Sloboda Studio

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

CEO of an advertising agency

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Sloboda Studio, and what were your goals?

We needed to develop an automated system that would collect postbacks and route them to different partners systems

SOLUTION

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

I knew Sloboda from the previous company I worked at, and they were always highly spoken of, so I decided to contact them when I had needs with my own company

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

Project was based on Python. First step was to build a database with a specific endpoint that would collect different parameters from our clients. And then after collecting this data, make some decisions whether to forward or not this data to our business partners.

Over time this evolved and became more sophisticated, with more complexity in the decision making phase, handling new types of postbacks etc.. The project also included developing a simple user interface for setup and statistics purposes. This was based on Django framework.

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

1 person, full-stack senior engineer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project was launched after a few weeks of work. Immediately it was reliable and suffering very few issues, working as expected. It became a central piece for our operations.

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

First call with a project manager from the team, who gathers the requirements and then decided on the team member to allocate to the project. Alex was very reactive and had easily availability to speak with us, which kicked things off quickly. Style was always very professional and organized.

A few days after we had a call with one of their engineers and our previous provider for a transition. Then the engineer started working on our project immediately and was able to deliver faster than expected. Communication was done over calls, emails and Slack channel. Always smooth and efficient.

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

They understood quickly what we needed, were very concrete and pragmatic about what they were going to do, how they were going to do it. And finally very efficient in executing.

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

We were fully satisfied and do not see specifically any area of improvement

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the head of Professional Services for a US based financial SaaS platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Sloboda Studio?

We hired the Sloboda team to initially help us make progress on our tech debt with the ultimate goal of augmenting our own engineering team to help accelerate customer enhancement requests and new features and functionality.

SOLUTION

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

The biggest factors were the availability of unique skill sets and professionalism of the management and delivery team members we met with during the selection process.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The initial phase of the project was to guide and advise us tech debt related initiatives. From there, the Sloboda team has migrated to becoming an extension of our development team assisting with all aspects of our platform and additional responsibilities around QA and Project Management.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

We provided a detailed list of responsibilities we were looking for the Sloboda team to take on. We then decided on a number of resources and were presented with options. We had the opportunity to perform multiple interviews and technical screens for each of the requested resources.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since on boarding the team, we've been able to accelerate our overall development process which has resulted in improved customer satisfaction and quicker roll out of customer enhancements and new features and functionality.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Fairly seamless. There are ebbs and flows in our activities which make managing utilization of the Sloboda team tricky at times but we've been able to work through those times with little to no impact on the Sloboda team or our customers.

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

The ability to bring unique skillets to bear in short notice. I like their ability to integrate with our team and process quickly.

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

While communication and reporting is good there is room for improvement. That falls just as much on us as it does the Sloboda team.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work as an Account Manager at an IT company. We are a tech ecosystem that helps clients solve their software and staffing needs by managing each and every step in tech competency - from education to impact-driven development services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Sloboda Studio, and what were your goals?

We were working on a project to maintain and modernize the reporting system of our client for it to perform efficiently and provide accurate reports. So, we collaborated with Sloboda Studio to rebuild and maintain our client’s reporting module that creates reports about employee learning progress.

SOLUTION

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

Sloboda and our company are long-standing partners that have worked together on many projects. Out of all the companies we interviewed, Sloboda Studio showed the most understanding of the project goals. They provided us with the most efficient way to solve challenges.

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

Our client was in the process of migrating clients from their 2nd Generation monolith to our 3rd Generation distributed platform. So, we partnered with Sloboda Studio to re-write the client’s monolith PHP application in Python using microservices architecture.

In the process, we had to maintain and improve current data sync workers and 2nd & 3rd gen reporting systems, which ensures that the reporting data is reliably stored in a database. Once that was done, we increased the performance of their 3rd Gen Reporting system to be able to generate reports on 250k learners in a timely manner.

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

We hired the expertise of a Python engineer from Sloboda Studio to join our team of 2 backend developers and a QA specialist.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project is still in progress, so it is still early. But so far we are very satisfied with the results, their engineering team is highly qualified.

