not so traditional

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Data Content Manager of OfferZen

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a tech job marketplace connecting software developers with companies looking to scale their teams.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire not so traditional to accomplish?

• Create and release the new 2025 State of the South Africa developer nation data report and downloadable

SOLUTION

How did you find not so traditional?

Previous team member

Why did you select not so traditional over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned
• Previous experience of their high-quality work

How many teammates from not so traditional were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The State of the Developer Nation is South Africa's largest report and dataset on tech careers and salary trends in the country. The annual report is accessible as a webpage and a downloadable file that OfferZen hosts. 

The project involved creating, updating and debugging the environment we needed to create the report content and present the information through data visualisations. This included setting up the CMS instance, modifying the existing codebase to accommodate new feature requests and creating custom features based on user feedback. 

Once the project was setup and created, the scope expanded to assistance with testing, debugging and routing the page to an evergreen URL and moving the previous version of the report to a dated URL. 

Key deliverables: 

- The OfferZen data content team had a working CMS instance for the 2025 report. 
- The gated portion of the content is accessible through a working Hubspot form that integrates with our customer.io, Segment and Mixpanel accounts.
- Downloaded versions of the content correctly reflect in our Hubspot page and trigger the appropriate sales sequences based on the customer's chosen fields. 
- The live report page is bug-free and responsive to the best possible limits of the existing code base. 
- Custom and new features are delivered and working before the report launch, including updates to the download forms and changing the header image from an animation to a still image on the existing code base. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

1. The report launch was successful with no bugs or broken components. 
2. Tooling-related issues not within Not so traditional's original scope were resolved quickly. 
3. Custom and new features were adapted to work within the existing legacy codebase
4. Post-launch updates were made quickly allowing the team to adjust features based on user feedback 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Their project management was faultless. Work was delivered on time, and any potential delays were communicated early and alternative plans were made during the initial outreach. Technical issues were identified and discussed early and continuously, allowing us to adjust our plans to what was feasible with the existing codebase we use. 

They would proactively communicate the project status and ensure our marketing team was always in the loop and had opportunities to discuss work and clarify deliverables.  

What was your primary form of communication with not so traditional?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They regularly went above and beyond to help us achieve the project's goals with an ageing codebase and tech stack, while ensuring our customers had a responsive and user-friendly page despite these challenges. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something not so traditional could have done differently?

In all honesty, no. Ruben from not so traditional really understands this report and what it means to the dev community. That level of care was evident at each stage of the project and how he proactively worked with us to address bugs and technical limitations. I've worked with Ruben from not so traditional on 4 of these reports and he's been a key part of making them South Africa's largest and most used tech and career reports. I'd do it again for every future report.