Programmers.io

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a digital signage solutions provider.

What challenge were you trying to address with Programmers.io?

They’ve provided website and marketing assistance as well as software development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The primary work is the ongoing development and maintenance of our commercial software. Programmers.io is taking care of enhancements and bug fixes on an ongoing basis. The main technologies used are .NET and AngularJS. They’re also developing our marketing website.

What is the team composition? 

We’ve worked with one project manager and three developers from Programmers.io. I generally work with the project manager.

How did you come to work with Programmers.io?

They were local and were recommended to me by a few people.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $200,000–$250,000 into the digital signage software.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Programmers.io in May or June 2019, and it’s ongoing.

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

I don’t have any metrics to share, but Programmers.io has delivered everything we’ve asked for quickly. The quality is very good.

How did Programmers.io perform from a project management standpoint?

Once we’ve explained the requirement, they do their own research and deliver very fast. Typically, they’re able to do any website work within three cycles, or three rounds of going back and forth.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The turnaround time is the most impressive part.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The majority of the work happens offshore, which is always a challenge. Having a coordinator in the US would really help us, but their model doesn’t support that, at least not for lower-cost projects like ours. I’m pretty happy with the work itself.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I understand their culture, so this collaboration is easy for me. Any company in the US that wants to outsource to India should be aware of the fact that there are cultural and geographic boundaries. They need to be patient in the initial days in order to get the most out of the relationship toward the end. Once expectations are set straight, the output will increase dramatically.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Amberley Innovations exists to make business easier for SMEs. We do this through the intelligent automation and simplification of time consuming, error prone business processes. My role as Owner and MD is to ensure that our customers derive the maximum value for the lowest cost and help businesses focus on high value rather than mudane work.

For what projects/services did your company hire Programmers.io?

We employed Programmers.io to design and build our corporate web site AmberleyInnovations.com.

What were your goals for this project?

Our main goal objective was to replace our existing, out of date site with a fresh look that is easy to update and allows to build out content.

How did you select Programmers.io?

I had knowledge of the quality of work that Programmers.io had done in the past for businesses I had worked with. Having collected and interviewed a number of potential suppliers Programmers.io came on top of a scoring system based on project understanding, communcation, quality of references, and price.

Describe the project in detail.

Our brief was simple. Create a corporate website (AmberleyInnovations.com) that is fresh, eductates the reader, is SEO optimised and guides the customer to ask for more information.

What was the team composition?

There were multiple poeple involved in the project including designers, developers and a project manager. What I really like about their approach was the single point of contact for communication, but also the ability for the entire team to view and update the project, ask questions and provide input. This is one of the most effective remote development approaches I've worked with.

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

The resulting website https://amberleyinnovations.com is the output from the engagement.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The team were extremely professional and responsive and used collaboration technology (Bascamp) extremely effectively. The process from start to finish was laid out and discussed during the kickoff meeting and was followed throughout the process to the ultimate successful launch of the site.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their ability to listen and deal with an ambiguous specification is remarkable.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I'm struggling to think how this could have been improved. If there was any area for improvement it would for us to provide greater clarity and a stronger brief.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Digital Futures is a technology venture capital investment firm. I’m a partner here.

What challenge were you trying to address with Programmers.io?

We needed custom software development for the technology platform we’re providing.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Programmers.io mainly provided frontend and middleware development in AngularJS, JavaScript, jQuery, and .NET. They helped create the initial proof of concept and added features and enhancements.

It’s a cloud optimization platform built to help our customers save cloud costs. Users can register and create dashboards, they have reporting and analytics capabilities, and they have functionalities for connecting to the cloud.

What is the team composition?

I believe there were 3–5 people on their technical team. I didn’t work with the team.

How did you come to work with Programmers.io?

They were based in the same area in Texas as us, and I found them online. I reached out to around three vendors, and I liked Programmers.io’s understanding of our requirements and needs. We talked to them about their experience and expertise, and they came through as natural and confident.

How much have you invested with them?

The range was $30,000–$45,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Programmers.io in May 2019, and the project ran until November or December.

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

Programmers.io delivered on what we asked for, and they stepped up in some cases. We’re quite satisfied with the end result.

How did Programmers.io perform from a project management standpoint?