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

We had daily stand-ups and synchronization. The main communnication channels used were email (for organization issues) and Slack (for dev issues). For task tracking our main channels were Github, Jira, and timereports.

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

The developer provided by Slobodo Studio did not only work with our requirements but also provided valuable recommendations on how to create a more efficient reporting system for our client. He integrated seamlessly into our team of experts and is working together to successfully complete the project.

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

No. They exceeded our bar on every need

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a recipe marketplace for creators.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sloboda Studio?

We needed help to build our platform’s MVP.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sloboda has built the MVP of our site from scratch. First, they designed it and its different user flows, and they did a feature analysis. Then, they built the product using Python for the backend and React for the frontend. Since then, they’ve been helping us with new releases and updates.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with six people from Sloboda: a senior project manager, a regular project manager, a designer, a business analyst, and a couple of developers.

How did you come to work with Sloboda Studio?

I found Sloboda on Clutch. After interviewing many firms, including them, I felt that they understood what we were trying to do the best. Additionally, they had great reviews and were able to use the technology we wanted to use. After the interview, they presented a proposal for the platform’s design and the scope of work, and we ultimately hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $250,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2020, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The best metric regarding the success of our engagement is Sloboda’s high delivery cadence. Since working with them, we’ve been able to deliver new releases weekly.

How did Sloboda Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

Sloboda performs well. The senior project manager oversees the project and is excellent at organizing the team, and our direct project manager is very diligent on day-to-day tasks. We communicate via Slack, and we have a weekly standing call.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Sloboda is very attentive and responsive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

During the process, we switched project managers because our original project manager left the company. Although it was a smooth transition, it was very surprising, so it would have been good if we had gotten notice in advance.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Understanding your scope of work is really important.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO and Head of Product.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Sloboda Studio, and what were your goals?

We needed front end, full stack, and dev ops support for our proprietary e-commerce website. Our needs were complicated by extensive technical debt - about 75% of the code was no longer being used. We had limited budget to maintain and iterate on the website prior to our next fundraise.

SOLUTION

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

I reached out to 8 different dev studio vendors across the US and Eastern Europe and ended up choosing Sloboda. They weren’t the cheapest, but they were by far the most responsive and asked the best questions to scope our needs.

This continued throughout the engagement: they were curious, responsive, hard-working, and able to quickly get up to speed and contribute where we needed help.

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

They took on work our US-based engineering team didn’t have the bandwidth to deliver. This was a web development project using Ruby on Rails and related technologies. They participated as equals in our weekly engineering sprints, determining work assignments based on their bandwidth and skills.

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

We hired 1 full-time Front End Dev and 1 part-time Full Stack Dev who also helped with occasional DevOps needs as they came up.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Sloboda delivered work at a high quality appropriate to their career experiences. They were true peer partners for our US-based team.

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

We had daily stand-ups (US morning, Ukraine late afternoon/early evening) and sprint sessions every week or two. We used Jira to track deliverables (our system already in use, they readily adopted it) and Slack for quick communications.

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

They were tenacious, curious, and determined to deliver good work. They also showed superb customer focus for us are their customer, and solid CX sensitivity for our customers. They were consummate professionals, quick to respond to our bid and our vendor vetting process, collaborative in nature, and dedicated to our success.

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

No. They exceeded our bar on every need.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a company that provides a platform where people can rent accommodations. It allows property owners to list their amenities, which vacationers can then find and book through our web-based software.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sloboda Studio?

We were trying to design a website that could make it easier for property owners to advertise their accommodations to customers. For this, we hired Sloboda.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sloboda created a web-based platform where vacationers could find accommodations in different locations. The team developed several functions to enable users to list and advertise their properties, reserve or book an accommodation, make their payments on the website itself, and leave reviews about their experience. Sloboda also created a search filter to help customers narrow down results based on their preferences. 

I provided a textual description and basic design of the website that we wanted to develop, while Sloboda used software from another company as a reference for the build. I already had the website hosting in place, so their team now only provides ongoing maintenance for us.

