DevsData LLC - a premium
technology partner

We code for hedge funds and SF-based startups since 2016

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DevsData LLC is a boutique software agency, with Google-level engineers and a vast network of senior expert contractors. We’re all about premium quality and business understanding.

Customer-oriented approach

As a junior engineer, our good friend named David worked on a contract for a big financial institution in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Long story short:
David told us about a situation wherein he and two experienced engineers were given a task description from a project manager who wanted to ask for a time estimate.

What did David do?
The task was not too complicated, so he implemented it within 2 hours and presented a working functionality the same day.

What did the engineers with 10+ years in the industry do?
These 2 senior engineers concluded that indeed the assignment was very complicated, multi-dimensional, and it would probably take at least 2 days to implement properly.
It is hilarious that David, despite being a junior engineer, actually built it in 2 hours and not days, isn’t it?

A few years ago, there was a loud affair in Europe.

One of the software consulting companies assigned just 2 engineers to a corporate contract that stated 6 people in the document. The situation was carefully masked for nearly 8 months. Eventually, the client found out what was going on. Needless to say, the consulting agency was sued and does not operate anymore. Situations like these repeat over and over again. The work process is purposefully obfuscated, masked from the clients on every level, and especially from business people under an illusion of technical complexity.

DevsData’s priority is to maintain the highest level of transparency

We do not agree with a world like this and are sick and tired of the omnipresent, mischievous BS in the tech industry. That is why we decided to set honesty and transparency as our core business value and we require them from all of our employees and contracts.

The way we work is fully transparent.

  • We regularly gather feedback and brainstorm together on the next vital milestones and plans
  • The client is updated on the progress every day and has access to the project management tool
  • The client can directly contact the engineers
  • *In case it is needed, the client also has direct contact with the company founder who can react quickly, and who is also up-to-date (on a high level) with what is going on in every project

handshake

Ethics in tech, honesty and no-BS approach

Over the years in tech, we have seen many bad things happen. Clients are being scammed in ways that the work is anything but transparent. They have no idea what is going on or if there is any progress. This has been happening frequently in the tech world and that bothers us. We believe clients deserve honesty and transparency.

DevsData LLC vs big software vendors

We like to think about ourselves as an alternative to Toptal

Indeed, many of our employees and contractors have renowned companies on their CVs, be it tech titans (Google, Microsoft, Intel), hedge funds, and banks (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, TradeLink). Some of them are frequent tech meet-up speakers or have founded their own companies. They have graduated from top computer science and business universities and - more importantly in an ever-changing tech landscape – they never stop learning.

But apart from all of that, the number one trait, for our employees, contractors, and even for non-tech personnel is the brainpower ability to come up with solutions to non-obvious problems. We discover it through a very rigorous, multi-stage recruitment process that only the best of the best can pass.

Our scope of services is similar to Toptal and other companies alike. What is more, we are an agile, boutique agency and thus we are able to offer a personalized and direct approach. As a small vendor, we adapt fast to the dynamic needs of the client.

Without the overhead of the sales & marketing departments, we can compensate our engineers well hence maintaining premium quality.

These are 3 common complaints that we hear from clients that cooperated with large companies:

1. Insufficient communication with the vendor.

Engineers who work in big companies are involved in many projects at the same time, oftentimes working more than 8h a day, and when they are really needed for the company – they are not available.

DevsData LLC, on the other hand, offers dedicated engineers to the project, with a time overlap with eastern or pacific time zones stated in the contract.

2. Lack of business understanding.

Because engineers in big corporations lack business understanding, they often implement the features in a way that is good for the short-term (prototype), but not necessarily the long-term . One of our clients, for instance, said he has been forced to rewrite a big portion of the codebase as it was not able to handle real-life, production demand.

DevsData’s development process is supervised by business consultants with corporate experience (including a former partner of BCG) which guarantees our software is a great market fit.

3. Expensive rates.

The rates of big market players are really expensive. People are smart, indeed, but the cost of an experienced senior engineer highly exceeds $100 per hour. And that is a considerable expense not only for startups, but also for well-established companies.

In DevsData LLC we do not have the sales & marketing overhead, so we are able to provide more experienced specialists for a more competitive price.

DevsData LLC vs a regular agency or a dev shop

Undoubtedly, there are mediocre engineers on the market. There are agencies that employ them, too.

Throughout the years, we have spoken to multiple companies and startups who were unsatisfied with cooperation with foregoing IT vendors. We have noted their complaints and taken the following measures to prevent them from happening in DevsData LLC.

Common mistakes of software vendors How DevsData LLC deals with it
Poor communication
  • We make weekly status & feedback calls with our clients.
  • The client is updated on the progress every day.
Misunderstanding of priorities and business objectives
  • Our projects are consulted by business advisors with 10+ years of corporate experience.
Non-ethical over-billing
  • We provide a full insight into the timesheets of our team.
  • We use external time-tracking tools.
Over-engineering the solution
  • Each project we deliver is closely monitored by a tech lead, which allows us to come up with simple, smooth, and out-of-the-box tech solutions.
Using obsolete tech
  • As for 2020, 62% of our engineers are tech meet-up speakers or open-source contributors.
Lack of flexibility
  • DevsData LLC is fully flexible in terms of working hours. On the client’s request, we are also ready to relocate to his headquarters for the project duration.
Wrong kind of experience
  • We simply do not accept projects in the industries we do not have experience with.
Unexperienced engineers
  • Our engineers and network contractors have 7-13 years of experience and went through a multi-staged recruitment process.
Poor English (if you contract outside of US) We only employ:
  • native English speakers,
  • foreign professionals experienced in working in an international environment,
  • foreign graduates and students of universities in English-speaking countries.

