ShakaCode

Please describe your company and your position there.

Monarch Global Strategies is a strategic consulting firm. We provide expert advice, instilling confidence and facilitating business entry, expansion, or supply chain development into North America - especially Mexico - with deep, tailored insights into market, political, and trade conditions, obstacles, and opportunities. I’m the CFO & SVP of Business Development, responsible for business development, finance, HR, and operations.

For what projects/services did your company hire ShakaCode?

We initially hired another consultant to quickly design and implement a new page for our website. However, it didn’t have the same look and feel as the rest of the site. Also, there were lingering website issues from our last site overhaul in 2017 that were overdue to be addressed, primarily around the design and functionality of our news and insights and team members’ pages - especially when viewed on a mobile device.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted an attractive, easy to manage website with a consistent look and feel, and a simple, one-time process for connecting our news and insights feed to related industries and team members.

How did you select this vendor?

Our CEO was already using ShakaCode for another web project, so when I raised my concerns about the design of the new page, he recommended I contact them. I had a Zoom call with Justin Gordon, the founder and CEO of ShakaCode, who understood our problems.

He provided a project proposal within a day, which met my expectation for timing and budget for cost. We then had a Zoom with Eugene Arkhipov, ShakaCode’s lead UI/UX designer and programmer extraordinaire, who gave me confidence he could get the job done. I signed the contract soon thereafter, and the project was completed within a week.

Describe the project in detail.

Eugene redesigned the new page and our team member pages to look and function the way we wanted. He completely redesigned and re-engineered our News & Insights page, automating and simplifying the website's management by integrating various components to work seamlessly together.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of Eugene, Justin, and myself, with most of the communication directly between Eugene and me by email and Zoom.

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

Although Eugene does not focus on WordPress design, he was able to learn whatever he needed for our project. The website now has a consistent look and feel throughout, and can be edited directly from the WordPress admin panel using the standard UI.

It’s also easier to maintain since only one action - instead of three - is needed to connect news items and insights to related industries and team members, saving time and eliminating errors.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Based on our experience building the original website with a programmer also based in Eastern Europe, I was initially concerned about the 7-hour time difference between me and Eugene.

However, thanks to the convenience of Zoom and Eugene’s flexibility on timing, this fear didn’t materialize. We had two or three video calls, and the rest of the project was managed via email in a streamlined and efficient manner.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

First, the quality of work is everything we wanted and more. We weren’t originally planning to ask ShakaCode to streamline the website, but Eugene suggested it, and he was able to complete it within the original scope of work.

Second, their customer service is exceptional. They took the time to understand our needs, worked within budget, and delivered a top-quality product on schedule.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing to suggest. We didn’t have any issues. It was one of the best technology experiences I’ve had.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Blink is an experiential photography company, providing easy access to high-quality photography with full ownership rights. During the in-store photo shoot, photos were uploaded to the cloud, processed, and immediately delivered to clients via their mobile devices for viewing and ordering. I was the co-founder and CTO of Blink, responsible for hiring, managing, designing and implementing the user experience for online and mobile, and the cloud-based solution for online photo processing.

For what projects/services did your company hire ShakaCode?

Once we had raised the required funding, we wanted to partner with an experienced software development company, allowing us to quickly ramp up and deliver a highly-efficient, scalable product supporting multiple photo studios and clients numbering into their tens of thousands - with as low a risk as possible.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to deliver a robust, scalable, and user-friendly service to our customers based on expected growth following the popularity of our minimum viable product (MVP). As a consumer product, usability was key since most of our users would not be tech-savvy.

Following initial attempts using other technologies, we decided on Ruby on Rails for both the website - backend and frontend - and Node.js for the photo processing microservices component. We also used Shakacode’s react_on_rails gem to accelerate server-side processing and rendering.

How did you select this vendor?

