DRUM'N'CODE

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the co-founder of a center of influence e-commerce platform where professionals like interior designers, wedding planners, and personal trainers can make personalized, monetizable recommendations of retail products to their clients. This is the first kind of vertical that we’re launching in the wedding industry. 

Our platform allows customers to narrow down their choices of furniture, for example, to what is recommended by professional interior designers. This way, they wouldn’t need to sift through options for hours on end. They can also create a custom mood board, similar to the function of Pinterest, and purchase items directly from our website.

What challenge were you trying to address with DRUM’N’CODE?

It's been a struggle for us to find good developers who can give consistent services and results. We needed technical expertise to be able to build out the front and backend of our platform, so we turned to DRUM’N’CODE.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The work involved debugging the platform itself, which is written in Laravel. The other half of the project entailed adding new features such as the Stripe payment gateway. We also asked DRUM’N’CODE to code the UI/UX of our platform. We threw a variety of things their way, which they were able to accommodate through their capacity for full-stack development. They reviewed our existing documents in Jira and our frontend design works in InVision and took over from there. 

What is the team composition?

We work with 2–3 different developers from DRUM’N’CODE at any given time, but we’ve worked with around five different people over the course of the last year. Our most recent point of contact is Igor (Project Manager).

How did you come to work with DRUM’N’CODE?

Originally found them on Upwork and ultimately decided to hire them because of their good ratings and the effort that they put into their initial response. We had invited 15–20 agencies to put together a proposal and out of all of them, DRUM’N’CODE was the most committed to going above and beyond for the job. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested at least $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Started working together in January 2021 and the project is still ongoing.

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

We found it difficult to get to a point where our website could be monetizable, but DRUM’N’CODE has helped us effectively create a cash flow through the platform. It has been thanks to their debugging work that the final elements of our payment system were finally put into place, resulting in our customers being able to link their bank accounts and make on-site purchases. 

How did DRUM’N’CODE perform from a project management standpoint?

The project manager far exceeded my expectations with his commitment. I work a full-time job outside of this project and I thought that it would just be a hand-off type of engagement. The DRUM’N’CODE team, however, regularly asks me to review their sprints. They have helped manage the story points which was something beyond what I thought their responsibilities were.

We have a pretty good documentation and project management process through Jira. We do most of our communication through Slack and utilize GitHub for the debugging tasks. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Each of the developers we've worked with has been proactive in finding bugs and making recommendations for the best way to improve the product. They really make the effort to find a solution, which is unique in the developer world where one would usually just does his tasks. DRUM’N’CODE going above and beyond their responsibilities has been absolutely beneficial for the platform. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The language barrier caused a few tasks to be misunderstood by the team, so it would do us good for them to make clarifications ahead of time. Other than that, however, there haven’t been any issues.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t hesitate to talk to DRUM’N’CODE because they do excellent work. Make sure that there’s a full understanding when it comes to the project, even with some minor things, lest a 15-minute fix stretch to a couple of hours. Just make sure that everyone's on the same page for specific tasks.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am an independent consultor that helps startups to allocate remote resources to accelerate their feature development.

For what projects/services did your company hire DRUM'N'CODE, and what were your goals?

One of my clients is Solucx, a Customer Experience startup with 100+ employees. Most of their dev team is allocated to maintain the application and they had a shortage of resources to implement new requirements and features. The goal for us to hire Drum'n'Code was to have dedicated resources to work and deploy high priority features.

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

We selected Drum'n'Code at Upwork. Deciding factors were: - Tech Stack Knowledge - Positive review rates - Price - Background

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

We have shipped two modules so far. The first one was what we called the "Activity Log Module". This is an interface in the back office application where users can visualize all activities users had performed in the platform. They can apply filters, sort, and see metadata about every user action.

We received the design and specification from Solucx, the client, estimated the work and started the execution running 1-week sprints. We allocated 1 BE, 1 FE and 1 Tech Lead to the project. It took 6 weeks for the module to be fully implemented and handed over to Solucx. We are now following the same approach for a module called "targets and events definition". This module implementation is expected to be finished in the upcoming week.

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

4 people: - Front End Developer - Back End Developer - Tech Lead - Project Manager

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

The measurable outcomes were the functional modules as per the client's requirements. Solucx now have a functional log activity module available for their 130+ clients. Events module is also functional. Overall the quality of the deliveries is very good, the team is responsive and the implementation velocity is stable.