They met the deadlines, and the collaboration was fine. They used project management tools, and we had communication through online channels. There will be hiccups in any project of this complexity. I’m sure that there were one or two, but they weren’t big deals, and Programmers.io was able to resolve them. Things went smoothly overall.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They had the skills to execute, they were professional, and they earned our trust.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything at the moment.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

As with any vendor, the client should know what they want. Otherwise, Programmers.io is a great solution for potential clients.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of business development for Gtech, LLC. We provide software development services, mainly in the airline and telecom domains, including 5G network design and deployment and wireless coverage solutions design. We also work as a manpower consulting company, providing Java and .NET developers.

What challenge were you trying to address with Programmers.io?

We needed an interactive website and a lot of automation for our day-to-day work.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Programmers.io built our entire interactive website using PHP, Java, and Node.js and microservice architecture. It enables clients to ask questions and get answers in real-time, and it has a machine learning component for answering client questions when a representative isn’t available.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact is the program manager. Some of the developers were present during calls.

How did you come to work with Programmers.io?

We were referred to them by one of their clients, and they also came up during a search. We contacted Programmers.io, and they responded very well. They gave us quotes on time, had very detailed answers, and were interested in our work.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $80,000

What is the status of this engagement?

The majority of the work was completed in August 2020, but we have an ongoing maintenance contract with them.

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

The site was developed on time and on budget. Programmers.io didn’t charge for any out-of-scope work.

How did Programmers.io perform from a project management standpoint?

They were prompt and had streamlined internal processes, with weekly calls and demos for everything they delivered. They gave us full details over what they’d done and what they were planning for the following week.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They suggested a lot of new technologies that we weren’t familiar with. It was a good experience working with Programmers.io.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I was very happy with their work, so I have no suggestions.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Programmers.io is a good option for companies looking to employ new technologies, such as microservices and cloud components. I was impressed by their knowledge in these domains, and by what they did for us.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Central Metric. We’re a consulting agency for B2B companies. We help with operational strategy, provide technical support for administration, and more.

What challenge were you trying to address with Programmers.io?

We needed some custom development support on WordPress projects.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve mainly done WordPress projects with us. The first one was a WordPress website migration from one server to another. They set up a staging area so we could see changes before they went live.

They also helped a client of ours migrate their website. They got the original framework and finished the migration very quickly.

What is the team composition?

Reena (Manager) is my main point of contact. There are two others I’ve interacted with, as well.

How did you come to work with Programmers.io?

They responded to a job we posted on Upwork. Their rates were low and I liked that they’re a full-service agency.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $2,000, so far. We pay $1,000 per month. As of now, there are detailed records of their hours so we know where the finances stand. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in May 2020 and it’s ongoing.

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

They have consistently finished projects ahead of the deadline. We’re still learning how to collaborate, and they have come in over hours each time, but that’s to be expected at first.

How did Programmers.io perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re easy to work with. They send daily emails reporting progress, addressing any concerns or questions they have, and asking if I have anything to address. We use Trello, and communicate via Slack, email, and occasionally, Upwork.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their speed and extent of talented resources are great. They’re always asking for more to do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would like it if they had a project manager and QA person. I’d also like more communication throughout the day from them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear about your expectations and the scope of work. Record your meetings and calls with them as you explain the scope, and share that recording with them to use as notes. Be ready to handle the project management side of things.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Kanak Exports, a company that deals with compostable products.

What challenge were you trying to address with Programmers.io?

We wanted to have a very crisp website with a good layout for our customers. We also had to meet tight deadlines for a trade show. It was important to update the look of the site since a lot of new customers would be visiting us at the show.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We're in a fairly high-growth industry, and Programmers.io was very responsive to our requirements. For example, we were particular about the layout and graphics. The product had to be described in certain ways.  

Our project manager guided Programmers.io through the content, did all the planning, and communicated what needed to be done for the website. We worked with a graphic design agency, and they relayed their ideas as well. It was a very good collaboration.

What is the team dynamic?

For the website, we worked with 12 of their people.

How did you come to work with Programmers.io?

I know Anshul, the CEO of the company.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent more than $50,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2015, and the relationship is ongoing. They continue to take care of site maintenance.

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

Our customers really like the website. We’ve had positive feedback about the site, especially for the layout, graphics, and user flow.