Based on our previous relationship, ShakaCode helped build the MVP upon which the entire project was based. After working in parallel with another vendor on early development, ShakaCode was given responsibility for the entire project because of their expertise and code quality. ShakaCode was also able to provide experienced Ruby on Rails programmers at a competitive rate despite a skills shortage at the time.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project required the development of a robust and scalable Ruby on Rails, AWS-hosted e-commerce platform for online appointment booking, photo uploading, professional post-processing processing in the cloud, and a mobile app for making appointments, photo downloading, viewing and ordering.

Initially done in-store in Phase 1 of the project, image processing was moved to a scalable cloud service in Phase 2. ShakaCode was responsible for the majority of design and development, also providing guidance on the technology stack and integrating Ruby on Rails, React on Rails, AWS cloud services, and the other technologies required.

What was the team composition?

The team was made up of myself and five ShakaCode developers who were consistent throughout the project.

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

The project was a complete success. Blink grew from one store in Corte Madera, California, to five across the state within two years, from zero to almost one hundred thousand customers, brought in millions of dollars in revenue, and earned five stars on Yelp. The e-commerce solution ShakaCode was robust, scalable, and easy to maintain. We met all of our goals and exceeded some of our delivery expectations.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

ShakaCode took ownership and diligently carried out all that was asked of them on a regular cadence and in a professional manner, producing a high-quality product. They acted as a trusted advisor and became an integral part of the business.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

ShakaCode always delivered on time and within budget closely aligned with our estimations. ShakaCode’s billing transparency is easy for stakeholders to understand, and contributes significantly to building a partnership based on trust. Despite being a remote team, the expertise, availability, and commitment of ShakaCode’s team made them easy to work with.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing that impacted the quality or delivery of the project. As a technical manager, I had an awesome experience working with ShakaCode.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Projects for Good is a small, socially-minded organization whose goal is to unite like-minded individuals and community resources to create, fund, resource, and deliver new products and services - making dreams come true - via an online marketplace matching causes, donors, and talent. I am the CEO and founder of Projects for Good.

For what projects/services did your company hire ShakaCode?

The complicated codebase for our online marketplace was not originally designed for server-side rendering. SEO was totally broken. The original engineering team was struggling with the issue for months. We needed an experienced partner with architectural and development expertise to product direction and architectural oversight to help increase performance and improve the SEO.

What were your goals for this project?

Our website was slow and difficult to find using Internet search engines. We wanted to improve both the performance and SEO of our website to get to the first page - or, preferably, top of the first page - of search results on both desktop and mobile platforms. We also needed strategic advice on our development plan.

How did you select this vendor?

Our website was developed in Ruby on Rails 5.2, and was already using React. I had met Justin Gordon through mutual connections and I mentioned my tech problems. Justin told me a bit about his work with React on Rails. I researched him and ShakaCode and it was clear that he'd be a great fit to solve our problems.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We primarily contracted ShakaCode to optimize the code base and implement server-side rendering. They managed to sort the issues out with our codebase and help with SEO on many levels. They also implemented Circle CI for development automation, Cypress for integration testing, Intercom for customer support, and Sentry for error tracking. While not the lead designer on the project, ShakaCode also contributed design concepts influencing overall product direction, and came up with our adopted tagline: "We enable successful community projects."

What was the team composition?

ShakaCode’s team consisted of three developers and a project manager, Justin Gordon, who went out of his way to resolve issues and provide architectural direction. Everybody was involved throughout the project.