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

They actually fit within my project management style. They were provided access to the client's Jira environment. We use a Kanban to track the feature's implementation and run weekly rounds of QA. We use Slack for offline communication. We communicate offline on a daily basis and we have weekly calls to retro the previous week and plan the upcoming deliverables. They've also helped with documentation in confluence which is also very appreciated.

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

How they fill the gaps. Sometimes, specification is not ideal and the logic is not entirely clear. They are proactive in pointing out gaps and suggesting solutions to keep the project moving forward.

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

I would appreciate having more contact with Devs directly in the call. As they don't have full dominance of English, we centralize the communication in the tech lead. It is not a huge pain, though.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a project manager of a software development company that has been in existence for around 15 years.

What challenge were you trying to address with DRUM’N’CODE?

We have a fairly large client that needed an overhaul of their existing web experience. We were very busy with other projects, and most of our technology stack was different from what this particular client required. Thus, we needed expert Symfony developers to help us not only with this project but also with the projects of other clients that also used Symfony.

This particular project was for a UK-government-funded service that assists people with special needs. Their site was out of date, and it needed to be brought up to new standards.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially hired a team to help us with the design and implementation of a new website, and they did an okay job, but we decided that it wasn’t good enough. DRUM’N’CODE took over the project, remade the designs, recreated the site’s specifications, and essentially overhauled the previous developers’ work, doing a far better job.

They then executed all the design specifications, and they were able to work under severe time constraints. We had around 12 weeks of significant development time, ending on a hard deadline that they were able to meet.

We initially provided the other developers with a detailed specification document for them to create the segments, so we provided DRUM’N’CODE with both the specifications and the segments created by the other company. They were also able to see that those segments weren’t good enough, so they helped us brainstorm new design ideas.

They also suggested new ideas about additional functionality and features that could be included on this site. Then, we collaborated to create the improvements’ documentation so that we could execute those improvements in a short timeframe. Finally, they were in charge of the QA before deploying the final product.

Thanks to the success of this project, DRUM’N’CODE is now working with us on other projects for local and Fortune 500 clients of ours on an ongoing basis, and they’ve continued doing maintenance work for the first project. Among the technologies that they’ve used are Symfony and JavaScript. We’ve also used Jira and Slack.

What is the team composition?

I work directly with Igor (Project Development Manager) from DRUM’N’CODE. He works directly with the developers to ensure that they understand our high-level specifications. We’ve also talked with Bodgan (CTO).

How did you come to work with DRUM’N’CODE?

We found them on Upwork. We sometimes use Upwork when we need to extend our team’s capacity, and we found them to have a very good profile.

DRUM’N’CODE weren’t the only candidates for this role; we interviewed four other agencies. Igor and Bodgan were part of the initial interviews, where we got to know them before we decided that they were the best option for us. They clearly understood our needs, and they were very good communicators.

How much have you invested with them?

During the peak of development, we were spending around $7,000–$8,000 per week, but we spend around $3,000 per week at the moment. Averaging $5,000 per week for the last 16 weeks, we’ve spent around $80,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around May 2021, and our engagement is ongoing.

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

The initial project had several deadlines where I needed to present the deliverables to a consortium and two other groups of people. They then evaluated if the design and deliverables met their expectations. Various times during those presentations, the consortium was really excited and happy with the deliverables. Additionally, they were very impressed with how we took their previous website and completely redesigned it into a very clean, attractive, and fast-operating site.

DRUM’N’CODE was also able to complete the entire initial project without much technical intervention from our side, which was great. Since the project went live, the feedback from the consortium and the people who are using the website has been overwhelmingly positive, proving that the project was successful. This result will lead to more projects from this particular service.

How did DRUM’N’CODE perform from a project management standpoint?

DRUM’N’CODE’s project management is very good. Their project manager and upper management are in a shared Slack channel with us, and they’re really quick at responding to questions or attending to issues.

In the last few weeks before the release of the first project, their team decided to make a significant amount of changes. This meant that everyone had to cancel holidays, work the weekends, and put in more effort on regular working days than usual. However, they were happy to do that, and they understood that this effort would lead to greater things. They definitely went the extra mile to complete the project on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

DRUM’N’CODE’s communication and technical skills are impressive. They care about the project as much as we do, and they’re as responsive as I would be if I were leading this project. It has been reassuring to know that I can just give a task to the project manager, and I can see the tickets moving through Jira.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing I can think of that they could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re looking to develop a website that uses Symfony, I recommend getting in touch with DRUM’N’CODE immediately.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are an online marketplace website based in Latin America. I am the founder of this company and business.

