DevCrew I/O

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and chairman of an online language service provider.

What challenge were you trying to address with DevCrew I/O?

We needed help with web development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provide IT services and help with web development. We call upon them when we want to add something or have bugs that need to be fixed. When we wanted to incorporate languages to the system, we sent words from English to Polish, for example. Then, they uploaded it to the system, changing the way to search for words and the payment section.

What is the team composition?

My point of contact is Muhammad (Co-Founder).

How did you come to work with DevCrew I/O?

They were recommended to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $13,000–$14,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started collaborating in July 2019, and the work is ongoing.

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

They’ve made a strong impact on the company, delivering quality work at a good price.

How did DevCrew I/O perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication is very good through Slack. They managed the project very well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of work and price were impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They delivered on time every time.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Use them for projects with a large scope.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Enviro Safety Products is an online B2B distributor of safety products. I am the President of the company.

For what projects/services did your company hire DevCrew I/O?

DevCrew completed all of the web dev for our migration from Magento 1 Open Source to Magento 2 Open Source.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals were (1) Improve the stability of our web presence (2) Maintain our SEO rankings (3) Avoid the problem of remaining on M1 past its end of life.

How did you select this vendor?

We have worked with DevCrew for several years, we were first referred to them. This particular project is by far the largest project we have completed with DevCrew.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

DevCrew completed literally the entire migration from nothing to fully functioning M2 Open Source site.

What was the team composition?

We primarily interact with DevCrew's President. We secondarily interact with a Lead Developer. They manage tasks with and check the work of their Team Developers.

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

DevCrew did an outstanding job. M2 has been stable. We have maintained our SEO rankings. We never once had to rollback to M1.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

I wrote the strategic level Scope of Work and tracked its progress. DevCrew managed all the tactical tasks in Trello.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

DevCrew has been remarkably responsive and highly capable with virtually anything we have asked them to do.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, we really like working with DevCrew.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Fishermen Labs is a design and development agency that builds digital products for our different clients. I am a project manager for the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with DevCrew I/O?

We needed to redesign and add features to a mobile app for iOS and Android.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project encompassed an on-demand therapy service product. We handled all the designs internally, and DevCrew helped implement the designs into existing iOS, Android, and web applications.

The redesign focused on more seamless checkout and purchasing, as well as a better overall user experience. Together, we made sure everything flowed and functioned properly. Other functionality included a loyalty reward system and a gift card feature. We used Swift for the iOS version, Java for Android, and React for the web version.

What is the team composition?

A project manager acted as our main point of contact and jumped in whenever we needed additional iOS support. We also worked with an additional iOS engineer, two Android engineers, and two more for the web application.

How did you come to work with DevCrew I/O?

We’ve partnered with them for several projects, and the relationship started before I joined the company. I don’t know what factors affected the selection process.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $50,000–$200,000 for this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

This specific project ran between November 2017–May 2018.

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

The client controls all the numbers, so we don’t have any quantitative feedback on our side. The apps definitely operate faster, and the ordering process is much smoother. The original code was fairly weak, but we refactored and stabilized it.

How did DevCrew I/O perform from a project management standpoint?

They were excellent project managers and always knew what they were doing. We had another QA team working on this project, and whenever we found a bug, we’d pass it along to DevCrew to fix. We communicated via Slack and video conferencing.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their responsiveness and attention to detail were great. Working with them is always enjoyable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They were weaker in React for the web app. There were times where we had some miscommunication or the code could have been more thorough. We were on a time crunch for that portion, so I understand that weakness, but that's definitely something they could improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re clear on the timeline, scope, and objective, they’ll definitely deliver. They’re a very capable group of engineers.

This review was updated on October 9th, 2019, by the client. New content for a second project is below.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Fishermen Labs is a mobile, web, AR, and VR development agency in Los Angeles. I’m Lance Capel, one of the project managers and the director partnerships here. I help bring in some of our deals and work on our projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DevCrew I/O?

We were converting an entire educational website to html5 to be compatible with newer systems.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were working with an educational company with hundreds of online lessons and quizzes that needed to be converted to HTML5. DevCrew I/O updated the various content, uploaded new video, and ensured the audio functioned correctly. They QA tested everything to make sure it was ready for our client. Their team really managed that entire cycle, tackling both the front- and backend development.

They replicated the previous experience, making sure the copy looked nice by changing the type font. The team also ensured that a user couldn’t skip lessons or advance on the platform before passing certain quizzes. They were responsible for the dev end of the project.

What is the team composition?

At any given time, we had up to six of their developers on the project.

How did you come to work with DevCrew I/O?

We initially found them on UpWork. After speaking with Hassan (Founding Partner & Chief Software Consultant, DevCrew I/O), we found that he was willing to work with us and our budget. Their portfolio looked good, and the team performed well on a few test projects we asked them to complete. That made us feel confident in hiring them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $450,000 on our side of the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from January 2018–August 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

While I don’t have any hard metrics from our client yet, DevCrew I/O made our collaboration easy and convenient. The site is functional and reliable, without any major bugs because the team took the time to review everything. The client has approved and implemented all their work as a result. The updated website stands to save the client money in the future.  

How did DevCrew I/O perform from a project management standpoint?

