understand my project and made valuable suggestions before we even began our engagement. Even from the very beginning, they demonstrated that in some ways they understood my idea better than I did and leveraged their years of experience to bring up avoidable missteps.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

I have extremely limited technical knowledge and that's why it was essential that I hire a group that could handle the entire spectrum from backend to frontend, servers, design, etc. Fortunately, that's what I found with Cult of Coders. I can speak from experience that in the past I had unsuccessfully tried to get projects off the group with a less comprehensive development team and regularly ran into numerous frustrations.

What was the team composition?

While the team working on my project evolved over time, there was a core group throughout the process. I primarily interfaced with a couple of project managers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The most telling thing that I can say about the results of this project is that when I later had a need to build a new unrelated project, Cult of Coders was the only company I spoke to before engaging in a new web app.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project management was effective and flexible depending on what was going on. Weekly Skype calls, regular emails, and a proprietary project management system created a lot of transparency while facilitating an efficient build. I'm in California and Cult of Coders is in Eastern Europe, but I did not find the time zone difference or the fact that I only speak English to be problems.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The fact that they were able to successfully navigate the technical challenges that I've seen talented local developers struggle with speaks to their technical expertise. Beyond technical acumen, what most impressed me was how vested they've been in the longterm success of the projects. This is more than just a job for them, it's an opportunity to build something together with staying power.

I'm sure there are other technically capable groups out there when it comes to completing this type of project, but I most appreciated that Cult of Coders is fair, reasonable, trustworthy, and invested in my success.

Are there any areas for improvement?

This group is great at foreseeing and avoiding potential problems. I believe they are always looking to improve their team, process, methods, communication, etc. and it showed over time in improvements in every aspect.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We help collectors digitize, manage and present their collections.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cult of Coders?

We had an original idea to combine collection management software and open it up to the rest of the world for the first time with the integration of a social network.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to find a company to apply our own designs and create a flawless platform for our members to use.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We thought they had a great attitude and a lot of knowledge. We were their first client. Over the years we have developed a relationship that is hard to be replaced.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They coded the platform according to our designs and later on the project provided UI/UX support as well.

What was the team composition?

We had different needs over the years and the team size changed many times.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have a fantastic platform that receives praise from everyone and is respected all over the world. We are thankful.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management has gotten better over the years. As mentioned we were the first client, so we have seen the company's whole evolution process.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were able to provide us a key technology, an encryption that keeps sensitive information only accessible to the users themselves. The team gave us great advice to solve our problem and implemented it well.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They have a great team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of RightNow Group, a consumer and legal tech startup. We buy consumer claims and process them automatically, in and out of court.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cult of Coders?

We rely on our IT infrastructure, as we buy claims from consumers and automatically process them in our settlement. We had some specific software issues around buying the claims and building the software for processing them. Cult of Coders was an addition to our internal IT team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were involved mainly in the development process, with some input in the creative side, though that was largely done internally. They coded the software for processing claims, working in the Meteor framework. Initially, they worked alone, until we introduced our internal IT team to work with them in parallel. We still go to them with specific projects, but almost everything is done by us internally now.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Theodor (CEO, Cult of Coders). We have a good business relationship with him, and he has good IT experience. I’ve also worked with one of their developers. They have a good team and company culture, and they’re also very knowledgeable.

How did you come to work with Cult of Coders?

We heard of them by chance, through a connection. We chose them because we thought they worked professionally, with skilled coders and good prices.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent €80,000–€100,000 (approximately $90,000–$112,500 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them on this project from fall 2017–fall 2018. We’ve continued with some specific projects after that and are still working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve launched the new software, especially with the lawyers we’re working with on processing the claims. Everything is working well, and the project was a success.

How did Cult of Coders perform from a project management standpoint?

The beginning was a bit chaotic, but they installed a project manager who did his job very well. We used some software tools, working in sprints and had weekly check-ins, which worked very well. The project manager had a good overview of the work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a good team, and we can rely on everyone there. Their organization is very good, and Theodor is very experienced—it’s great to do business with him.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s some room for improvement on the project management side in terms of determining the structure of the work, especially at the beginning of a project. They also assigned some very young developers, so focusing a bit more on the experience level of the resources is another thing to improve.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It’s important to have transparent communication and focus on the structure of the project. Theodor should be involved in the beginning.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO and chief product officer (CPO) for an emerging startup. We’re launching our flagship product as we speak.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cult of Coders?

