A key player in your organization's technology planning is the CTO (Chief Technical Officer). In this article, we'll explore the essential qualities...
Product-Market Fit is a measure of how well your product meets the needs of your customers. When your product fulfills a need, you have a sustainable...
Python’s `concurrent.futures` package provides a straightforward and user-friendly way to speed up code without in-depth knowledge of concurrent...
The Project Scope defines the deliverables, deadline, and may include an estimated budget. It is a document that encompasses what both parties have...
One of the business skills that Bixly has honed over the years which has been essential to our business is finding amazing talent.
Software risk assessment is the process of identifying and measuring risks to your software project. There are two main categories of risk: that...
Implementing RevOps has been a critical strategy for companies focusing on growth. What is RevOps? It is the synchronization of SalesOps,...
As your product and team grow, the need to strategize that growth will become inevitable. This week we are focusing on a few different ways our...
The CTO is a key role that sits between business and technology: the person who identifies how to translate business requirements into tech product...
This week we review the low-code solution, Draftbit. Draftbit is our personal favorite platform on the market. Let's see the pros, the cons, and...
Displaying simple messages to users is an easy way to keep a user informed and confident while using your website or application. Throughout my time...
We've tangentially talked about the importance of a smooth onboarding process with your app or website in other videos and vlogs. (See our series on...
If I were to summarize Airtable, I would describe it as a database that can be visualized in a variety of ways, including a traditional spreadsheet,...
These are the top three trends that we think will be key in 2023. To be fair, they are not new in 2023 but rather continuations of trends that we...
Software testing and quality assurance are sometimes difficult to convince clients to invest in on a time and materials basis. QA will have an...
Five micro-interactions that the touch screen of mobile devices makes available to you and which can drastically improve the UX of your mobile...
Dark UX is the use of UX cues to nudge the user to take actions within your site or app that the company wants them to take, but which they don't...
Robots are taking over! Run!! Wait... that might be an exaggeration. However, AI or artificial intelligence can be capable of surprising you. ChatGPT...
Automation testing is a critical aspect of software development. It allows you to make sure your code works as intended and won't break when someone...
The term Web 3.0 has been around since the early 2000s, but it has evolved to reflect a wide array of potential applications and approaches. In this...
Technical recruiting is hard, but we are here to help! We can find the right people for your team and vet their technical abilities.
Here are five reasons to update your no/low-code app to custom code.
Appgyver is one of the most popular low-code platforms. It also has the backing of some major players in business tech. But how do we feel it stacks...
Django Signals help you avoid errors, keep your code DRY, avoid over-engineering.
The point of an MVP is to get feedback on your idea before you spend all your money. In order to do that you need strategies for collecting user...
We feel that no/low code solutions are an excellent fit for many MVP projects. It keeps the timeline and price reasonable.
Bravo has a really unique implementation. It actually leverages Figma designs by using AI to translate them into code.
Have you ever needed to include the same data on every template within a Django project? I recommend becoming familiar with Django’s custom context...
Headless eCommerce decouples the front and the backend, using an API to connect them, which allows for a variety of applications, third-party...
A proof of concept is an experiment, test, or early version that validates assumptions. It should contain research to identify the viability of an...
Google Pay is an app that enables users to pay using their compatible phones, watches, or tablets. It's also integrated into Google Chrome.
One dollar investment in UX renders an average return of $100. Let's take a look at key UI/UX trends that you should consider for your web project.
Debugging code isn’t always fun but it doesn’t have to be difficult.
What if you want to build a pictur-sharing app like Instagram? What would it cost to build it in traditional development versus low code/no code?
Let’s take a look at what it would take to build a simplified ride-sharing app, both with traditional custom coding and with a low-code/no-code...
Are you planning an e-commerce app? Here are several key features you should consider for your build.
We believe our customer's success is our success. Here are a few ways we protect our customer's ROI.
These are seven key trends we see in fintech in 2022. The most important trend to pay attention to is the increasing regulation of the industry.
Here are five ways that we invest in our team. Some of these are specific to engineers, but they are still great examples of how to grow your team.
Today Cris and Andrew highlight 5 tech trends that we are seeing in 2022 from blockchain to DevOps and security and green technology.
Today Cris and Cody debate the question where will blockchain be in the next 5 years? We have some controversial opinions to share. Where do you...
Implementing a robust DevOps department can be intimidating since DevOps can have broad cultural as well as business implications for your day-to-day...
Using data to inform your decisions for maintaining and improving your app is key. The best way forward is listening to your customers and ensuring a...
In this episode, we highlight 6 mistakes that startups frequently make. Hear our advice on each of these issues, and know you’re not alone! Bixly...
As promised, we are back with an episode all about the benefits of using a cloud infrastructure. If you missed our previous episode about having an...
Produce audit apps are just one example of business process apps that help businesses save money and time, streamline processes, and capture valuable...
There are specific circumstances under which having your servers and your whole IT infrastructure on-site is necessary. For those cases, there are a...
If you haven’t thought about what custom software for your company would do, even if you’re not a tech company – especially if you’re not a tech...
Here are five tech trends we are seeing gaining traction in retail. Have you seen these trends? Did we miss any tech retail trends that you know of?...
It’s exciting to see when tech continually makes inroads in such observably beneficial ways. Here are five ways tech is impacting patient outcomes...
