Embedded/Hardware/IoT/Robotics/Linux/RTOS
We are an electronics design company based in Ukraine which makes the full design of the devices from scratch.
- Architecture design of the system/project (Block diagram, Flowchart diagram, UML ... )
- Hardware design digital electronics (Microcontrollers Microprocessors, FPGA..), analog electronics
- Embedded development C/C++ design (ARM, LPC, STM32, Atmel cortex M0/M3, Atmel AVR, Nordic NRF52, Silicon Lab efr32, Linux, RTOS ...)
- Mechanical design (metal mechanical parts, enclosure design ...)
- Desktop Software (C#, C/C++, QT, QML, Python, JavaScript NodeJs ...)
- Server Software (C#, Asp.net, C++, Python, JavaScript NodeJs ...)
- Web Application (html5, CSS, JavaScript ...)
Focus
Recommended Providers
Portfolio

A car controller with Display and touchscreen
The device demonstrates a concept to control a car by Wires and BLE. The device was designed how a concept to demonstrate how it works. (Designed Hardware, firmware and enclosure)

Smart home controller and Mobile App
The device with a round display and Mobile App basically do the same things. Connects to a few different devices by BLE in the home : smart bath (the batch with own controller which has BLE and Wifi control), Temperature controller (control heating in the house), etc ...

The device for the remote tables booking
The device was designed for remote booking time: in banks, restaurants (table), coworkings, etc...
It has the next interfaces: NFC, RFID 125-128 kHz, Wifi, BLE, Ethernet, USB C ....

Smart BLE/Etherent controller for the BMS
The device and Mobile App were designed for the remote control a lot of BMS by Ethernet Mqtt/Http + SSL/TLS protocols.
The device has: Ethernet, RS485, RS232, BLE , NFC tag (for fast BLE connect ), CAN (for BMS control )

IoT smart system to control Gas
The device basically is controlling gas doze and take values from a lot of analog sensors, send/receive control information to a server by Wifi/Ethernet/USB - to PC.

Dev kit based on NRF52840 and Allwiner H3 MPU
There are smart dev kit, which includes the next parts: LTE MOdem from Quectel EG91, nrf52 BLE mcu, IMU-6 sensors, heart rate sensor, wireless charging, external small display, LPDDR3 memory, EMC 8 GB memory, speaker, microphone ...

Linux Gateway with ZigBee, LTE, WIFI, Ethernet channels
The device is an industrial Gateway which has the next channels: ZigBee, LTE, WIFI, Ethernet channels. It takes data from the external device by ZigBee, BLE and pushes data to the cloud by Wifi/LTE/Ethernet. There are a few supported clouds by default: AWS, Azure, IBM Watsons

Hardware/Software design Linux based smart home Gateway
There is the smart home Gateway with SubGiga + custom protocol, BLE RF protocols to control external nodes (temperature sensors, humidity sensors, dampers ...) and Wifi (MQTT/HTTP + SSL) protocol to communicate with cloud (AWS)
Reviews
the project
IoT Development for Utility Monitoring Solutions Company
“They’ve thoroughly exceeded expectations in every dimension.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the CEO of PowerX. We provide sensors and AI measuring water, gas, and electricity in many countries worldwide.
What challenge were you trying to address with Droid Technologies?
We needed help with the complete design of our sensor suite.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Droid Technologies provides us with IoT development services. They’re helping us design our sensor suite using C, Embedded C, ATRIUM for hardware design, and 3D CAD for mechanical design.
What is the team composition?
We started working with one developer from Droid Technologies, and now we collaborate with 15 developers from their team. Additionally, we work with a project manager, though their involvement is limited because we use our own project managers.
How did you come to work with Droid Technologies?
We found them on Upwork, and we initially hired them for a small project.
How much have you invested with them?
So far, we’ve spent around $500,000. We pay them $28 per hour.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together around January 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
I’m extremely satisfied with Droid Technologies. First of all, their work ethic is simply mindblowing; they’re from Ukraine, and even with the Russian Invasion, they only took 1–2 days off to relocate. The team saved our equipment from their lab and drove it to a different city, and by the next day, they were up and working.