In order to release our product, we needed to simultaneously write and launch several code bases. This included code for our mobile apps, web site, browser extension, and self-service portal. Cult of Coders joined our project to support our development efforts, working in conjunction with 3–4 other teams.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Cult of Coders is helping us develop a consumer-facing digital solution. At the moment, they’re working on our code base in addition to some of the ancillary tasks such as the design and design review. The code base is mostly in Node.js, and they use React Native for our mobile app and Chrome extension.

What is the team composition?  

The team consists of about 11–12 resources. They’ve assigned a project manager, but I also interact with individual developers as needed.

How did you come to work with Cult of Coders? 

I originally tracked down Cult of Coders through some of their previous work. The solutions were impressive, and we ended up collaborating on a project together. It was a natural choice to bring them on again for this engagement.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $25,000–$50,000 thus far.

What is the status of this engagement? 

Their work started in December 2018 and is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve received positive feedback on Cult of Coders’ work from a closed group and have thoroughly enjoyed working with their team.

How did Cult of Coders perform from a project management standpoint?

From a project management point of view, they've been pretty nimble. The team is process-driven, adopting a practical development model that combines my needs and how I’d like the process to work with their recommendations. There have been a couple of times when we've either had to change focus or had more momentum in one way or another. In those cases, they've been great at swinging resources in and out to focus on where we needed to be. We use Jira and a few other tools to track their work.

What did you find most impressive about them? 

I appreciate that they’re opinionated and pragmatic without being high-bound. When we encounter problems, they care enough about our project to come up with a holistic solution. This is possible because they understand why they’re doing what they’re doing, which allows them to exercise decent judgment. 

I’ve worked with development shops in the past that only focus on execution. By the end of the project, I’d see that there were issues along the way, but they didn’t inform us nor resolve them. Cult of Coders is different. They’re smart and offer strong suggestions but also know how to adapt once we make a firm decision.

Are there any areas they could improve? 

No, I don’t have anything to add. I give them feedback all the time, and they’re good about sourcing expertise in areas where they’re not familiar. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?
 
Be sure to allocate enough time to decide on your requirements before starting the project. For us, I wish that they would’ve pushed back a bit more on the start date until we had everything in place. At times, they’ve been ahead of me in terms of the requirements, which is good, but they could’ve pressed me to follow best practices.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior product manager at a co-working space collective and social club.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cult of Coders?

Our website’s member portal was experiencing massive outages. However, our in-house team was not familiar with Meteor, the web framework used to build the portal. We needed to outsource portal support and development to Meteor experts.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Cult of Coders fixed performance problems in our customer portal. Since this initial project, they have provided backend system support and maintenance. They have worked on internal administrative tools that help us manage our co-working spaces and social clubs. Currently, they’re developing a new billing service.

What is the team composition?

We have engaged with Theo (Co-Founder, Cult of Coders). We also work with Ciprian, Tudor, and George (Backend Developers, Cult of Coders). Ciprian is the lead engineer and oversees Tudor and George.

How did you come to work with Cult of Coders?

Another agency we were working with recommended Cult of Coders.

What is the status of this engagement?

My company engaged Cult of Coders in May 2018, and our partnership is ongoing. We plan to work with them through the end of 2019, if not for longer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Cult of Coders’s deep understanding of Meteor allowed them to resolve massive performance issues within our system quickly and efficiently. The billing service they are currently developing is a critical component of our business.

How did Cult of Coders perform from a project management standpoint?

Theo played a large part in setting up our partnership and rectifying the portal’s performance issues. Our project manager works with the Cult of Coders engineers, who have become an extension of our internal product team. They join all of our sprint planning and roadmap meetings, demos, and daily standups. We use Jira to organize our tasks and GitHub to collaborate on software development. We communicate via Slack, Google Hangouts, and email. Theo has helped with SOW management and resourcing.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Cult of Coders works at an incredible velocity. They ensure our infrastructure supports new initiatives and spaces through efficient sprint performances. Unlike other development agencies we have worked with, Cult of Coders has adapted to our culture and processes. Their team has become very tied to our core business. They have internalized the meaning of our work and are committed to fixing the problems our members and users face.

Theo was a core contributor to the Meteor open-source framework; as such, he and his team are extremely knowledgeable and have many helpful contacts within the Meteor community.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The team is incredibly adept in engineering and building. However, they could benefit from more internal management and administrative systems.

Any advice for potential customers?

Provide context and expectations early in the engagement and integrate Cult of Coders with internal teams. Also, it is worth noting that Cult of Coders is an offshore vendor, but any adjustments that must be made are reasonable and worthwhile.