What is the team composition?

There were 14 people who worked with me: a team manager, a web designer, eight web developers, and several customer acquisition specialists. 

How did you come to work with Sloboda Studio?

I found Sloboda through a Google search. I chose them based on past reviews of their work and based on their responsiveness during my initial consultation. I don't get in touch with a few other companies, but Sloboda was the best.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $110,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

A partnership began in December 2020 and it is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve done internal testing on the platform, and my staff and I are very happy with the design and the website flow. Though we have yet to have actual end-users test the website, we believe that the features and functionalities will be good at meeting the needs of our customers. 

How did Sloboda Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

Sloboda meets all of our expectations. We’re very satisfied with their performance. They are attentive to our needs and they respond quickly to critical questions and concerns. 

We use Figma, Slack, Google Meet, and Zoom. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Sloboda delivers a high-value product at a reasonable price. They have a good hourly rate, and it is lower than what our competitors have paid to achieve the same end. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can think of anything at the moment.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Prepare for the project in advance. If you're planning to do web development, make sure to outline everything you want to achieve before getting in touch with Sloboda. It will save you a great amount of time and money compared to if you approached the team not knowing what you're looking for.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product director of an IT company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sloboda Studio?

I was assigned to a product development project, but we lost our backend developer. To keep the project moving, I needed a new backend developer as soon as possible.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have the frontend team, and they handle the backend development. The previous backend developer kept some of our product documentation in Notion, so we’ve given it to Sloboda Studio’s team.
 
What is the team composition?

I work with one backend Python developer. There are other developers working as well.
How did you come to work with Sloboda Studio?

Our company was already collaborating with them. 

We actually had several projects going on with Sloboda Studio because our company was already collaborating with them. When I needed a new backend developer for my project, I found that it was really hard to find a full-time resource. So, I hired someone directly from Sloboda Studio because we’d had a good experience with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2021, and the collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were only planning to hire one person for 1-2 months, but his work has been so great that we’ve continued working with him. It’ll be really hard to let him go after we finish the MVP.

How did Sloboda Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

Our backend developer is really great at communication. If there’s a problem with a task, he always comes to me first and tells me about the potential risks. The team is satisfied with his work, too. What matters most is that we can see the stages of development and know when the feature is ready. We communicate via Slack and Jira and have two meetings per week.

What did you find most impressive about them?

This is the first outsourced person I’ve worked with. I don’t have anyone to compare him to. I’m satisfied with him.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t know what he could’ve done better.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you have a pause in development and are thinking whether to wait and hire a full-time person or to use outsourced developers, I suggest that you hire an outsourced developer. You’ll save so much time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of engineering for an internet company. We’re involved in gaming. I support four different platforms for four different companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sloboda Studio?

I needed to scale up our development team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sloboda Studio provided outsourced developers to us. In just 1–2 days, they built up a team of 5–10 people and started working.

When we start a new project, I request developers with certain skills, and then it’s completely on me to provide all the documentation onboarding that they need. I usually work with Ruby on Rails developers, Java developers, frontend developers, and React developers.

What is the team composition?

The most developers I’ve run with from Sloboda Studio at a time are 8–9. I scale up and down as needed.

How did you come to work with Sloboda Studio?

I was responsible for engineering in a different group when I was working under an umbrella company, and they had two external developers from Sloboda Studio. We saw they were really good partners for us and we decided to cooperate with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $1 million with them to date.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since January 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All of Sloboda Studio’s resources are highly motivated; I’ve never encountered anyone who wasn’t interested in working hard. It’s really fun to work with them, and I can scale the team to include any technology I want. They’re usually a bit more experienced than the in-house developers, and they perform better.

How did Sloboda Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

Our process is smooth. We try to use Sloboda Studio the same way we use in-house resources. They support me with anything I need. It’s a great setup — I can get them very quickly when the need arises.