Secondly, they really know their stuff, and the quality of their work is outstanding. The team delivers code quality equal to or better than other consultants that charge us ten times their price. We work with another company, and when they reviewed Droid Technologies’ code, we had to let go of several consultants from the other company because their code quality wasn’t up to par.
Moreover, the result works, and we now have a product that we can manufacture. We’ve made $10 million in revenue thanks to their work. Although there are some challenges to working with an offshore partner, such as the language barrier and shipping material to Ukraine, these are minor inconveniences. Besides, Droid Technologies tries to mirror our work hours despite the time difference between us. No matter how we measure success, their work is incredible.
I have nothing but amazing things to say about Droid Technologies. They’re amazing beyond the standard, going beyond even business — they’re working at a risk to their lives. I doubled their rate for four weeks after the Russian Invasion started to show my appreciation for their fantastic work. They’ve thoroughly exceeded expectations in every dimension.
How did Droid Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?
We’ve faced challenges with English communication with their project manager. However, the team knows exactly what they need to do; they communicate well internally and pick up on what’s required. While the official route of their project management isn't ideal, we’ve had very few problems when it comes to getting things done.
We have standup meetings twice a week. GitHub and Notion are our project management tools with an Agile methodology, including sprints. As for communication, Google Meet, Zoom, Slack, and email are our primary tools. They communicate directly with one of our factories via email.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I’m impressed with Droid Technologies’ work ethic combined with the quality they deliver. Even though they’re a contractor, they act like our employees. They're offshore and have the same quality as onshore engineers. Overall, their work ethic blows me off my feet, and so does the quality of their work.
Are there any areas they could improve?
They could improve their project management. Although the project manager is lovely, we struggle to understand his English at times. However, this issue is minor because we’ve had very few misses.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
My advice is to make sure you communicate clearly and daily with Droid Technologies so it’s clear what they have to do. Other than that, count yourself lucky to work with them! I’ve worked with over 200 contractors in this company, and Droid Technologies is the best contracting agency I’ve worked with.
the project
Hardware Design & IoT Development for Oil & Gas Company
“Droid Technologies’ documentation, code quality, hardware development, and communication have all been fantastic.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the director of production and quality at PayGo Energy. We’re involved in developing IoT devices to enable wider access to clean cooking through technology. I manage IoT, hardware, electronics, and firmware development. Our main focus at the moment is the development of a smart meter.
What challenge were you trying to address with Droid Technologies?
We hired them to help us develop our smart meter. The goal was to encourage customers to migrate away from dirty fuels like kerosene and charcoal to LPG, which is cheaper, healthier, and cleaner.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Droid Technologies is our hardware design provider; we developed our smart meter in conjunction with them. They helped us create the product from scratch, advising us on what components to use. From there, they built an architecture by designing the electronics. Then, they developed the firmware using C and C++. The team used Altium for hardware design.
The meter sits on top of a cooking cylinder and has pay-as-you-go services, enabling customers to buy very small amounts of LPG, even one gram. Our customers don’t have the capital to buy a complete cylinder, so our solution removes the need for large upfront costs, allowing payments as small as 10 cents. The device uses cellular connectivity that receives payment information and activates a valve. Once the credit has run out, the valve closes, and the customer has to top up again.
Additionally, we sometimes engage Droid Technologies to help us optimize a reference design to make it more cost-effective. For example, they used one of our reference designs to develop next-generation hardware for us that was cheaper and quicker to produce so we could get to market faster.
What is the team composition?
I have direct contact with Sergii (CEO), a project manager, and the developers.
How did you come to work with Droid Technologies?
I wasn’t involved in searching for a provider; one of the co-founders of our company found them. We had extensive relationships with Ukrainian companies because some of our original designs happened there, so Droid Technologies was introduced to our co-founder through a word-of-mouth referral.
How much have you invested with them?
So far, we’ve spent over $80,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together in Q1 2018, and the engagement is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Thanks to Droid Technologies, our hardware development cycle has been reduced by 30%–40%, which is huge. This is mainly because of Droid Technologies’ quick design services. However, they also have the capability to do rapid prototypes in-house, allowing them to find issues and iterate on their designs very quickly, which enables us to approach the market faster. Additionally, the cost of our electronic hardware has been reduced by 20%–25% with their help.