DevsData LLC vs hiring a freelancer

Using freelancers is often a good idea as it allows your company to meet dynamic needs. When it comes to software engineering, however, technical skills are only part of the puzzle.

In order to make sophisticated software projects successful, it requires excellent organization, priorities well-aligned with the client and his business goals, and a battle-tested process. Also, even the best software engineers out there are often so focused on the technicalities that they are blind to the bigger picture, and business objectives, and to what the client really needs.

Having delivered numerous, extensive software projects for international companies over the years, we are confident about our process and can guarantee a successful outcome, with little engagement from the client.

Customer satisfaction results in receiving referrals from the existing clients, and, as a result, triggers new clients who want to start even more exciting projects – that is what our passion is! In 2018 & 2019 combined, 46% of our clients came from referrals.

In addition, there is a global shortage of tech talent, especially in the US. Over the years we have interviewed countless people in the US, Canada, and EU, many of them asked for a rate of $140/h or higher, while not being able to crack even problem-solving challenges of medium difficulty level.

That is absolutely terrible. So, if you decide to go that route, thoroughly vet your freelancers; make sure they are really good. Involve other people in the process as well.

Only A-players
Google-level engineers

DevsData LLC engineers and product managers have attended top-tier universities, worked at tech titans, hedge funds, and are high-achievers with international experience. We are passionate about technology and we never stop learning.

We have people that graduated from Oxford, mensa members, ex-Googlers, ex hedge fund employees, experienced tech leads, and open source contributors.

A drawn picture of a man sitting behind a desk with a laptop
A drawn picture of a woman looking at computer screen

We value transparency and communication

We are characterized by a business-oriented approach, always keeping an eye on the client’s goal and the progress and avoiding over-engineering or pointless work.

Many engineers or agencies will jump straight into coding without taking the time to really understand what the project is about. At DevsData LLC, we think about the business perspective, hear the client out, brainstorm, and plan the initial phase together in a way that allows for fast iteration, feedback gathering, and rapid validation. And indeed – every project is different than the previous one.

Rigorous, multi-stage recruitment process

with an approval rate of under 1%

To deliver what we promise, we came up with an extensive, multi-stage, rigorous recruitment process, tailored to a particular tech position, that we continuously improve. As it is our secret of success, we do not want to disclose every detail, but it involves stages like:

  • Approximate approval rate:

    20% of the initial candidate pool

    1

    CV prescreening

  • Approximate approval rate:

    10% of the initial candidate pool

    2

    An automated problem-solving algorithmic challenge

  • Approximate approval rate:

    5-10% of the initial candidate pool

    3

    Quick non-technical conversation

  • Approximate approval rate:

    1-2% of the initial candidate pool

    4

    1 hour thorough technical interview with one of our engineers - live coding

  • Approximate approval rate:

    <1% of the initial candidate pool

    5

    The followup, longer calls with our engineers and business team to assess if candidate's experience is relevant to the project

The essential thing is to eliminate weak candidates very early in the process not to waste time on inferior talent, people without necessary acumen, brainpower, or CS fundamentals.

Skills and traits that we check:

Non-technical skills/traits *

  • Communication and organizational skills
  • Drive and passion
  • Personality
  • Behaviour during difficult or unusual situation
  • Business understanding
  • Presentational skills
  • Ability to think abstractly and finding generalized solutions for specific class of problems
  • Intelligence and brainpower
  • Reaction time

Technical skills

  • Is the person up-to-date with the very recent tech changes?
  • Computer Science foundations
  • Awareness and knowledge of security aspects
  • Deep understanding of and experience in the programming domain(s) stated in a CV
  • Algorithmic problem-solving skills

* Non technical skills are also checked for the engineering roles.

Battle-tested work methodology

Proactive to suggest useful ideas. Low-maintenance team members with excellent project organization.

Brutal fact – according to a report by The Standish Group, many software development projects fail. It is not enough to just hire experienced engineers to build a successful digital product. There are many other pieces of a puzzle involved including business perspective, market validation, and most importantly, a proven work methodology that facilitates transparent & dynamic communication as well as continuous feedback gathering and data validation.

We read about tech, even after hours

With the world moving that fast and changing the tech landscape, staying up-to-date with modern tech is crucial.

A genuine passion for technology in all team members. They never stop learning. What is more - many of them are tech speakers at local conferences and meetups.

Vast network of exceptional tech specialists

Throughout the years in the tech industry, we have built a vast network of experienced tech specialists - domain experts in various areas. The founders of DevsData LLC have graduated from one of the most prestigious Computer Science universities in Europe, the students and alumni of which attend and achieve high ranks at national and international programming & algorithmic contests.