How did Programmers.io perform from a project management standpoint?

They made sure they delivered what we needed before the deadline. They work quickly, pay close attention to details, and are very responsive. We communicate through email and conference calls on Skype.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have always been creative with the solutions to our challenges. They’re flexible and very friendly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind. There are always certain challenges during these projects, but there’s nothing negative to report about Programmers.io. Our experience has been good.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the assistant dean, medical director, and director of clinical training for a medical institute and affiliated universities in Poland that has been around for almost 23 years.

We started an English language medical program at two medical schools in Poland. We have about 600 students at any given time and we take about 100 or so new students per year. We have two medical programs. The six-year medical program is for students coming out of high school or students with no science background. We also have our traditional four-year medical program for college graduates who have completed pre-med courses.

What challenge were you trying to address with Programmers.io?

We needed help with our online business and with everything for our IT environment. We had a website platform, but it wasn’t as advanced as it should have been. We needed them to help us improve our website so that it looked appealing.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The current website was completely built by them, and now they’re working on two new websites, one of which is for alumni. They also built a payment portal that corresponds to an exam students have to take, which is integrated with the bank so transactions are smooth and secure.

Programmers.io helped us make sure all of our material was secure and that nobody could hack into it. They also recently built an online application process to replace a formerly manual application process.

Additionally, they’re helping us integrate Salesforce. When inquiries come in, we want to see how many of them are actually being converted, and we also want to monitor our employees’ performance to see if they’re really doing the work.

On the marketing side, they integrated Google Analytics and Google AdWords, and they’re advertising on Facebook and YouTube. Basically, Programmers.io handles all our online marketing.

How did you come to work with Programmers.io?

We interviewed a certain number of people and tried out a few as well, but we didn’t like what they were coming back with. Programmers.io and their team wrote stuff up pretty well and all the pieces seemed to fit together.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent almost $1 million dollars in the last two years.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2014 and the collaboration is ongoing.

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

The website is a lot more user-friendly and up to date. The number of inquiries has quadrupled over the years.

How did Programmers.io perform from a project management standpoint?

Meeting deadlines and communicating effectively is not an issue. If I send an email today, I’ll have an answer by morning. I personally know the owner and I deal with him directly. He’s specifically assigned two to three people to our account to make sure everything is going smoothly, and anytime we need them, we just email them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Everything has been great. They are usually on time and I certainly can’t complain about the quality of work so far. They have good people who are able to take the idea or the graph we give them and rewrite the whole thing. I wouldn’t be spending a good $30,000–$40,000 a month on them if they weren’t good.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the owner of H2O Fitness, a manufacturer of underwater treadmills for rehab and fitness centers. Our products are designed for both humans and K-9s, mainly focused on hydrotherapy. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Programmers.io?

We wanted to get our name out there and let people know about our services. We needed aggressive online campaigning. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Programmers.io modified our existing website, completely restructuring and remodeling it. They went back to the drawing board and pretty much redid the whole site because what I had before was obsolete in a technological sense. They also did some SEO, which is a constant process that’s being done even as we speak. They also helped with Google AdWords, blogs, and Facebook and LinkedIn marketing. They started putting in more filters when we realized we were getting better lead quantity but needed to refine the quality.  

How did you come to work with Programmers.io?

Their founder is a friend of mine, so I decided to hire his services and get this project rolling.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in September 2014 and have been partners since. 

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

Since the makeover, our site traffic has increased significantly. The quantity of leads has increased, as well as the quality. I like the website, and our customers have said they like it too. Programmers.io has contributed to our growth and sales in some ways.  

How did Programmers.io perform from a project management standpoint?

We have one or two Skype calls a week. I know of one person who works constantly on my project, but I think there may be a few others as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have come up with helpful suggestions, are proactive, and look at the bigger picture. They are always receptive to my feedback.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any suggestions at this time. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the development manager for a small software company in Boise, Idaho.

What challenge were you trying to address with Programmers.io?

We have a bunch of internal developers and there are some side projects that we wanted to work on, but we just didn’t have enough specialized resources within our current staffing. It was easier to go out and outsource a few projects with Programmers.io than to try and hire a developer.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Programmers.io does a little bit of everything. They’ve done a couple of projects for us from start to finish where they’ve been the only ones in charge; they turn in the work and we’ll maintain it going forward. They’ve also taken some of our software applications that we’ve written and added modules and other bits and pieces to our products and existing code base.