Overall, Droid Technologies’ documentation, code quality, hardware development, and communication have all been fantastic.
How did Droid Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?
They always deliver on time and within budget. We’ve never had a situation where there have been substantial delays. Moreover, delays have often been caused by our company moving slowly, and a 1–2 day delay is not a big deal to me. They use Jira, Trello, and Bitbucket for project management. We also use Google Drive to share documentation.
Droid Technologies is extremely responsive; we use email for basic communication, and I’ve talked to them over Skype. We also have their developers in our Slack workspace, where we have instant messaging with them. Since we communicate with the developers directly, we can directly give them our technical requirements, which is great. The project manager only jumps in if there’s a scheduling conflict. That’s very rare, though; they serve our requests in excellent and timely manners most of the time.
What did you find most impressive about them?
The quality of Droid Technologies’ work and the knowledge of their engineers are impressive. The rate that they charge us is also fantastic. I’ve worked with similar design houses in North America, and Droid Technologies’ level of service is on par with them and, in some cases, even better.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I can’t think of anything they need to improve.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Don’t hesitate to contact them! Droid Technologies is legit; they provide quality work, and I’m sure they’ll help any organization that decides to work with them.
the project
Automation Software Dev for Industrial Systems Manufacturer
“They deliver on time and follow every estimate they give.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the CEO of Bioforcetech Corporation. We design and build industrial systems to transform waste into valuable products.
What challenge were you trying to address with Droid Technologies?
We’re developing a modern automation system for industrial machines, and we’ve asked Droid to design the electronics for it, along with the firmware for the electronics. Our goal is to build stable modules to control industrial machines.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Droid is developing the automation system using the C programming language. The firmware development has also been done using the same language. In terms of functionality, this product utilizes and manages analog and digital sensors.
The team has also designed and tested our printed circuit boards (PCB). The electronics boards are made in China and are shipped to Droid for testing — that’s the kind of maintenance they provide.
What is the team composition?
I’ve worked with a total of six people from Droid. We work directly with the CEO and the project manager. Our team also collaborates with four engineers; two on the hardware side and two on the software side.
How did you come to work with Droid Technologies?
We searched for vendors online. Our team interviewed 5–6 firms for the job, and the Droid team seemed to be the most qualified one. They were serious in the way they presented themselves and their past projects that were similar to ours. They also had a team that seemed diverse enough in every aspect. As a result, we started engaging them.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve spent between $20,000–$25,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We’ve been working together since July 2020, and the engagement is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
I measure the project’s success based on the deliverables and the timeliness of Droid’s delivery. So far, the team has been great in both things. They deliver on time and follow every estimate they give. Moreover, their resources reply within 24 hours if we have any problems. The product itself has also been successful.
How did Droid Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?
Droid’s project management is perfect. To communicate, we mainly used phone calls, emails, and video conferences.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They have plenty of experience. Droid also has a diverse team that knows many different aspects of development. When developing a hardware product, a team needs to have strong knowledge of firmware and hardware of different kinds — the Droid team covers everything.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, there aren’t any.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
If you’re in the same field as our company, go with Droid. Their knowledge diversity, timeliness, and responsiveness are great.
the project
Motherboard Design & Firmware Dev for IT Provider
“We’re 100% satisfied with their work; they’ve exceeded our expectations.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m a manager at an IT provider for smart work zones.
What challenge were you trying to address with Droid Technologies?
We needed help with custom software development and motherboard design.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Droid Technologies assisted us in creating our flagship product. They helped the owner of the company design a custom motherboard that allows 4–5 very miniaturized implements to be used on it, which hadn’t been seen in our industry before.
The team gave us suggestions for the motherboard’s component layout. The motherboard combines a Doppler radar, a 4G modem, and an LCD into one unit that allows us to deploy our product as a single, standalone, small unit that doesn’t require a trailer anymore. The product also uses 900 MHz radio technology.
Once the motherboard was designed, Droid Technologies assisted with providing firmware for it, which they continue to do on an ongoing basis. They’ve provided suggestions for the firmware’s capabilities, and they continuously update and revamp it to better address emerging issues within the technology.
The team programs in Python. We provided them with a computer where they installed all the necessary programming implements. They networked into that, so they have a local device on the American cell network despite being offshore.