We didn’t experience any obstacles at all. Hassan actively communicated with us, so there was never a misunderstanding. We used Zoom for video conferences, hosting a call once every week. We also used Slack and email, which allowed us to communicate directly with the client. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were always willing to put in extra work, staying up later to accommodate our time zone difference. It was really nice that they accommodate our schedule. The team contributed valuable, creative ideas to the project, but also took our orders when needed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have no complaints about them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Proleadsoft, a digital design, software development, and online marketing company.

What challenge were you trying to address with DevCrew I/O?

We were looking for development resources for a project. Internal issues prevented us from hiring a full-time developer.

What was the scope of their involvement?

DevCrew I/O helped us finalize an iOS app we had another team build and connect it to the backend system. Most of their involvement focused on converting that existing variable into a project in the entertainment space. Our complex application serves as a portal for event planners to manage all their events. Customer interactions take place through the user-facing mobile app. 

The team created additional features like filters and online payment for drinks at a bar. Rather than having to wait in line, event guests can place an order and have it ready to serve once they get there.

At certain points, we needed to move people around. DevCrew I/O’s resources even learned how to develop for Android so they could help us build that version as well. They also provided bug fixes.

What is the team composition? 

We worked with a small team that included a developer and a project manager.

How did you come to work with DevCrew I/O?

I went to school with the co-founder. Once we reached out, they helped us recruit one of their employees for our project.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from May 2017–March 2018.

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

We had a great experience working with DevCrew I/O. Unfortunately, one of the developers they assigned us had to leave the company for fully unrelated reasons.  We would have continued working together otherwise. 

DevCrew I/O finished all their work on time. Their support felt like having a full-time engineer working on our project. Whenever our QA engineer found a bug, they’d fix it.

How did DevCrew I/O perform from a project management standpoint?

DevCrew I/O was very responsive. We collaborated via email, Slack, Skype, and Google Sheets. I met with the project manager in person.

What did you find most impressive about them?

DevCrew I/O offers specialized capabilities for mobile app development.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there are none. DevCrew I/O provided even more than we expected.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

DevCrew I/O did well on our project. We enjoyed the entire experience. I will probably work with them again in the future.
 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a project manager at a Bible application.

What challenge were you trying to address with DevCrew I/O?

We were looking for a vendor to build a mobile application for us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

DevCrew developed an application for iOS and Android. They were mostly involved in the execution of our ideas, but they also took part in some feature discussions. The app enables people to read or listen to the Bible (there is an audio feature). There is also an option to choose between translations, change the font size, and make a purchase. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with 6–8 members of their team, including two iOS developers, two Android developers, a project manager, and some designers.

How did you come to work with DevCrew I/O?

Our company had a prior connection with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $65,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them between June 2015–January 2017.

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

They did an excellent job managing the project and troubleshooting, so we really enjoyed working with them. They have the ability to anticipate problems, which helped the project go smoothly.

How did DevCrew I/O perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very responsive, attentive to detail, and eager to address concerns immediately. If there were things they didn't capture correctly, they were quick to make adjustments.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have an excellent team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We expected them to troubleshoot and find solutions on their own, but we didn't communicate our expectations to them clearly. Therefore, they were often waiting for our instructions when issues came up.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a safety product reseller with a service division. We work with government agencies, hospitals, construction companies, and other similar firms. Our service division provides training and first aid equipment.

What challenge were you trying to address with DevCrew I/O?

The market is saturated with developers, and we wanted to find a team that could do high-level work and potentially become a long-term partner. We wanted an expert team who could redesign our websites, diagnose problems in our codebase, and clean up our platforms.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have four different websites, three of which are on Magento. The fourth is on WordPress. They helped split a multi-storefront site into two new sites. One of the sites ran on Magento 2, which they redesigned and added new products with a backup of the existing WordPress site. We built all the graphic art, and they built out the data.

We tapered off development at the end of 2018, but we’re getting ready to relaunch another site that they will support. They maintain all the sites and design most anything we need. Magento doesn’t do well with importing products, so they helped build out an importer functionality that works better than the native plugin. They’ve also set us up with different extensions we use, including Criteo, Refersion, Google Shopping, Shopper Approved, and our uninterruptible power supply system. They have a good understanding of all the software we use.

What is the team composition?

We interface directly with to people, but one is our primary point of contact. I manage the project and break down each piece before sending it along to them.

How did you come to work with DevCrew I/O?

They had really good references, their sample data from past performances was high-quality, and their price point matched our budget. We had an excellent interview with them and they had a good understanding of the details. They filled in the gaps very well and were a good choice of partner.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent in the area of $24,000 this year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around October 2017 and the collaboration is ongoing.

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

The impact of their work is indirect, but by leveraging their services, we were able to increase our sales by roughly 30%.

How did DevCrew I/O perform from a project management standpoint?

They do very solid work and I enjoy working with them. I foresee a long-term relationship with them. We communicate through Slack. I provide all the user requirements and business cases, broken up and marked with detailed instructions. They execute the code based on my requests and manage all the pieces on their end.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They deliver end products with speed, and are experts at Magento.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Offhand, I don’t have any recommendations for improvements.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Review the samples of their work. Their output is top-notch, and any company who looks over their work will see that they mean business.