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

ShakaCode provided technical recommendations and expertise to implement React on Rails server-side rendering (SSR), and improve SEO. We now place on the first page of search results for relevant keywords and phrases. The marketplace also delivers the performance our users expect.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

ShakaCode is extremely disciplined when it comes to project management. They set us up with Clubhouse and communicated frequently on Slack and Zoom. I appreciated the detailed timekeeping for each task, contributing significantly to billing transparency.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

ShakaCode doesn’t just get the job done on time and with high-quality code. They commit themselves to the success of the project, sharing knowledge and best practices. In addition to their technical expertise, they’ve shared a lot of general experience in advising new startups similar to ours, bringing great ideas for building a new business.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I wish I’d involved ShakaCode earlier. It would have resulted in a more streamlined project with a smoother conversion to proper server-side rendering and a smaller codebase.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Founded as a pop-up in 2012 dedicated to creating innovative and memorable coffee experiences, Go Get Em Tiger (GGET) is a chain of bar-style, “community coffee” shops renowned for great service, awesome drinks, delicious food and pastries, and a highly-interactive, subscription-based coffee delivery service. I’m the Director of Product and Engineering, responsible for developing the technical platform upon which we can grow our business.

For what projects/services did your company hire ShakaCode?

We’re a small in-house development team - consisting of myself and one other person - who inherited a platform needing a lot of cleaning up, standardization, and performance improvements. We didn’t have the React skills, so needed a partner who we could trust to help streamline the website, develop new features, and track down bugs. Basically, we needed an extension to our team who could do everything that we didn’t have the time for, especially new development.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to deliver a well-designed, user-friendly service built on a robust, scalable, high-performance platform built with a Ruby on Rails backend and a React frontend. We wanted to standardize our processes, clean up and organize our codebase, and significantly improve our performance. Later on, we decided to use ShakaCode’s designer to help us create a simplified landing page for our coffee subscription services.

How did you select this vendor?

We had previously used another vendor, but were apprehensive about using them again based on their quality of work. I’m primarily a Ruby developer with limited experience with React. I reached out to Justin Gordon, CEO of ShakaCode, because of the React on Rails gem he developed and his reputation in the Ruby world.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project required ShakaCode to clean up our codebase, develop new features and functions, improve the performance of the site, and, later assist us with some design work. ShakaCode did most of the development and integration of Ruby on Rails, React, React on Rails for server-side rendering, Webpack, and Amazon AWS. They also integrated Apple Pay for our product pages and final checkout, along with introducing best practices and providing guidance on the technology stack.

What was the team composition?

The team was primarily made up of myself, my colleague at GGET and one of ShakaCode developers and their UX UI designer.

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

Our performance went from 12 on the Google Lighthouse score to being consistently over 90. Our code base is much cleaner and is now well-organized, and we’re extremely happy with the work done on the UI design. The Apple Pay implementation was very smooth and we’ve had good adoption rates.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Our project is organized rather loosely, but ShakaCode’s project manager really stays on top of things, making sure we’re moving forward based on our objectives. We always have more than enough information when it comes to task completion and billing. They’re very transparent in everything they do.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

ShakaCode was incredibly easy to work with. Our communication was tight, we tag-teamed issues - making sure the right resource was allocated for the task - and generally always found a way to meet our goals in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing specific. Any concern I’ve had has always been quickly addressed.

Please describe your company and your position there.

With over 100,000 customers, SkyVerge is a fast-growing business that builds mission-critical tools for eCommerce brands on Shopify, Easy Digital Downloads, and WooCommerce. One of our solutions, Jilt, is an all-in-one email marketing platform generating over $90 million in revenue for online merchants through lost revenue recovery. I’m a co-founder and the CTO of both SkyVerge and Jilt, responsible for all things technology.

For what projects/services did your company hire ShakaCode?

Built by a team of backend and full-stack engineers, Jilt lacked the attractive, intuitive interface our users expected. We wanted a partner who could help us deliver a great user experience with an attractive, user-friendly and intuitive UI using highly-sophisticated, rules-based segmentation functionality. We also wanted a consistent look and feel across multiple screens to attract new users, retain existing clients, and reduce the number of support issues.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to build an attractive, user-friendly, and intuitive user interface using React to delight new users, retain existing customers, and reduce the number of support requests we were receiving.

How did you select this vendor?