They created a REST API that ties into what we refer to as our flagship product; it was one of the bigger projects that they’ve done for us. They also created a couple of different integrations with HubSpot and Business Wise, writing some APIs in our flagship application. For HubSpot, they had to use their developer portal and build the webhooks so that HubSpot would pick them up, and then they also integrated some of our stuff with Zapier. They did some software development inside of our main product as well.

Everything they’ve built so far has been outward facing—for our customers’ use. One of the projects, which they’re right in the middle of right now, is an internal solution that will only be used here with our staff.

Right now, we have 2 developers that we’re using that are always developing for us and then they have a project lead over them that we work with.

How did you come to work with Programmers.io?

The owner of our company got a reference from another individual, so we started talking to them.

How much have you invested with them?

It has been around $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started talking to them in December of last year. Most of the work has been done early this year, but we’re still working with them.

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

So far, we haven’t needed a lot of interaction other than weekly calls with them. They’ve been pretty good at taking projects and running with them. They’ve been very professional.

We have them focus the most on projects that don’t require a lot of business knowledge. Because we’re in a niche market, there’s lots of knowledge that is needed for the in-depth parts of our software, so we try to keep it generic for the projects that we give Programmer.io. We’ve had the same two developers working with us throughout the year, so maybe they’ll grow with us and get to know our ways better.

How did Programmer.io perform from a project management standpoint?

If they have issues, they email whoever they’re working with, whether it’s our developers or our customers. It has worked pretty smoothly, and they listen to the feedback. We also haven’t had any language barrier or issues.

It took us a little bit of adjustment to get the project management smoothed out just because it’s different managing outside resources versus people that you see every day. I’d say we have a pretty good process in place now. We communicate through email and share screens on Skype.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve never used another company. This is the first time we’ve ever done outsourcing, so I don’t have anything in particular that distinguishes them from other providers or that they’re doing particularly well. Everything has always been done internally.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t know how much it can improve, but the only inconvenience is communicating across time zones. You have to be online every day to answer questions because if you miss an hour, you can miss a whole day just because of the time zone difference.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an insurance marketing group, with about 100 agents in around 25 states. We have four different websites that I manage, most of them built in WordPress. Those are used for providing agent support, corporate identity, and lead generation. I have built, managed, and maintained those websites.

I'm a business development/technical specialist, but I’m not a coder. WordPress isn’t a problem, but when it comes to writing code or doing API integrations, that’s when I need to call somebody else in.

What challenge were you trying to address with Programmers.io?

When I was on hiatus for about two years, the owner of the company purchased a piece of software that was developed in .NET. He was having some enhancements made to it through the original developers, which was a group over in Belarus. He wasn't getting what he needed out of them, so I ended up coming back in to help him with that project and a few other things.

The business challenge, when I came onboard, was dealing with a group of developers in Belarus who weren’t paying any attention and basically had the project held hostage. So, the challenge was getting a team of developers who would spend time on the project and do QA on it, so I wouldn’t have to go in and figure out where things were broken.

We basically went from a team that really made us feel like they could care less, to working with a team that I could tell cared about ensuring that we were successful with our project. It’s a rarity to find somebody who understands business logic and code and can put the two of them together. I’ve had the pleasure of working with a few people like that in the past, and I feel that’s what I found with Programmers.io. They weren’t just coding to the spec, but offering alternative ways of doing things.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They bailed us out big-time. We were basically in a situation where we’d spent about $35,000 and had not gotten near what we should have gotten out of it. AC and his team came in, were able to dive into the project, figure out what was going on, and take it over very smoothly. They got things finished up for us to where we got our minimum viable product done and launched. Now we’re continuing to add other enhancements to that software.

Right now, they’re doing everything. I’m not a coder or a server maintenance guy, so we have an ongoing relationship with them on that piece of software. They are continuing to do development in .Net, C, MongoDB. The server doesn’t need a lot of management, but they set up the security on the server and did all that for us. They set up to where we’ve got backups and all that stuff configured.

