Rocket Harbor

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of a consulting company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Rocket Harbor?

We needed a partner to scale application development. It was an in-house web application built by one person.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Rocket Harbor created a more robust API query protocol. Their team broke the monolithic structure that required a lot of coordination for updates into microservices. They used the Microsoft .NET framework and Azure microservices.

Their team changes and improves the platform. The application aggregates data from many APIs and assembles the information in a readable format for management decisions.

What is the team composition?

From Rocket Harbor, I’ve worked with a total of two individuals. I primarily work with a project manager but also communicate with their engineers through a ticketing system.

How did you come to work with Rocket Harbor?

They understood the application’s basic framework that was built beforehand. Their team was able to summarize the framework and offer an estimate that was acceptable to our budget.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent just over $100,000 on their services so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in November 2018, and we’re still working with them.

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

One of the main improvements was the configuration of Azure DevOps with continuous integration. They streamlined the publishing of updates to the application. I see a lot of improvements each week as they publish and streamline changes.

How did Rocket Harbor perform from a project management standpoint?

We primarily utilize Azure DevOps and Microsoft Teams to communicate. We have weekly meetings too. When we create deadlines, they meet them. If we reach obstructions that could potentially slow us down, their team communicates well. They’re reliable and quick to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their adaptability’s key. We had several changes throughout the project, and their team adapted to each of them with little instruction. They have a well-rounded team that finds solutions that save us money.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have any feedback at this moment.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Their documentation and communication’s good. Our weekly meetings are helpful in keeping us on track and moving forward.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of a boat rental platform.

What challenge were you trying to address with Rocket Harbor?

We hired them to work on our technology.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provide frontend-and backend development using Angular. On the frontend they use NodeJS, and the backend they use a MongoDB database. The team also helps with some UX design as well.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people from their team.

How did you come to work with Rocket Harbor?

We found them through one of their clients.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2020, and our work is ongoing.

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

They’ve been knowledgeable and quick with all the work that they’ve done. The team acts as a CTO and guides us in the right direction with their expertise and knowledge.

How did Rocket Harbor perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate through Jira and Slack primarily. There’s never any questions or confusion on what’s being worked on. They’re very quick to prioritize different tasks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They always under-promise and over-deliver. We’re always thrilled at the outcome. The team is fun to work with as well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re in Ukraine, so the time difference is a bit of a challenge. That’s not their fault, though.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to try to get to know the whole team; they’re all great.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Pure Fusion Media is top level advertising, branding and design company. I am the CEO of the organization.

For what projects/services did your company hire Rocket Harbor?

Serhii and his team developed the back end programming and front end platform for a very indepth web application.

What were your goals for this project?

To deliver on time and on budget and be easy to work with and with an exceptional level of customer service.

How did you select this vendor?

They had done programming work for a client of mine, and it was such a seamless project I had to start bringing them work of our own.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

It was a very robust back end programming project. they provided: 1. Azure microservice architecture for scalablility, collecting and storing the data from IoT devices and reviewing the history of the data tracked from the device 2. ASP.NET Core 2.2 to build the the back-end 3. Angular 8 for the front-end 4. MongoDB database to collect the data from each type of device 5. Microsoft SQL database to manage users, access levels and display aggregated data at dashboards

What was the team composition?

Serhii and a team of three additional programmers and managers on the project.

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

Easily led to new business and new opportunities. We will continue to bring Rocket Harbor additional business.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

very easy and very effective.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their level of professionalism and their broad range of expertise stood out. Serhii and his team not only provide incredible service but also know how to ask important questions.

Are there any areas for improvement?

no it was exceptional

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO at a development company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Rocket Harbor?

We hired them to support our efforts on various development projects. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve helped us with the development of multiple assessment tools and business maturity tools. 

What is the team composition?

I primarily work with Serhii (CTO). There are typically four developers working on any given project. 

How did you come to work with Rocket Harbor?

I learned about them from another vendor we were working with. In the middle of the project, that vendor ran into some financial issues and had to stop working with us. Luckily, they introduced us to Rocket Harbor who finished the development. We’ve been working together ever since. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our ongoing relationship with them at the beginning of 2017.

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

We wouldn’t be where we are today without them. With their support, we’ve been able to take on larger and more complex projects. 

How did Rocket Harbor perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Jira and video conferencing tools to manage the project. The time difference between our offices has actually benefited us because we start our day with an update from their team about what they’ve accomplished. Our cycle time is very quick because there’s always someone working on the project. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They understand the ultimate end goals of the projects we work on. So even when the scope of their work is limited, they know how to set us up for longterm success. 

Are there any areas they could improve?  

Typically, I prefer to hire developers for each project as needed, but they prefer to have developers working for us full-time. However, I’ve learned how to balance our needs and projects with this. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

Be open and clear about what your goals are. They do well when working within the context of our big picture goals.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of CubeMonk. We’re working in the transportation to bring truth and transparency back to business utilizing technology including IoT devices, automation, and machine learning. We’re building a marketplace, if you will.

What challenge were you trying to address with Rocket Harbor?

We needed a technology partner, a team that understood our space.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They worked in a .NET stack, which is Microsoft. We’ve built a decentralized plug-and-play marketplace for the transportation industry. I would liken it to Expedia or Hotels.com for the transportation industry. That’s what they were able to help us achieve.

What is the team composition?

We had seven full-time people, and then two floaters.

How did you come to work with Rocket Harbor?

I was looking at a bunch of potions and found out the several members had broken off from a team I’d worked with them for a long time. We chose to work with them.

They question edge cases where most people don’t. They’ve been working in the transportation industry for a long time, and a lot of programmers don’t understand the industry. They do what they’re told, building code and technology off of tickets with no real understanding.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $500,000–$600,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since January 2018.

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

It’s hard to find good people. When you find someone that will be honest with you and communicate their thoughts without judgment, they become family. this has become so much more. We always rely on this team now because they’re honest, and that’s absolutely key in this space. And they never overbill, either. I never have to question their invoices. They also act ethically and morally. We’ll continue to work with them.

They’re always scanning for new tech to make things more optimized and cost-effective. They don’t just sit there and spend money on servers or software programs that no one is using, which so many companies make a mistake doing. They tell us what’s new and what’s coming out.

How did Rocket Harbor perform from a project management standpoint?

We work between Jira and Asana, and then a little bit on Trello. I’m trying to condense as much as possible. We used to have more, but we condensed them onto Asana when I learned we could use it for more. Their new plugins help as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s the honesty and the sheer talent of the team. We do things nobody else can do. The reason we’re in this position as a company is that we’ve gotten things done in a fast amount of time. The speed versus the cost has been amazing. We’ve put ourselves at a $30 million valuation in two years.

Their team is brilliant, and I’m not just saying that because I work with them every day. They’re also humble. Unlike other developers, this team understands what we’re trying to accomplish and try to hit and play all the edge cases. They question me all the time, which I love since we’re talking about pretty technological stuff.

We have fourteen people here, seven people there, and we interact as one unit and team. It’s not work; it’s fun.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I could take in funding so I can hire a bigger team from them.