We were using Ruby on Rails for the backend and had chosen React for the frontend, so we looked for a partner with expertise spanning both areas. We read articles and searched through Stack Overflow and GitHub, eventually identifying two possible candidates. Since Justin Gordon, the founder of ShakaCode, created react_on_rails and had an entrepreneurial spirit similar to ours, it seemed like a good fit.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

ShakaCode built a sophisticated rule-builder that enables clients to segment their customers, choosing which ones to group and target with which email campaigns. Since we previously had no React within Jilt, ShakaCode took us from zero React to having a fully React-driven, rules-based, sophisticated segmentation screen.

Once that was up and running, we extended our partnership. ShakaCode also made recommendations for the entire tech stack, including reusable UI components with TypeScript, Storybook, and Styled-components, Cypress.io for testing, CircleCI for continuous integration and delivery, and Webpacker for building deployment packages.

What was the team composition?

Overall, we’ve worked with five or six developers from ShakaCode, depending on the workload. Now that we’re building up our in-house frontend competencies, we’ve reduced that to working with two or three.

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

We now have a fully functional, highly complex segmentation screen that delivers the functionality our users need. It’s built with the best technologies, leverages best practices, and has established a pattern that we’re able to apply consistently across the rest of the app.

Jilt also now has a consistent look and feel across all screens with excellent performance, translating to a significantly enhanced user experience. That’s contributed to our seeing significantly fewer support requests than before.

ShakaCode also developed screens for several new features, including email list management and support for sending out newsletters, reducing churn and improving retention. Now we can build and deploy fast, attractive, and user-friendly screens—something that we couldn’t do previously.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

ShakaCode’s project manager ensured that the team was always available and stayed focused on the tasks scheduled. Any questions or concerns were quickly addressed, and he was quick to add more developers to the project when needed. As a result, we hit all of our important deadlines and were very happy with the speed of development.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The project was a huge undertaking and the deadlines extremely ambitious. Even though the specs we gave them lacked detail in certain areas, ShakaCode delivered on time and within budget. I also liked ShakaCode’s openness to new ways of doing things.

They never gave the impression that they were the experts and you had to do things their way. They were always open to new ideas. They laid a good foundation for a collaborative relationship that contributed to the success of the project.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing that we weren’t able to address. One thing that we implemented jointly to keep things on track was a daily developer check-in via Slack. That allowed me to quickly see what each developer was working on, enabling me to help overcome roadblocks or redirect resources to focus on higher priority tasks.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Blue Moon Digital is a digital consultancy offering a full portfolio of digital marketing services focused on helping our clients leverage the power of data to drive digital transformation. I’m the Head of Product Management responsible for identifying new opportunities and overseeing SaaS product development and launch to meet the needs of our staff and clients.

For what projects/services did your company hire ShakaCode?

Frontend development technology is complex and getting more and more complicated every day. We wanted to develop an app to run within a Domo environment using Rails and React.js, but lacked the in-house frontend development capabilities we needed to get the job done.

What were your goals for this project?

With speed critical to decision-making in today’s digital economy, the Domo platform provides fast, easy access to unified, cleansed data with automated updates for real-time insights. We felt that we could provide better value for our clients by using Domo to run our Ruby on Rails and React.js apps.

How did you select this vendor?

Since we were already using Ruby on Rails and React, we wanted a partner who was an expert in that area, and had experience successfully completing similar projects. We found the react_on_rails gem on GitHub and reached out to its creator, Justin Gordon, who’s the founder of ShakaCode. We initially started with a small project where ShakaCode built an initial application stack. Once we understood how they operated and that we worked well together, we continued our partnership.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The Revenue Equation App initially started out as a visualization tool to break down and report on key performance metrics for e-commerce sites. However, with most of our clients having a plan or forecast, we wanted to provide a way to track performance against those goals visually. Once ShakaCode had developed that capability, we realized that there were more features we could add that would make a real difference to our clients’ bottom line. ShakaCode developed a pacing functionality that will become the future of the product. It adds real value to our customers and differentiates Blue Moon Digital as a leader in this space.