We are active in local tech communities - many of our engineers are speakers on local meetups and conferences. Some of them have written tech books and are considered tech micro-influencers.

Good also for startups

In contrast to big software companies, we do not have marketing/sales/management overhead and can offer more experienced specialists, for a more competitive price.

While charging high US consulting rates on the majority of the projects, we have a special affinity for startups and small companies with an innovative idea and are willing to negotiate a more favorable cost structure. We have experience working with SV-based startups and have a local representative in San Mateo, California.

Fast-paced environment

As a small, dynamic software vendor, we are able to adjust quickly to the client’s needs and to deliver more features before an important business meeting or a fundraising milestone. Get things done in weeks, not days (see David’s story). We move quickly, always with an individualized approach for every client.

No-BS approach

Super transparent communication, with a no-BS approach - always know what the status, and what the plans are.

Over the years in tech, we have seen many bad things happening in tech. We do not agree with them and want to do things in a way that puts the client’s interest first and work in a transparent environment.

Serious about security

We have delivered projects for hedge funds, involving sensitive financial data and real-time systems with GDPR-restricted information that integrated with numerous payment processors and banks, genuinely caring about security and paying attention to details.

For the projects that we are involved in, a human error resulting in data leakage would be catastrophic - that is why we involve engineers of the highest caliber to ensure the security of every project.

A drawn picture of a screen with a lock on it

A highly-selective club of consultants

group photo

While it might seem like the path of the least resistance, engaging a standard software agency or dev shop may ultimately cost more for less output.

The things to consider are:

Agencies are weakened by the payroll plague.
1

Ten good software engineers will easily top a total fixed payroll of $1,500,000 annually in the US, and $1m in Europe. This means that the shop absolutely must come up with $125,000/month just to meet their engineering expenses.

Furthermore, agencies with a fixed, recurring payroll are encouraged to assign the next available employee to a client’s project — rather than the best one for the job. It is simply cheaper for agencies to keep billing you the available B-player instead of hiring an A-player with the exact skills set that you require.

Our solution:
At DevsData LLC, our main goal is to provide the tech team with experience relevant to the client's industry and with developers up-to-date with the technologies they will use.

We start each project with a thorough analysis of the project and client’s needs - taking both technical and business factors into account. That determines the line-up of engineers we employ for a certain project.

Except for our in-house developers, we also possess a vast network of freelance contractors and always select those who are the best fit for a project.

Agencies must remain on the "Agency Treadmill".
2

“They were great at first, but…” is a common refrain we hear from clients who have been burned by agencies before. The economics of a fixed bench payroll dictate a priority toward new client acquisition, and fast payback of the acquisition cost in order to get to a profit margin. This means that the relationship will always be great at first, then diminish in importance over time as the best talent gets re-deployed to wooing new clients.

Our solution:
At DevsData LLC, we assign a project manager to every project we start. Apart from being assigned to traditional tasks, they are also responsible for customer retention and receive a monetary commission if a customer decides to extend the cooperation with us, be it further software maintenance or developing an existing system or building new software.

And the fact that we are currently involved in long-term cooperation with many clients proves our customer retention system works.

Agencies must say "yes" to new deals even if not a good fit.
3

Fixed bids worsen the Agency Treadmill problem. Since agencies require a fresh business to survive, agencies must say “yes” to deals that infuse their business with cash, even if they may have trouble delivering on those commitments.

This business model and pricing model combination encourage agencies to take on more than they can handle and to kick the can down the road with your money. When it is time to deliver on your project’s critical final stages, the agency’s leadership is already courting new business.

Our solution:
At DevsData LLC, after we get in touch with a prospect, we first:
1. Examine whether we have sufficient human resources (among our inhouse developers and our network of contractors) to offer a given number of engineers for a full-time engagement.
2. Examine whether our engineers possess adequate knowledge and experience relevant to the client’s business needs.

From our point of view, meeting two mentioned above requirements is an essential condition to start a project.

Our model
is vastly different

We believe in the idea that successful projects are the result of complimentary, talented people working together. We also know that every project has its own dynamics, variables, and stages, so we have built our model around flexibility, finding the right talent for the right work, at the right time.

We believe in the idea that successful projects are the result of complimentary, talented people working together. We also know that every project has its own dynamics, variables, and stages, so we’ve built our model around flexibility, finding the right talent for the right work, at the right time.

A drawn picture of 2 people working on a project

Highly satisfied clients, world-wide

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  • Find out how bespoke software can help your business.
  • Estimate the time and budget needed to develop a solution.
  • Learn more about our expertise and capabilities.

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Best back-end engineers I've ever worked with.​

“I interviewed about a dozen different firms. DevsData LLC is truly exceptional – their backend developers are some of the best I’ve ever worked with. I’ve worked with a lot of very well-qualified developers, locally in San Francisco, and remotely, so that is not a compliment I offer lightly. Their depth of knowledge and their ability to get things done quickly."

Nicholas Johnson

CEO OF ORANGE CHARGER LLC;

MENTOR AT YCOMBINATOR

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