Devico

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a partner in a London-based consulting firm, helping European corporates and startups build their technology products.

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

We hired Devico for software development services, bringing in Devico's developers, quality assurance specialists, and project managers to assist our senior team on a green-field e-money and payment application startup project.

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

I have hired Devico before as CEO of a startup myself for a similar project. They have demonstrated an exceptional level of professionalism in every aspect of the job, including quality of technical outcomes, management, and communication.

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

We assigned an in-house team of senior architects and business experts, providing general guidance and oversight. Devico's scope included digesting the requirements, liaising with our stakeholders during the development process, and delivering the code and corresponding documentation.

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

Different at different times - up to 7 people on the team at the same time, mainly developers, QA testers, and a project manager.

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

The project was phased in 8-week cycles, and every phase of the project was completed exactly on time. We haven't had a single overrun or had to compromise on the scope of the next demo we were preparing for the stakeholders.

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

Very responsive and agile. We used a number of different tools at different stages of the project, mainly focusing our day-to-day management and architecture discussions on GitHub, Miro, and a couple of other tools. Any difficulties we faced were addressed as soon as we flagged them, and we never encountered similar problems again.

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

The overall average quality of developers we worked with from Devico is exceptionally high, way above the average we experienced in the region. The staff, starting from the top management is exceptionally responsive and tried to accommodate every request we may have had.

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

Not much, perhaps could do more on the marketing front, having relationship people on the ground in major client locations. The exceptional quality of work they provide could use more publicity.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO at With Para, which is a software company that provided tools for gig workers.

What challenge were you trying to address with Devico?

We had various development requirements, including mobile, web, and backend development with Firebase. We needed engineers to help us with all of that, so we engaged Devico.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re responsible for speeding up a React Native mobile app from scratch. Currently, we’re doing beta testing on a test flight on both the iOS and Android versions. One of the features includes authentication, like email or text authentication. The user will connect their accounts and provide a username and password.

We use a third-party service to then take that login information and pull the earnings data and then make it available on an API. We save the data on our database and do some data manipulation, calculating statistics relating to work history, and then display it back onto the mobile app so that the user can look at their work history in a digestible format.

What is the team composition?

We work with two people; one is full-time and the other is part-time.

How did you come to work with Devico?

We have a friend who was a founder of multiple companies, and he used Devico for every single one of his projects and they all turned out really well.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve invested about $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2020 and the partnership is still ongoing.

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

We’ve gone through a number of data users and we’ve seen those users coming back, so the app is definitely working, at least from a small scale of about 25 users.

How did Devico perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management skills are great. There’s constant communication and if there is any issue with a task, they’ll come back with feedback about the task, which is something I appreciate a lot. We use Figma, which is software that we can share screens of mobile design with developers. We talk probably 4–5 times a week to check on progress and decide what to do and then if we encounter issues, decide how to deal with those.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their speed and flexibility are the most impressive. We have to change our specs a lot and they just ride with us on that and deliver every time. Some of the spec changes are pretty drastic, so they’re pretty adaptable in that sense.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Being in a different time zone can be difficult, but other than that, not much.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Work with them and establish a line of communication where you’re at least talking to them twice a week. That way, if there are any problems, you can at least plan around that.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Skillied was a start-up built from the ground up. It was a platform where people could find and book local classes in their community. People came onto the platform, searched for classes, booked them, and then attended the classes in person. These were not online classes. I was the founder and CEO

For what projects/services did your company hire Devico?

Devico came on after the MVP was launched. Our MVP was built with another dev shop and had A LOT of bugs. Devico helped us fix everything and build new products.

What were your goals for this project?

To fix bugs and add new functions so we could do more business. Devico also helped us launch in our second market.

How did you select this vendor?

Referral

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Devico served as our development arm. We didn't have any inhouse developers except for a CTO who planned out new functions and made quick fixes or helped with customer service.

What was the team composition?

Skillied Team:

• CEO
• 1 Sales person
• CTO 

Devico:

• Senior Developer
• Later a project manager

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

This was my first startup and I didn't have a tech background. We had an awful experience with the dev shop who built our MVP, but Devico gave me peace of mind again and got everything working really well.

They were extremely organized, really easy to work with, and flexible. Our senior developer genuinely felt like part of our team. We had an incredible experience working with them. Both the owner of the shop (Oleg) and the developer were always easy to access.

We are based in Miami, FL but we didn't feel the time difference. I would recommend Devico to everyone building a product. Because of their work, we were able to gain many more customers and even expand to a new market.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

At first our CTO managed the Devico developer and that was perfect. When our CTO left and left us high and dry, Devico assigned us project manager who was incredible to work with. They both genuinely cared about the success of the business and felt like full-time members of our team.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The seamlessness of working with them, despite the fact that we were on a 7 hour times difference. It felt like they were right down the street. Also, nothing ever fell through the cracks. Everything was really well organized. And they were always in a good mood and had an incredible willingness to help.

Are there any areas for improvement?

It would have helped if they spoke more English, but if we communicated in writing (building Trello etc) it was fine.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the product manager of Arab Millionaire, a charity-based lottery platform for the Middle Eastern market. We have a weekly lottery drawing for €1,000,000 euros and other smaller prizes.