What was the team composition?

We’ve worked with three different lead developers. We’ve always found the expertise and quality of their work to be exceptional.

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

The functionality that ShakaCode developed for the Revenue Equation App has made a huge difference to our clients. It enables them to be more proactive when it comes to identifying underperforming campaigns and optimize spend to drive revenue and reduce risk. That translates to increased profits and happy shareholders. It’s also increased the productivity of our internal team, since they now spend less time on reporting and more time focusing on the strategic needs of our clients.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Overall it’s been pretty good. We’ve had some challenges with communication at times, but that’s as much our fault as ShakaCode’s. The most important thing is that we managed to address it before it impacted our delivery milestones and deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We started off looking for a partner to develop a React frontend for Domo, but we ended up with a partner who’s committed to our business and offers tremendous expertise and experience. Our working relationship with ShakaCode is collaborative. It’s enhanced our capabilities and added significant value to Blue Moon Digital and what we can do for our clients. We’ve also appreciated ShakaCode’s flexibility. There are times when projects are slower, but when things speed up, ShakaCode always provides resources we need when we need them.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Improving our communication is something that we could both work on. Sometimes, cultures influence the way things are done. We just need to recognize and address it as soon as possible.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Supporting thousands of restaurant locations, Popmenu is a startup SaaS platform for restaurateurs. Popmenu’s technology supercharges online restaurant menus, providing a dynamic consumer experience that puts photos, reviews, ratings, and social validation directly on the restaurant’s website and under their control. Automated email and social post capabilities can be used to increase customer engagement. I’m the co-founder and lead software engineer/architect of the consumer engagement platform for restaurants.

For what projects/services did your company hire ShakaCode?

Popmenu can either be embedded into an existing website or fully hosted on our servers. In just over a year, we’d onboarded and launched over 1,000 restaurants nationwide, with the majority choosing us to build and host their websites. We grew so fast that our infrastructure couldn't keep up. Our Heroku hosting costs were also increasing as we cloned the app to meet demand. We had some ideas on how to address the issues, but needed someone to validate and help implement them.

What were your goals for this project?

We had three main goals. First, to enhance the user’s experience for finding restaurant information, browsing restaurant menus, and rating dishes. Second, to find a way to reduce the memory requirements for Rails server-side rendering and reduce our Heroku infrastructure hosting costs. Lastly, we wanted to accelerate deployments by improving developer workflows and reducing build and test times.

How did you select this vendor?

We were expanding so fast that I wanted a partner who could help me make technical decisions, suggest best practices, and be available to assist over the long-term as we faced new challenges. I also wanted someone who could help improve our development workflow and the team’s overall efficiency by sharing new tools and standards for development and testing. We were already using ShakaCode’s react_on_rails, but React on Rails PRO could, if it did what it claimed, save me a considerable amount of time and effort. After a quick conversation with Justin Gordon, the creator of React on Rails and React on Rails PRO, we decided to partner with ShakaCode.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project required implementing the features of React on Rails PRO to improve performance and reduce infrastructure costs. React on Rails PRO incorporates code-splitting, cached server rendering, fragment caching, standalone Node JS server rendering, rolling restart of Node workers, improved Node tooling, and several other features.

What was the team composition?

ShakaCode provided a lead developer for the entire project. Additional resources were added as needed for their specific expertise.