For what projects/services did your company hire DRUM'N'CODE, and what were your goals?

We required the development of the e-commerce marketplace platform. The goal of drumnbass was to take our designs and product flow charts and convert them into a functional website and app. We required drumncode to Project Manage the development team, Develop the front and backend elements of the website, develop the apps and also write all documentation relating to the code and functionality of the products.

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

I had some previous experience working with this team for a company that I worked for in the past. I was pleased with their results and work ethics, so I decided to use them again for my own project.

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

After reviewing the designs and flow charts, drumncode decided to use existing marketplace software (aimeos) for the project. They decided this would be better than coding from scratch for my budget and target dates for launch. We agreed on specific target dates for different milestones and so far they have been met without issue.

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

Currently there are 3 people working on the project - Project Manager, Front end developer, Back end developer. I am planning to also use 1 or 2 additional developers when we begin building the apps.

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

We have not launched the product yet, but so far I am very happy with the quality and speed of the work.

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

We communicate on Slack when questions arise, and we have weekly meetings to discuss what was acheived and what is planned for the coming week. We also use Figma to communicate on specific design elements with my designer, since this is more practical. For the developers, we are using Jira and Confluence to track tasks and ensure functionality is explained correctly for the developers to understand the requirements.

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

They have very good communication, especially the use of Jira and Confluence to manage tasks and workflow. I was promised senior developers and I have senior developers working on the project. Both developers will also chat with me directly or within the group in Slack, which is impressive since this is not always the case.

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

I cannot think of any areas of improvement. I am very happy with this team.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work full time at a professional accounting firm & I engaged DNC to assist with building a passion project of mine. Something I've been wanting to make for 2 years

For what projects/services did your company hire DRUM'N'CODE, and what were your goals?

DNC oversaw the complete build of my website from idea to finalization. They did so in an efficient and effective manner by making smart use of the API provider and making a intutive UI layout. The completed the task on time as promised for me

How did you select DRUM'N'CODE and what were the deciding factors?

DNC had revelant experience building this type of live scoring website I was looking for. Upon review of their other website builds, it was clear they had the right experience to do my job. The cost was great without cutting back on quality which is not common for overseas developers

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

The project was delivered on time with high quality and effective costs; they identified what was most important to me.

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

UI Designed Project Manager Full stack developer CTO CEO

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

I have received very positive feedback on my website design and functionality to date from users so far.

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

We communicated as frequently as I needed over slack, google calls, whats-app & other channels as needed. They made them selves available for me on weekends and even public holidays

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

They are all in house - so you can tell they work together and share their skills with one another. It makes it efficient

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

Everything was great - they gave suggestions on how to make my website better than my original design

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the managing director at a biotech company.

For what projects/services did your company hire DRUM'N'CODE, and what were your goals?

Drum'n'code was hired to develop a new website from scratch.

How did you select DRUM'N'CODE and what were the deciding factors?

They were very responding and seemed very professional. Their rate was competitive. On top of that, I had a good feeling.

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

Rebuild of a website from 0. I don't know which technology they use

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

2 people I think. Not sure about their position My main contact is Igor.

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

The website is not launched yet but I know from the designer that it's on good progress. So far, I am very satisfied with the quality of their work.

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

We communicate via Jira. They are very proactive in communication and they communicate in a very structured way. Every step must be well described and understood before continuing. That's what I appreciate with them

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

As I said, they are professional, they have a very good communication approach. They seem good at website development but we'll evaluate this at the end of the project :)

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

I don't see any areas for improvement I am totally satisfied and I recommend this company.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder of White Elephant Agency. We’re a design studio that works with emerging tech and start-up companies across the world to develop websites, web apps, and products.

What challenge were you trying to address with DRUM’N’CODE?

We work with a variety of companies at different stages in their development, so we needed a partner whose supporting capabilities were robust. Our work requires full-stack expertise and knowledge of several different technologies.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our most recent project, which has just launched, was a landing site for a conference. DRUM’N’CODE worked under a strict timeline and developed both the first and second versions. 

We supplied designs through our portal using InVision and Zeppelin, which DRUM’N’CODE would apply using React and send updates throughout the day. We would provide feedback, and the cycle would continue for a few days until we’d accomplished our goals.

What is the team composition?