What is the team composition?
I’ve worked with three programmers from Droid Technologies, and the owner of our company has worked with at least two more programmers and one person on the hardware design.
How did you come to work with Droid Technologies?
Although my company has been working with them since before I joined, I believe the owner found Droid Technologies through research. They’ve been working with the company for 5–6 years.
How much have you invested with them?
So far, we’ve spent around $220,000–$250,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together midway through 2016, and the engagement is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and the motherboard’s implementation, our workload doubled every year due to the innovative nature of our product. The best measure of Droid Technologies’ success is that they’ve completely changed the game for us regarding workload.
Moreover, their programming is amazing, and they found an innovative approach to working with our local equipment while being an offshore company. As a company, Droid Technologies isn’t worried about who does what, only that it gets done well. They’re still working despite the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, which boggles the mind. Overall, we’re 100% satisfied with their work; they’ve exceeded our expectations.
How did Droid Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?
They’re amazing at project management. Any time we’ve told them we needed something by a specific time, they’ve come through and done it. As for communication, we use Slack, email, and occasionally DevOps tools.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Droid Technologies’ greatest strength is their ability to respond to requests rapidly. If we ask them to do something, it doesn’t take them six months of meetings to decide if they can; they either tell us it’s impossible or do it within a day or so.
Are there any areas they could improve?
The only area where they have improvement opportunities is on the coordination side. However, they’re already addressing that issue; we didn’t use to have a project manager, and Droid Technologies has recently added one.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Any company asking for software or hardware should clearly define what they want.
the project
Custom Firmware Dev for Silicon Valley Startup
"Our experience with them has been excellent so far."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the founder and CEO of a Silicon Valley startup.
What challenge were you trying to address with Droid Technologies?
We needed someone to write a custom firmware.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Droid Technologies is helping us build a home IoT product that’s intended to mitigate damage from water leaks. This product involves a piece of hardware that clamps onto the water shutoff valve, and it senses whether water is flowing and actuating the valve.
We’ve designed the hardware and the sensing algorithm, and are outsourcing the development of the firmware to Droid Technologies.
Moreover, the hardware is based around an expressive ESP32 chip for Wi-Fi connectivity, and the core algorithms are running on an STM32 processor. We’re also utilizing Amazon AWS for cloud services.
What is the team composition?
We’re working with a firmware engineer and a program manager.
How did you come to work with Droid Technologies?
Our VP of engineering found Droid Technologies, so I’m not quite sure how our relationship got started.
How much have you invested with them?
So far, we’ve spent somewhere between $25,000–$50,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
Our ongoing partnership started in March 2021.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The most qualitative feedback we can give is how efficient they are in developing the product. We divided the project into two phases and they presented us with estimates of the number of man-hours required to complete each phase — the actual results wound up being within 20% of the estimates.
How did Droid Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?
They perform well from a project management perspective and they communicate fluently, despite the language barrier.
We typically interact through Slack and utilize GitHub for the repository.
What did you find most impressive about them?
We’re impressed by the quality of their software and considering the complexity of the product, we’ve had very few bugs that were quickly identified and resolved.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I can’t think of anything they need to improve on because our experience with them has been excellent so far.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
To prevent misunderstandings, we set up weekly conference calls so I advise you to communicate with them on a regular basis to make sure your project is always on track.
the project
Developer Augmentation for Audio Tech Company
"The team is flexible in dealing with unfortunate hardware shortages and component and software library changes."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I’m a technical manager of an audio technology company in the US. We build proprietary hardware and software.
For what projects/services did your company hire Droid Technologies, and what were your goals?
We needed a development partner for firmware and electronics development for a new consumer product. Our goals were to outsource a large amount of the development to leverage external expertise and to prevent stretching our internal resources. We also had design and architecture goals to ensure cohesion with our existing codebase and development strategy.
How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?
We reviewed a number of other vendors and ultimately selected Droid Technologies based on their availability, cost, positive reviews, and an informative conversation with their CEO.
Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.