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

The initial performance improvements far exceeded our expectations, with the average page response time for Popmenu users reduced by almost 75%. Even more impressive is that over the same period, we increased throughput by 124%. We’re now handling more than 2.2X the number of requests while maintaining much faster response times. Our Google Lighthouse performance scores have increased by over 40% to an average of over 90 across all our sites. We’ve also reduced our Heroku hosting cost per client by 20-25%.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The ShakaCode team was easy to work with, quickly adjusting to our way of doing things.They became an extension of our in-house team, sharing their knowledge, and helping us improve our capabilities.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The ShakaCode team brought out-of-the-box thinking that addressed our requirements and alleviated our concerns, implementing solutions that worked within our operational constraints. They also took the time to get to know our business and understand the impact of what we were doing from our clients' perspective. As a result, rather than just implementing a technical solution, they helped us stay focused on our business goals.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is always room for improvement, but there was nothing significant that impacted the success of the project.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Established in 1966, Cooper Aerial Surveys Co. is recognized is the leading aerial mapping company providing surveying, digital aerial mapping, LiDAR, softcopy, aero-triangulation, earthwork and volumetric calculations, cross-sectioning and profiling, and digital terrain modeling (DTM). Our more than 35 employees across four offices nationally are among the most experienced in the aerial mapping industry.

I’m the Lead Software Engineer responsible for building and maintaining an in-house Ruby on Rails and React.js project management and production workflow system handling approximately $8,000,000 in sales per year.

For what projects/services did your company hire ShakaCode?

Because of the unique nature of our business, the owner couldn’t find an OTS project management and production workflow system that met his needs, so he hired me to build it for him. I had some exposure to Ruby on Rails, but when it came to building a complex system, I needed someone with experience who could answer questions, help me choose the right tech stack, review the code, and guide me through some of the obstacles I encountered.

What were your goals for this project?

The project management and production workflow components were initially built as two separate systems. The goal of the project was to merge them into a single system, leveraging development best practices, and ensuring that the code was of a high standard an easily maintainable. I built the initial prototype based on my limited knowledge of Ruby on Rails, but when it came to developing the production system, I needed someone with expertise and experience to assist.

How did you select this vendor?

I came across ShakaCode and Justin Gordon when I was researching Ruby on Rails. They make a significant contribution to open source, and Justin is known as the “go-to” expert for all things Rails and React, especially because of his react_on_rails gem. I followed his blog and learned a lot from it, so when it came to looking for an expert to assist me, he was a natural choice. Most importantly, ShakaCode offers React on Rails Pro, a subscription-based support plan. It provides access to ShakaCode experts for a certain amount of each month based on a small fee.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

I was responsible for doing the actual development. ShakaCode indirectly provided advice on the tech stack (I saw what they were using and simply copied them), did code reviews, and provided answers and guidance when I got stuck. It was often a case of my contacting them and saying “I'm trying to do x and y. What’s the best way to do it?”

What was the team composition?

I was the only developer for Cooper Aerial. ShakaCode provided a number of different resources, with a lead developer who provided most of the support.

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

ShakaCode helped me get a reliable, robust product into production. It’s streamlined our workflow and provided consistency for our customers. As a result, our company’s revenue is growing steadily at 30-40% per year.

I believe I can give credit for some of that growth to ShakaCode. I also estimate ShakaCode saved me at least 25% in terms of time, so we got the product out faster than expected.

If I ran into a wall, it might take me upwards of a week to figure it out, but with ShakaCode, I always had an answer or solution within a few hours. They also saved us a significant amount of money.

We had a full-time employee who wasn’t pulling their weight, so we replaced them with a React on Rails Pro subscription which amounted to savings of tens of thousands of dollars.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We worked well together. When I needed help and contacted ShakaCode, I always had a response within 24 hours. However, for much of the time, the response was within a few minutes.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I give ShakaCode credit for empowering me and helping me to be the programmer I am today. They never just gave me the answer. They made me work for it, pointing me in the right direction to the answers of resources I needed so I could discover the solution on my own.

For me, that was priceless. I’ve grown as a developer, and my approach to problem-solving has changed for the better. I feel like I owe a lot of my current standing and position within Cooper Ariel to ShakaCode.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There’s always room for improvement, but ShakaCode is extremely professional, and, irrespective of how many projects they have on the go, treat each client as though it was their only one. Their personal touch shows that they care, even if it’s only a small project.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Network for Good is a SaaS company providing innovative fundraising and donor management software for nonprofits, backed up with expertise, training, and support to drive successful campaigns. Based in Washington DC, the company distributes millions of donations from donors to good causes each year. Since 2001, Network for Good has processed more than $1 billion in donations to over 100,000 charities through its secure online giving platform. I’m the VP of Growth Technology responsible for identifying and utilizing technologies that can add value to our business.