For what projects/services did your company hire Devico?

Devico was responsible for developing the entire frontend of our web application, as well as QA.

What were your goals for this project?

Our initial goal was to build an MVP of our web app. We kept Devico on to add additional features and build out the full system.  

How did you select this vendor?

We reviewed multiple companies and received many positive recommendations for Devico. They had a reputation for being hard working and building quality products in a very efficient timeframe.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They built our web app based on conceptual design requirements and now maintain it, while also implementing the occasional redesign. Devico worked closely with our backend team to build the system and ensure quality and correct functionality. They continue to take responsibility for our entire customer-facing platform.

What was the team composition?

We worked with two frontend developers and a QA engineer.

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

Today, we have a fully functional ecosystem that Devico continues to maintain, in addition to developing new products, payment solutions, and games. Their development speed allows us to make changes quickly based on customer feedback and disrupt the market. We currently have over half a million active users thanks to Devico’s team.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Devico took an agile approach to development, working in 1–2-week sprints directly with our CTO and product manager. They delivered changes quickly and never compromised on quality. Responsible for the QA process, they found and fixed problems internally without any oversight from us.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their ability to independently translate high-level business requirements into a development strategy was outstanding. They also executed and implemented these developments extremely quickly and paid keen attention to detail.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There’s very little to improve. One small thing would be to tell us more often where we could improve our designs. I really appreciate it when vendors suggest better alternatives.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of a small German startup funded in mid-2017. We currently have six employees.

What challenge were you trying to address with Devico?

They helped us prototype and build a web application for document management.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We mainly used the React and Node.js technology stacks to build the app. We had ordinary agile sprints, with deliverables for each one.

What is the team composition?

We started with just one developer, but we scaled up mid-process, adding three developers, two QA engineers, and a project manager. We worked with one of their owners as well.

How did you come to work with Devico?

We found one of their team members on GitHub as we were looking for specific technologies.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $120,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Devico in early 2017, and the project lasted more or less one year.

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

They built a document management application from the ground up, and we’ve seen an impact. As with every development process, there’ve been some issues and bugs that we had to solve on the way, but there was nothing really striking. We also had some issues due to changes in requirements, but all in all, the work was quite good.

How did Devico perform from a project management standpoint?

We started off by handling project management ourselves, but we then hired one of their managers, which smoothened the overall performance. We used Jira and GitHub for regular sprint organization, and we also had daily Slack or phone conversations.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What had the biggest impact on our business was their flexibility. Whenever we needed something, Devico was able to double up the work within two weeks. They were always flexible and able to adapt to our current business situation.

Are there any areas they could improve?

With international collaborations, some issues can get lost in translation. This means that we’ve had to put a lot of effort into defining tickets properly in order to make the scope of the expected situation understood.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

The good thing about working with Devico was that we could start with a smaller team in order to see if the individuals fit our own management skills. They were very flexible in adapting or changing the current team so that they could actually grow with our business requirements. This is why it’s important to have proper project management from the start.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product manager at a software as a service (SaaS) company. We work with natural language processing and artificial intelligence to provide the best search experience for our customers, which are consumer goods companies. Our services consist of search and library functions in which client reports get automatically classified.

What challenge were you trying to address with Devico?

We had difficulties recruiting good developers in a short amount of time. While we were looking for people to have on site, we were widely searching for consultants that could start immediately.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, the plan was to only work on development, but a QA specialist ended up helping us as well. Their team mainly worked on frontend tasks, and we still use their QA services for another project.

What is the team composition?

There were two frontend developers and a QA person assigned.

How did you come to work with Devico?

We reached out through different channels. When talking to Devico and learning about their previous work, we chose them over the other providers.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April until September 2018.

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

The work they delivered exceeded our expectations. We don’t have metrics in place yet because the project is still at a pretty early stage, but their code quality is great. Their development work is currently in use by our customers. Overall, we’re delighted with the collaboration.

How did Devico perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a support mailbox where all main discussions took place. They also had a dedicated person that we could talk to. Communication was great; we used Jira and Slack, among other programs. They were willing to participate in our daily standups and responded very well during the entire project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I think it’s great that they form their own small teams, which work together to help each other out. They’re very dedicated to their work, are responsive outside office hours, and are willing to work overtime if necessary. They’re very thorough in what they do and make sure that what is marked as completed is actually completed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The two developers could be a little more consultative. The QA specialist is really good.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Their process is efficient thanks to the timesheets they use. Make sure they have dedicated resources, and if there’s more than one, request for them to be in the same location.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Project manager and product owner

For what projects/services did your company hire Devico?

need specialised PWA developers

What were your goals for this project?

delivery the product on time and on quality.

How did you select this vendor?

We have been working with Devico in the past, and they have tractable record of good delivering history.

Describe the project in detail.

full stack development for PWA App and WebApp.

What was the team composition?

2 full full stack JS developers

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

The MVP product is delivered as scoped.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

it is smooth and effective for the collaboration between our product design team and development team.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They have highly skilled developers who are available in a short period of time.

Are there any areas for improvement?

not that i am aware of, will work again.