The software has multiple functions. It aggregates all the financial data from a user’s bank accounts and investment accounts, and then brings all that in. You have a dashboard to see where you are with all your accounts. On top of that, we have a debt elimination piece of software in there. You can take four different approaches to getting out of debt. You can choose to pay off your highest interest rate debt, or your largest payment, and it will chart and graph, showing you exactly how quickly you’re going to be able to pay that debt off with just doing a roll-off strategy, or you can apply additional principal to it.

It also gives you the ability to accelerate your mortgage payoff, if that’s something you’re interested in doing as well. It has a goal-planning feature set in it as well. It’s basically an overall, debt-elimination, financial management tool. We are more responsible for the content, and they’re more the development.

How did you come to work with Programmers.io?

It was a referral from a referral. Their ability to communicate with me was a deciding factor. I felt like there was some compassion there because we were just not in a good spot. We were months and months behind on trying to get a product launched, and they made time for us. They figured out where we were and helped get that project completed. They offered detailed accounting and fabulous communication with the team. I just felt they were organized.

How much have you invested with them?

We’re probably approaching right around $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in April of this year. I’m now working on a membership site I’m building in WordPress, where we’re integrating some services from third parties. I’m getting ready to engage them in doing the API integration for those third parties, which shouldn’t be a big project. It’s that piece that we don’t have in-house. We’re never going to have a developer in-house, we’re not that big of a company and we don’t have an ongoing need. I can do the basic stuff with WordPress, plugins, marketing, and SEO. When it comes down to an API that needs to be integrated, and we need to create a single sign-on, that’s not what I do. Having him and his team able to take care of that is excellent.

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

We just did a soft launch one-and-a-half weeks ago, so I really don’t have much in the way of user statistics. I did find a couple bugs after we went live, but it wasn’t anything on their part. It was more left over from the previous developers. Programmers.io jumped on it and had it taken care of for me within 24–48 hours. I think I have seven or eight users on there right now—just a soft, internal launch to make sure we get the bugs worked out. The people who have used it so far are very pleased with it.

They helped us build one of the components with an additional tool. The software serves two purposes; one from the client’s side to track all their finances and go through a debt elimination process, but also for the agents to sit down and use some of the tools. I’m integrating calculators and a quick analysis tool that Proframmers.io built for us. It’s a great prospecting tool that I’m getting really good feedback on so far.

How did Programmers.io perform from a project management standpoint?

We were in a tough place, and they put in extra hours. He had people working over the weekend and stuff for me. I had to do a demo on a Saturday, and they brought a couple extra people in to get stuff taken care of to meet that deadline. I’d give them 11 out of 10 on that. The communication has been excellent. I’ve got an open window with them on Skype. If he has a question, he pings me. If I need to give him some feedback, or I think of something else, I ping him. I feel like I’m part of the project versus getting an update once a week on where we’re at. I may be a little different than some clients because I am still doing non-coding development on the WordPress sites.

What did you find most impressive about them?

To me, success in business is about clear communication. I’ve felt that they have been extremely clear in their communication. When they’ve done an estimate on hours, they’ve been very close to those hours. With the previous developer, I was experiencing situations where they gave me an estimate of 50 hours, and I get a bill for 125 hours.

Programmers.io came in close to their estimates, which means a lot to me as a client, as it helps me budget. I’m not sitting here with a million dollars in my budget; I’m trying to build a small company. Most companies our size are not investing the kind of money we are, but we’re trying to grow. The owner of the company, Scott, is learning slowly that owning a piece of software is not always necessarily what it’s cracked up to be.

I’m extremely pleased with them, to the point where I want to give these guys more business rather than going through some of the other resources I have. I feel like I’ve developed a relationship with them. They’re like my in-house developers. I think their team now is close to 70 developers, and they cover a wide array of different skill sets. When I called them last week to ask for some help in integrating an API, he checked is one of his people was available. Ten minutes later, we were on Skype together. I explained to him what we were doing, he put together the spec, and they’re going to start on that piece for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there is. In a perfect world, they would have had more bandwidth when I came to them, but that’s not their fault. He let me know upfront that he didn’t have a lot of bandwidth at the time. He could put one person full time on it and have a few other people work some extra hours. His plate was pretty full when we came to him. I’ve got nothing but great things to say about them. They’re excellent to work with.