The firmware work required the integration of a variety of components and technologies, including communication with mobile and desktop apps, for a large number of use-cases. Some key steps were bring-up, audio i/o, data communication, API development, firmware update, use-case logic and testing. Technologies used included a multi-core DSP architecture, and numerous audio/data protocols. Deliverables were staged in terms of hardware availability, e.g. dev board bring up of specific functionality, EVT, certification, etc. The team is flexible in dealing with unfortunate hardware shortages and component and software library changes.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
We worked with up to four members of the vendor's team as full-time firmware developers, with one acting as lead developer. They have been very flexible to changing the size of the team according to our needs. We also worked with two of the vendor’s electronic engineers for assistance on PCB design and layout.
Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?
We have reached the stage of having functional prototypes in testing, with good results.
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
After issues with project management due to the complex and evolving nature of the project, we integrated the vendor's development team into our own project management structure - holding daily meetings, preparing tasks and organizing documentation, and communicating by Slack and Zoom. The vendor's team were able to adapt to our workflow and despite the time zone differences are very responsive. Their lead developer has been extremely helpful acting as Scrum master to facilitate organization and communication, including communication with other vendors.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
The flexibility to adapt to our workflow and the requirements of this project, and the responsiveness and dedication of the development team.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
Possibly due to a language barrier or the specific technical challenges of the project, there have been challenges with some developers in reading/writing documentation. This has placed an overhead on project management to research and define tasks to a higher level of detail in advance.
the project
IoT Dev for Consumer Electronics Company
"Droid Technologies is very flexible, and it's easy to change or add people to the teams."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
We are a company from the Netherlands focused on consumer / hobby electronics. I am one of the directors and mainly focused on new product development and our mobile application (iOS / Android)
For what projects/services did your company hire Creative Mules?
Droid Technologies is our hardware and software development partner. We started with a single project to rebuild one of our legacy products and during the project decided to make it smart and controllable through a mobile application. As this project was a huge success, we decided to move all of our hardware and software development to Droid Technologies. We are currently working on multiple projects with a team of 8 hardware and software developers.
How did you select Creative Mules?
After talking to a few vendors and having multiple calls with the management team from Droid Technologies, we decided to start with a single project and see if we would have a good business connection and the results we were looking for. The reason why we choose Droid Technologies was mainly because we spoke the same (business / technology) language and the contract we made was good for both parties. It's a young company and very flexible which is very important for us.
Currently, Droid Technologies is doing our hardware development, software development (C# and Xamarin) and they set up our azure web servers used for our mobile application. Together with us, we develop new products from scratch to a working prototype that we can order through our hardware supplier.
What was the team composition?
We have worked closely with one of the owners of Droid Technologies, project managers, hardware developers, software developers and the UX team that supported us for the design of the mobile application.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
We have successfully launched our first product and new mobile app, and it has been a great success. Customers are very happy and multiple firmware and mobile app updates are already done after the initial launch.
We are currently working on 3 new products that will also be connected through the new mobile app.
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
Droid Technologies is very flexible, and it's easy to change or add people to the teams. Requirements are discussed in the teams, and they give a lot of input on how we can do it best or if needed differently. We use Trello for our day-to-day work on task level, and internally they use Jira. Communication is done through Skype.
What did you find most impressive about this company?
Small improvements happen all the time, and they are open to feedback. We had a situation where we needed some improvement in overall project management and better streamlined communication. This was easily solved by a team member stepping up as and becoming a senior and be responsible for coordination and alignment with the overall project manager
the project
Custom Development for Mobility Aid Company
"We can talk to them about any function that we need."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
Our company is a small startup that does mobility devices for seniors. We have a hardware device and a full software stack on top of this device to collect data and do data analysis. We present those metrics to the users, caregivers, and medical professionals.
I’m the VP of software engineering. I wear multiple hats, but I mainly take care of all of the technology stack for embedded systems, cloud systems and infrastructure, cloud, mobile, and web applications, enterprise interface, and so on.
What challenge were you trying to address with Droid Technologies?
The challenge for us is to build custom hardware and do the embedded systems and cloud connectivity to make sure that everything is secured. Then, we also have to build the cloud infrastructure so we have a gateway that communicates the devices. In summary, we have to build web applications and a lot of infrastructures to serve the clients and keep them connected to those devices.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We work with Droid Technologies on multiple different projects. Our main project with them was about two years ago. We did a lot of embedded systems development and had a full-time engineer from their side serving us.