For what projects/services did your company hire ShakaCode?

ShakaCode was brought in to develop a questionnaire generator that enables customers to build tailored questionnaires for their donors. Intended to be a highly interactive tool, we felt that developing it as a server-based application would be too restrictive. After researching the different technologies available, we decided on ReactJS.

We believed it to be both the best fit for the questionnaire and a good tool for developing similar capabilities in the future. However, while we know Ruby on Rails well, we didn’t have the in-house ReactJS skills needed to develop client-based UX ourselves, so we looked for a partner and found ShakaCode.

What were your goals for this project?

Our general philosophy is to make software that’s easy to use and delights users. Our clients needed a way to augment their ability to gather additional information about their donors so as to understand their interests. We wanted to provide a way for them to easily create, manage, and maintain surveys independently without having to involve us.

Since our users aren’t very technical, we needed to provide a simple, intuitive way for them to build customized questionnaires for their donors to complete. The questionnaire builder was to be embedded in our larger web app, so it was adding a piece of functionality that we previously didn’t have but really needed.

Developing the dynamic questionnaire builder functionality also provided us with the incremental value we need to keep our customers happy and ensure retention.

How did you select this vendor?

Based on the fact that we’re a Ruby shop and wanted to find a ReactJS partner, Googling Ruby+React gave us Justin Gordon, the creator of the react_on_rails gem. Justin and I had a conversation. He had available bandwidth and the budget suited us, so it didn't make sense to spend more time looking at alternatives. Based on their experience and skillset, ShakaCode was a logical choice as a partner.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project consisted of creating an intuitive and highly-interactive client-based frontend in ReactJS integrated with our Ruby on Rails backend via an API.

A key capability was that the technology developed was flexible enough to be reused in different areas within the application.

Once ShakaCode helped us develop the questionnaire functionality as we wanted, we needed them to help us maintain it so we purchased a React on Rails PRO subscription which gives us access to their developers for a fixed number of hours each month without having to go through a lengthy search and procurement process.

Now, whenever we have smaller projects where we can use their skills, we just give them a call. It’s really made our lives a lot easier.

What was the team composition?

The ShakaCode team included a primary developer and a couple of other developers who participated in code reviews. If we had a particularly tricky challenge, they just brought in someone else with the right skills to resolve the issue. From our side, there was a Ruby on Rails developer and a UI/UX designer.

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

One thing that really amazed me was how everything was just so smooth and seamless. Once ShakaCode had developed the dynamic questionnaire functionality, we rolled it out to a select group of beta customers expecting to get a lot of feedback.

We really believed that we’d have to iterate and make some improvements. What's fascinating is that we’ve hardly had to make any changes at all from what was released. It just worked.

The users loved it. They easily understood the questionnaire’s build capabilities and just jumped in and did it. ShakaCode gave us exactly what we needed - a high-quality, robust feature that adds real value to our clients.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

ShakaCode’s team was really easy to work with. They laid out the framework, created the test and deployment environments, and developed the code. Everything went extremely smoothly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

ShakaCode has a deep knowledge of ReactJS and, in particular, how to best integrate ReactJS into Rails. We brought them in because we wanted, not just someone who would build a feature and disappear, but a development partner for the long-term.

We wanted someone who would co-develop the questionnaire with us. We wanted them to be integrated into our regular development cycle, participate in pair-programming, do code reviews together, and share knowledge about best practices for building ReactJS apps. ShakaCode did all of that.

