United Developers

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-owner of Neighbors1, a gift card solutions provider that develops gift card software and apps for small businesses. I’ve also recently started another company called Chamber Voice, a business networking app.

What challenge were you trying to address with United Developers?

We needed a company that could help us develop apps and software for our clients.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started the engagement by upgrading my existing software, which is basically an online banking system that allows small businesses to get revenue from gift cards. This app was specifically designed and engineered for the chamber of commerce.

We worked with United Developers to build new technologies and functionalities for the app from scratch using PHP, specifically Laravel and Bootstrap frameworks.

They helped us develop and integrate a voice recognition feature, which allows users to use their voice to interact with their phones’ virtual assistants. We also integrated a QR code scanner that users could use to scan gift cards, view their cards’ balances, and perform transactions using their gift cards. 

We’re currently in the process of licensing this app to the 4,000 chambers of commerce around the country.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact is their project manager, but I initially worked with Sergey (CTO). I’ve since worked with Sergey (Team Lead & Fullstack Developer) and eight other people, which includes developers and a graphic designer.

How did you come to work with United Developers?

I found United Developers through a freelancing marketplace. I’ve used other clients from that site before, but United Developers really stood out. They really proved their language proficiency and capabilities through the test that they took on that site — they scored 100% on everything!

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $250,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with United Developers in June 2018, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

I think the greatest impact of this engagement with United Developers is the peace of mind that they give me. When they say they will do something, I don’t have to worry about it anymore, because I know they’re going to get it done. We’ve gotten to the point where I just tell them what I want, they tell me the price, and then they build it right away.

As for the app itself, I’ve already got one chamber of commerce licensed, and I’m just waiting for some upgrades that would allow me to sign up to 4,000 chambers. Soon, we’re going to launch our amazing app, which is truly a dream come true for me.

How did United Developers perform from a project management standpoint?

United Developers has performed really well in terms of project management. Our project manager, in particular, is just brilliant. She’s extremely organized — she has recordings of our conversations so she always knows where we left off or what we need to do, she never misses a thing, and I never have to remind her of anything.

In terms of communication, we primarily communicate through Skype, but we also talk through phone calls and emails. We occasionally have conference calls with their developers when we need to talk about specific functionality.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m very impressed with how brilliant and transparent United Developers is. I believe that the main reason why they were able to adhere to their timelines is that they already know how to do everything.

I’ve hired companies who only learn a certain language or learn how to develop the product that I wanted only after I paid them. This wasn’t the case with United Developers — when they gave me a quote, they already knew how long the project’s going to take because they already knew how to do it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything United Developers could improve on at the moment — I haven’t really had any issues with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just give them a shot — they will surely deliver.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am CTO of a mobile telecommunication provider. We develop custom Android devices with special industry specific functions.

For what projects/services did your company hire United Developers, and what were your goals?

We needed a custom Android app rapidly and be able to support it over the long time.

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

We interviewed on Upwork, tested a few developers for short time project and then selected Sergey, the project manager at United Developers as the Senior Android dev and project lead.

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

We needed a native Android instant messaging app connecting to our socket servers and providing the usual instant messaging features. We needed to be using latest Android tools (Kotlin was selected) and to iterate fast.

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

We start with the Project lead developer and he recommended we bring in a junior Android developer to handle UI work and save on costs. Also recommended a good Android test engineer which turned out to be two productive choices.

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

For start, we had to do some custom drivers for one of our Android devices, and the lead developer met us in Europe on short notice for a week to get that going fast. That was great flexibility. We had a demo app within 3 months, and within 6 months we had a stable app which we then adjusted based on client feedback. We iterated weekly and that worked well.

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

We used common tools like Codetree and Github and Slack/Skype. Team was relaxed about which tool we wanted to use.

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

United Developers did keep track of project resources and productivity and suggested adjustments when needed. That flexibility and reactiveness is important in long term projects.

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

Not really. I guess architecture documentation is something we could have done more of, but that is more our project and our management shortcoming.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was the CTO of the startup and lead the mobile app redesign effort.

For what projects/services did your company hire United Developers, and what were your goals?

I needed a complete redesign of our Android application, specifically to have it match our iOS application (both in appearance and function). I had to have both the experience and the appearance exactly match that of the iOS application that had been released months earlier.

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

I did a short trial period with United Developers and found that they were an outstanding group, both as human beings and as software engineers. Their team was extremely efficient, dedicated, great communicators, and overall amazing people. They felt more like full-time employees than contractors.

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

We completed a series of reviews of wireframes as well as a review of the iOS app - both the code and simple usability as downloaded from the App Store. After that, the project met informal deadlines, including reviews of the APK as key deliverables were met - including redesigned screens and major features added.

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

Three total resources from the team worked with me - their team lead and senior engineer, one of their primary mid-level engineers, and a UI/UX designer.

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

The redesign of the application was completed months ahead of schedule with every feature included that was in the iOS app and minimal bugs. Downloads increased by a significant factor and user satisfaction went up by more than one-star in the Google Play Store after deployment to production.

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

We used our internal tools for project management and communication, which were Asana and Slack.

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

How human the entire team was. Everyone was very easy to interact and get along with, on top of being top tier engineers. Very rarely could I come across such an amazing development talent who are also very relatable people.

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

I would have loved to actually talked to the team more, rather than only communicating through Slack and our Asana board. I truly enjoyed working with your team and would have further enjoyed talking to you as well.