We’ve also done some hardware design, and now they’re doing a lot of electronic development and further development to our embedded systems.
We use C++ as a programming language for the cortex and microprocessors embedded systems. On the hardware side, we do Printing Circuit Board (PCB) design, component selection, and PCB layout and printing. Then, we do all of the confirmation and testing on hardware design.
What is the team composition?
We had a project manager, a development engineer, and a senior development engineer from their side, but the team basically goes up and down. We had 4–5 engineers working for the project, and then we scaled down to one. Towards the end of 2020, we went to less than one full-time position into a part-time agreement.
How did you come to work with Droid Technologies?
We found them through Upwork. One big challenge for us in the Bay Area is hiring good talent for small startups.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve spent a little above $100,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with them in October 2018, and we’re still engaged.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
One of the things that Droid Technologies did for us was building a bootloader, and they did it in 30% of the estimated time and budget compared to anybody else in the market. That would probably be their most impressive accomplishment.
How did Droid Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?
We mainly use Slack for project management and communication. There’s a huge gap in the time zone between Ukraine and the Bay Area, but they stay on top of it and are very responsive. We set our meetings and they log into our Slack channel. If we need to escalate things to the project manager, we just send a note, and they'll get back to us in less than 24 hours.
For the code base, they check it, and we see the code changes day by day.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I think it’s their expertise. A key thing they do is that they only assign people to their specialty. If they don’t have that talent available, they tell you. For example, we've reached out one time to get a software QA engineer specifically for product development, and now we can talk to them about any function that we need.
Are there any areas they could improve?
There’s always room for improvement, but I don’t have anything at the top of my mind right now.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Droid Technologies has the engineers, programmers, executors, and all of the talent, but you need to have a very solid plan. We didn’t actually get a lot of engineering management or infrastructure building from their side. As anybody who’s engaging with technology, they did spend some time on it at the beginning, but it’s better if you go there with a solid project because when they start executing it, they go far.
the project
Software Dev & Augmentation for Beverage Technology Company
“As opposed to companies that have expertise in a specific coding language, they’re comprehensive in their knowledge.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the principal engineer of Sestra Systems, which manufactures touchless smart dispensing systems for beverages, condiments, sanitizers, and other liquids.
What challenge were you trying to address with Droid Technologies?
We hired Droid Technologies for a couple of different development projects. They’ve generally augmented our team in writing Node.js and assisting with development operations.
What was the scope of their involvement?
They started with a well defined standalone C++ project that took on multiple enhancements.
Most of the time was spent helping us develop and enhance feature sets on a NodeJS project that included some bug-fixing. That software controlled our hardware’s beverage portion control system.
Another was for a hardware development; in that project, they were responsible for new hardware bring-up and developing embedded code. Droid Tech helped bring our hardware to an operational state.
How did you come to work with Droid Technologies?
One of our colleagues found them through a freelancing platform. They were available and cost-effective, so we decided to test their capabilities using a well-scoped project. We enjoyed their development proficiency, so we decided to leverage their skill set to help us bolster our company at a quicker pace.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve spent upwards of $100,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We brought them on in November 2018, and it’s an ongoing partnership.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The quality of their work, especially when things are well-scoped, is very good. Admittedly, the metrics that we use are a little more subjective. We operate a ticket system in our JIRA workflow, and we see how quickly we can move towards a final product without getting tickets rejected and placed back into the development phase.
They have both embedded and hardware developers that are in tune with the development workflow. Albeit working with a more c++ centric team, Node.js was a challenge they were still willing to take on.
How did Droid Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?
Their project manager helped us translate to their team, which is based in Kyiv, Ukraine. The verbal and communication were fairly seamless; we were able to integrate them into our Slack and Jira workflows pretty quickly. Whenever there was a disconnect in communication, their project manager would step in to properly coordinate the tasks.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their large team is made up of individuals with different areas of expertise. That’s been really helpful because as opposed to companies that have expertise in a specific coding language, they’re comprehensive in their knowledge.
Are there any areas they could improve?