They were happy to share knowledge and transferring skills. They’ve made our team better and given us the confidence to build our own ReactJS components, although we still bounce ideas off of them and have them lend a hand when we need it.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I started off with very high expectations and ShakaCode met those expectations. I can’t say there is any specific area where they need to improve.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Datacenters.com is a strategic partner of Global Communications Group (GCG) offering high-density colocation, enterprise cloud, managed services, and connectivity solutions.

I’m the Vice President of Software Engineering at for both GCG and Datacenters.com, responsible for managing the worldwide software development and marketing teams.

For what projects/services did your company hire ShakaCode?

We initially contracted a different team to develop our new IT services registry with Ruby on Rails and React. They were using the React-on-Rails gem, but were unable to implement server-side rendering correctly to the level we were looking for from a design standpoint.

We hired ShakaCode to help us sort out the server-side rendering and fix a lot of legacy code that wasn’t working right. Since they did such a great job, we increased the scope and kept them on to develop the entire marketplace.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to create a unique, disruptive, IT services platform that would evolve over time to allow enterprises to research, find, purchase, and spin up any IT solution or service.

To begin with, we needed to build a sophisticated, modern colocation and managed services marketplace, with each user empowered to manage their own experience. It needed to incorporate in-depth insights and offer access to expertise, enabling clients to make the best, informed choice for their business.

How did you select this vendor?

The inability of our previous team to get server-side rendering running as designed was affecting our SEO. We quickly needed to find a way to render our pages correctly so Google could consume the information to increase our rankings and traffic.

Since ShakaCode created React-on-Rails and had an established development team experienced in launching sophisticated marketplaces (including HawaiiChee.com), we reached out to them.

Describe the project in detail.

We hired ShakaCode to improve the way the site was structured, fix the legacy code that wasn’t working correctly, and build the brand new front-end for the two-sided marketplace with IT providers the “sellers” and consumers the “buyers” of IT services.

In addition, ShakaCode provided guidance on choosing the technical stack and shared best practices to ensure automated test procedures were put in place, all code was peer-reviewed, and each task carefully tracked. Weekly, detailed reports made it easier for us to keep track of milestones and budget, and ensured that issues were promptly addressed.

What was the team composition?

The size of the team fluctuated between four and ten, with a project manager, designer, and two or three developers—including the lead developer—from ShakaCode entrenched in our team.

I and ShakaCode’s lead developer do all of the code reviews, while ShakaCode also provides a ReasonML specialist who makes sure that the site is mobile-friendly. Whenever we need additional skills such as SEO optimization, ShakaCode was quick to provide them to meet our milestones.

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

We now have a marketplace that’s a first in the industry. The entire site is redesigned with a brand new directory, a real estate section that we never had before, and an improved look for our blog.

The original vision for the site is finally a reality. We’ve gone from chasing a vision to creating a whole new world where we can explore ideas and scale the business.

From a design and functionality standpoint, the marketplace exceeded our goals. Following the launch, we experienced rapid adoption with more than 270 colocation and disaster recovery providers adding over 1600 global data centers and more than 300 products to the marketplace. That was 3X what we originally anticipated!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

ShakaCode was easy to work with and quickly scaled up the team so we could meet a hard deadline ahead of an important trade show. We really liked the way ShakaCode managed the project. Everything was super-transparent.

Because we’re extremely cost-conscious, that was important to me. With everyone tracking their time by task, it was easy for me to predict how long it would take and how much it would cost to develop new features.

Having ShakaCode’s team spread across multiple time zones is also an asset since it keeps the project running 24x7. As a result, we’ve never missed a deadline.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We hired ShakaCode to help us fix a lot of legacy code from the previous developers that wasn’t working right, but they ended up doing so much more. They also helped us create a great product upon which we can build our business, and a more efficient development flow that we’ve rolled out across all of our projects.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There’s always room for improvement, but ShakaCode is exceptionally good at what they do. They’re great communicators. They love the technologies they build on, and they’re passionate about coding. I trust them. I trust their opinion. I love these guys. I wouldn’t want to live without them.