DevAssistant

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a CEO and business owner of a real estate & legal consulting company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were looking for Golang & Python developers for several parts of our project, including the CRM, which is developed by distributed teams. We needed to hire specialists that could handle agile development and the rapidly changing requirements that we have within the project.

SOLUTION

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

We found them through a referral and considered them along with several other vendors. We needed a results-driven partner that was committed to providing a reliable solution.

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

Using Python language and the Django framework allowed us to use all the advantages of agile project development. The main part of CRM consisted of a front-end part on Vue.js, and a Django application was the CRM backend. Using this division into separate frontend and backend-api, we, with the help of DevAssistant, were able to parallelize the development of both parts of CRM for different teams and build and automate the interaction between them at the level of documentation and specifications (Swagger/OpenAPI v3).

The Django ecosystem also helped us organize testing and quality assurance processes before each release, and integration with CI / CD services (GitlabCI) - to automate all these processes and not depend on possible human factor problems.

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

3 Python developers, 2 frontend developers, 2 Go developers, 1 QA, 1 PM.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since the project is based on working with big data, they built the delivery of operational data to the system using proven tools and developed a corporate database based on Kafka, tying the delivery of all the necessary data between project services; in addition to everything, they managed to translate all interaction on asynchronous transport, implement the approach of asynchronous interaction of services based on Messaging/Eventing. They built a solution that satisfies us fully.

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

We had stand-ups with the project manager, who communicated with the rest of the team; we used Telegram, Slack, Jira, Zoom, Trello and Meet.

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

They were a nice addition to our team and communicated well with other teams involved in the project. The work is ongoing and we plan to continue our cooperation.

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

We had some bugs in the beginning, but they reacted fast and fixed everything.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the leading marketing specialist at the digital transformation company. We have been working with DevAssistant on the development of a service that allows planning the installation of EV charging stations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed the help of DevAssistant to develop the service that allows to plan the installation of EV charging stations. The service should be convenient to use and allow the owners of businesses working with electric cars to plan installation sites for new charging stations based on the distances between the main points of user movement. It also should highlight critical areas on the map where there are problems with charging, including significant points on the map, such as shopping centers, airports, underground parking, etc.

SOLUTION

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

We found them through a referral and considered them along with several other vendors. Because the project was such a high priority, we needed a results-driven partner that was committed to providing a professional team.

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

They offered to use PostGIS as a database for storing data in spatial coordinates, measuring distances, areas, and other Gis data. They used Golang for backend development. The front-end part consists of 2 parts - a web part written in VueJS that allows us to work with the manager's personal account, view and edit various map layers, and work with Gis objects.

The second part of the frontend is a mobile assistant app that allows electric car owners to search for public charging stations by various criteria and share their location and additional information about the car's condition.

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

There was a core team of a project manager and backend and frontend developers. Other resources would come and go depending on the project's needs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Using Golang for backend development ensured a high speed of new features delivery and allowed us to develop a high-load service. They also offered to use OpenSource solutions to create a full-fledged editor - the ID (the official editor from OpenStreetMap), allowing us to flexibly expand its functionality. Their team performed so well that we decided to continue working with them to maintain the solution.

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

The project management and delivery were great, especially compared to other partners we've worked with. They met all the deadlines, and we never had unexpected turnovers.

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

We had access to the whole team, which made it easier to communicate our ideas.

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

No.