I have a dedicated account manager that sorts out all of my issues, and we have review sessions with developers if there’s anything to improve.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re able to provide developers to me as soon as possible — and at awesome rates. They’re reliable partners.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any problems with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Understand your goals and communicate them so that they can support you in your journey. Sloboda Studio is really committed to going the extra mile. They offered to take part in some standups. They’re keen on providing high quality.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of Orange Club, a fitness studio.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sloboda Studio?

Another company built our website but stopped working with them because the site wasn't working properly. The site had a lot of bugs and our reference links weren't working properly. We needed help from another company to fix the site.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sloboda Studio fixed a lot of bugs on our website as well as the issue with our reference links. Our website has a personal cabinet where people can work with our clients. It’s a diet diary where people can find what they eat during the day and work with their managers.

They also worked on the personal cabinet as well since it didn’t work properly.  Some objects were too close to each other and they fixed the design problems. The Sloboda Studio team helped redesign most of the side, adding video content to our business page and redoing the UI/UX. Now, their team helps with ongoing maintenance and support.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact was a manager, who in turn put us in contact with a WordPress developer. All our technical questions were directed to the developer and payment questions were for the manager.

How did you come to work with Sloboda Studio?

We asked our friends which companies were good in our country and they told us about Sloboda Studio. We looked at other companies as well but Sloboda Studio was the best because they had the developers we needed. Not many companies work with a website that another company built and there weren’t many WordPress developers, but they did. We were very excited to work with them

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested than $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2020 and it's ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of their work is really high. The platform works smoothly and runs without bugs. We effectively approached them with a non-functioning website. The bugs meant that it was constantly crashing. The developer understood our problems and made the site exactly how we wanted. Now, the platform is actually usable. If we find any bugs on our website, we text them and they fix them.

How did Sloboda Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

It's been great. We use text messages and video calls to communicate. They're really fast. Anytime I need them, they’re available even if it’s at night or on the weekend.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They work quickly. If I find a bug, I text them right away. By the next day, we’re working on the bug. It’s that fast. They remember our problems and are always ready to work with us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they have nothing to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Everything was well done.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the CTO and sole developer of an IT startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sloboda Studio?

I needed a full-stack developer to help me develop an application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, I contacted Sloboda Studio to discuss the position that I was looking for — I basically needed a developer who can focus on my app development needs. After screening through the profiles they provided, I chose one experienced resource and interviewed her. I also spoke with her manager and looked at some of the code work she’s done in the past.

Everything seemed good to me, so I was happy to onboard her. We started the development work in October, and we’re launching the product soon. She’s been working remotely since the start of our engagement.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact before the app development was the team’s manager. He was the one who gave me the profiles of all the qualified resources for the role I was looking for. He also joined me during the onboarding meeting with the developer, whom I am now working with.

How did you come to work with Sloboda Studio?

They were referred to me by a former colleague who’s worked with them on several occasions. It seemed like a great recommendation, so I was more than happy to go with Sloboda Studio.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent about $30,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in October 2020, and the development work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m responsible for reviewing the developer’s code work, and I can be picky in the entire process. I appreciate how she quickly applies all the edits and feedback that I relay to her — it pays a lot when someone you work with takes their time to internalize and apply your feedback so they can improve their work. That alone makes me happy.

How did Sloboda Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Google Drive to send codes and edits back and forth, and they also update me with weekly project reports. I don’t spend a lot of time looking at those because I’ve already established a good working relationship with the developer — I trust that she’ll provide me with the output I need. 

I get monthly invoices from Sloboda Studio when they check in regularly to ensure that the project is actually progressing. That’s basically all we have to do in terms of project management —  I don’t really need much from them in this aspect.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m happy to be working with a very devoted and responsible developer from Sloboda Studio’s team. She really handles my feedback well, and she cares about my vision and the product. Their admin team is also responsive when I ask for other resources to help me with other projects or tasks. With Sloboda Studio, I always get the right developers with relevant skills. They understand my tech needs, and that’s very important.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re doing a great job so far. It’s hard to spot an area for improvement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Start by giving them a detailed description of what you’re looking for. Their team is pretty good at understanding all the technical aspects of their work, so that’s all they’ll be needing from you.