My main of contact is Alex (PHP Developer, DRUM’N’CODE). I also work with Samir (Project Manager, DRUM’N’CODE) on various projects as well as another member of their team.

How did you come to work with DRUM’N’CODE?

I found DRUM’N’CODE on Upwork as a freelancer. Our partnership has extended over the years to a project-by-project basis. 

How much have you invested in them?

We have invested just under $25,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

I began working with DRUM’N’CODE in December 2018, and the work is still ongoing.

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

DRUM’N’CODE always provides a few options in terms of how to go about projects. That feature of their work allows us to bring choices to our own clients with flexible price points and timelines. 

Also, the team is always open to feedback and is accommodating if we’re not satisfied with the deliverable and want some revisions.

How did DRUM’N’CODE perform from a project management standpoint?

The team has performed well in terms of communication and providing us with their expertise, especially in cases when clients come to us without a clear idea of what they want.

We do a lot of our communication with them through Slack, Skype, and Pastel. We provide any additional supporting materials through Asana.

What did you find most impressive about them?

DRUM’N’CODE has been extremely accommodating during our partnership. Their ability to understand which workflows and processes are required by different projects stands out. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve had a few challenges in terms of QA where we’ve had to bear the brunt of miscommunications on deliverables, but we’ve already seen a lot of improvement in that area.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you have periodical check-ins and say on top of project management and deadlines.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a non-profit organization called TRAVEL WITH A MISSION (TWAM), which objective is basically to help people be useful around the world.

For what projects/services did your company hire DRUM'N'CODE?

We hired Drum'n'code to develop our Twaming platform, which is a platform helping those who want to share some knowledge, skills or experience to find structures where they can do so.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals for the projects were to put together those who want to share and those who want to receive in order to facilitate cross-cultural exchange as well as access to education.

How did you select this vendor?

We found Drum'n'code through Upwork platform.

Describe the project in detail.

On one hand, you have the Twamers, the individuals who want to share some knowledge, skills or experience. On the other hand, you have the Twamhosts who are providing an audience for Twamers. Thanks to the platform, Twamers can find Twamhosts and vice-versa.

What was the team composition?

There was a team leader who was constantly in touch with us. There were also some other people to help with the design and other developments.

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

We are happy of the work done by Drum'n'code. They listened well to our requirements and did their best to make things happen the way we wanted. They are also present to make sure the platform works the way it should. We hired them afterwards for another project, which is a sign that we are satisfied.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The communication skills were very good. Everyone I dealt with spoke very good english. They tried to answer our needs as fast as possible.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their customer care. They're always happy to answer our requests, and they try their best to be pleasant and effective.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Drum'n'code is still a young company and they are still learning by doing. The efficiency and the doublechecking can be improved but overall, I am really satisfied.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Head of Engineerings, so I'm overseeing the engineering team and projects

For what projects/services did your company hire DRUM'N'CODE, and what were your goals?

Various development projects for our in-house developed application. Some projects are on-going and/or large, some are smaller one-off projects. They cover both frontend and backend development, as well as QA.

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

We spoke to the team at DRUM'N'CODE and they understood what we needed and had the skills. We also read the existing reviews which were all very good.

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

Generally we provide as much information as possible up front, anything missing they ask for. The team would then work through the projects, fitting into the project structure our in-house team uses. They've been able to meet deadlines and deliver with high quality.

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

We have three backend developers, two frontend developers, a QA and a designer.

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

We've been through a number of major product updates with them, and the results have always been well received

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

We hold daily stand-ups and go through the standard sprint process. They easily fit in with this and are able to use the tools that we use in-house.

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

They've been able to provide well documents processes when required, even without asking for them.

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

Nothing

Please describe your company and your position there.

Small online agency

For what projects/services did your company hire DRUM'N'CODE, and what were your goals?

We needed experienced Wordpress developers that would help us in developing custom functionality and some other customization.

How did you select DRUM'N'CODE and what were the deciding factors?

We decided to go with Drum'n'Code as they were very repsonsive in their communication, goal oriented and experienced.

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

We started a solidarity project during first Corona lockdown. So we needed a hands on fast crew to help us. As we had good experiences with Drum'n'code in the past, we hired them again.

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

We worked with two guys form Drum'n'code. The collaboration was efficient and clear in communication.

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

They delivered fast and to our satisfaction

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

The main tool was/is Trello and Messages. Works fine for us.

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

They are communication and goal-oriented.

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

While everything is great, we had one or two missunderstandings which led to inefficency in the project