They could improve a little on the quality of their code. Doing some internal, end-to-end testing on our products could help with that. Otherwise, they’re doing pretty good. We’re able to work iteratively to get them there.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Provide a goal set to drive deliverables, and it might be helpful to assign a project manager on your own end to oversee that.
the project
Software Development for Sports Technology Company
“This has been one of the best business relationships we’ve had with another company.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I'm the CEO of a sports technology company. We work with sports clubs and leagues, offering video analysis exchange systems and video review systems. Our team works with different leagues in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Denmark. We’re located in Bremen, Germany, which is in the northern part of the country. Currently, we have 10 developers and a couple of additional employees.
What challenge were you trying to address with Droid Technologies?
All of our developers were busy with other work, and we needed assistance on a project. We were also looking for particular skills in software development, and Droid Technologies had them.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Development was done in C, and the main task was reading serial data coming in through RS-232 and RS-485. We had to deal with different protocols in running information from scoreboard systems in sports arenas, from many different manufacturers.
Together with Droid Technologies, we built a system that works with many different scoreboards. One of them can translate serial data into a different format, which includes a graphics output or just data scoring. Their team also got the system ready to work with all those different vendors of scoreboards.
Droid Technologies also provided live support when new scoreboards went live. We didn’t have all the information during development, so there was some reverse engineering involved in this process. Due to that, we didn’t have a ready and perfect solution.
It was a bit difficult with the customer because we rarely had access to the system, it was usually just during games. Droid Technologies provided live support on the weekend and at late hours; they helped us a lot with the project.
What is the team composition?
There was one developer from their side and two developers from ours. We also hired a web developer, for a short period of time, to build a small web interface.
How did you come to work with Droid Technologies?
We found them online by searching for the technologies we needed for the task at hand. Droid Technologies is also focused on hardware development, and we’d previously met them in Kiev, Ukraine. The first contact was very good. They were friendly and had a lot of good ideas about what we could do.
Their team was not only capable of the technical parts but also handled project management and came up with ideas about the project. All of this convinced us that they had a lot of expertise — on top of our friendly interaction — so we engaged with them.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve spent a little over €50,000 (approximately $54,000 USD) so far.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with Droid Technologies in May 2019, and the work is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We’ve had to outsource this project three times so far to different companies, and Droid Technologies was the only one that really took care of the job. We’re very satisfied with their work.
Our company was founded in 2010, and this has been one of the best business relationships we’ve had with another company. It’s been very short, but the quality of the work is convincing, and they’re available all the time, including late hours and on weekends.
How did Droid Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?
We use GitHub to share code as well as Skype and email for communication. So far, we’ve mainly worked in smaller teams, which were completely outsourced or in-house. This time, we did the project with a couple of in-house people along with an external developer from Droid Technologies.
This helped us, in general, to improve the way we handle code and manage data in our system because we have to make it available to different parties. Droid Technologies suggested some solutions for that because they have a lot of experience dealing with customers. For us, this was a bit of a new situation. Until then, we had either developed everything on our own or outsourced entire projects.
One of the developers we’re working with is very good technically, and we can always reach out to Sergii (CEO). If we have a question, he always provides knowledge and ideas. It’s not only the developers we’ve hired that are available to us; the whole company provides additional resources.
We haven’t had any bumps or problems with Droid Technologies. Everything’s gone smoothly, and they're always available when we want to check-in. We’re very satisfied with their work.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Droid Technologies offers good rates compared to other developers. They’re not too expensive, but they still provide high-quality work. The value for our money is very good with them. We could always hire developers that cost $200 an hour and expect more because there’s always more.
For the amount we pay, we get very good work and I’d be happy to pay more — but don’t tell them that. Quality of work is one of the most important things for us, and it makes us happy in this business relationship.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, I can’t really think of anything.
Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?
Droid Technologies takes care of the job at hand. Clients should try and explain the whole project and give them more insight into it. With this input, Droid Technologies may possibly find a better solution than initially planned.
They have knowledge in different areas and a lot of experience. Don’t just give them a task and ask them to write a couple of lines of code, rather explain what needs to be achieved and what your business is. Then, they’ll contribute a lot more to the project.
Droid Technologies delivers exceptional code quality, and their work has enabled the client to make $10 million in revenue. The team goes above and beyond practically in every aspect, from scheduling to collaboration through GitHub and Notion. Their extraordinary work ethic has been a highlight.