Have you ever introduced a new tool or software only to have few people use it while spending thousands of dollars? You know you need to implement...
Data migration is one of those inevitabilities that comes with success! When your software is gaining traction, this is one of the growing pains. In...
Here are nine reasons you need a site redesign. If you have even one (especially number 9) you should really consider a site redesign. And don’t...
DevOps is a powerful tool in custom development. It’s ideal for medium to large software teams working on projects that need speed as well as code...
We share our experience at the 2022 World Ag Expo as well as what we learned there. We discuss some of the current market of agtech as well as some...
Let’s talk about how we collaborate across industry lines: Bixly bringing tech and software expertise and our clients bringing their own industry...
Nothing gets us fired up as much as helping businesses implement tech solutions that help them with their core company. At a high level, we see over...
Infrastructure as code is the idea that we can apply similar practices from version control systems to your infrastructure. The benefits? Visibility...
With Facebook’s new branding, everyone is talking about the Metaverse. But what is the metaverse? What does it mean for technology? How will it...
Web 3.0 is a huge buzzword. So let’s talk about what Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 are. Let’s talk about the unique components of Web 3.0: Crypto, NFTs, and...
The importance of getting to market fast centers around first, getting user feedback and continue to remain on target to serve customer needs, and...
In this episode we discuss Low Code and No Code solutions that are available. What are they good at? What are their limitations? Are they going to...
We have done a lot of custom software and we have seen these mistakes done (we’ve even made a couple of them ourselves — oops!) So learn from our...
In this final episode, we review the final items included in the roadmap: your prototype, user stories, and milestones. All this culminates in a...
Tech is known for employee turnover, but add to that Covid and work from home opportunities, and we’ve seen the rates of turnover expand even more....
This episode highlights some of the most exciting parts of project roadmapping: seeing your app come to life through the user flow, wireframes, and...
Aaron Marquez is with us in the studio again as we discuss the difference between a website and a web app: their different goals, functions, and...
In this episode we take a look at the top three closet apps to see where Encapsule fits in the market. We ask ourselves the same question that we ask...
There are lots of different architecture patterns for web and app software. The main question is determining what your business needs are first, then...
Welcome to a new mini-series where we share a mock project roadmap with you from beginning to end. This is the first of four episodes, and in this...
We are collaborating with AMarquez again to discuss SEO. What is it? Why is it valuable? What are some easy things to do to improve your site’s SEO...
The Starter Project Roadmap is free and obligation free! But what do you get out of it when you’re done? Alexandra and Cris talk about the benefits...
Aaron and Cris discuss the definitions of and differences between UI/UX. They also discuss why starting your project from a user’s perspective is...
Today we sit down with Aaron, one of our strategic partners who specializes in SEO and conversion based website design. Aaron and Cris discuss what...
Here is our take on estimating, making quotes, and how to do it accurately. Andrew and Cris discuss the potential pitfalls of estimating too low as...
When you’re thinking about your custom software solution, sometimes it’s not clear whether a kiosk solution or a mobile app would be better. Since...
We’ve had fully remote teams and blended teams over the years. Hear some of our insight into managing remote and co-located teams: how to build trust...
Let’s talk about refactoring versus rewriting code. In general, our bias is to preserving the maintainability of a legacy project, but when that...
Get to know Jason who started working to help foster kids transition into adulthood to now working as a backend developer here at Bixly. He’s been a...
Let’s discuss how the disciplines of frontend development and design interact with each other. Even though they are completely different skillsets,...
Get to know Aaron, who started in markup and design, and who has added to his skills as a frontend developer. He’s also a new dad, an artist, a...
Whether it’s considering users who may be differently abled or even the user’s unique experience with the app, such as wearing gloves or goggles or...
Getting the balance right on being prepared to scale your project but not being overly prepared (i.e. wasting money on excessive hosting) can be...
Algorithms are simply statements of logic chained together, but where they get really powerful is when machine learning is implemented in them as...
The best programming languages for web are the ones we see having staying power. They are flexible, fast, and well supported. Here we talk about our...
Alexandra joined Bixly after working with Bixly on a website that allowed teachers to use interactive curricula online in the classroom. She also...
There’s a significant difference between “code that works” and “high quality code”. It really comes down to how you want to spend your time (and...
Get to know Sone, who transferred from hardware and IT, to programming and web development. Sone also enjoys gaming and disc golf! Full Transcript...
We’ve talked about a few of the tech roles in the past, like project managers or product owners, but today we take a look at the team overall. What...
Jake always had a passion for tech, whether that be playing video games or building computers, but started out his career as a therapist, then a...
These two types of testing are similar but answer two different questions about your project: how does it perform under normal circumstances versus...
Agile is all over software development, and it has spawned a lot of variations. So, why is Agile so popular for development? When is it not a fit?...
Thien started out his educational career thinking he would become an architect, but ended up loving web development. Today, he also works on music...
Does your business need AI? Likely the answer is yes, and if not now, it will be. To be able to compete at speed and scale, machine learning and...
Shandy started out building websites for fun as a high schooler and built it into a career as a developer. She loves solving problems and her pet...
Learning multiple programming languages is helpful because it allows you to understand how to approach a problem from multiple perspectives and with...
Tyler has come from being an aspiring journalist (he’s still a great writer and you should check out his blog!) to graphic design to development and...
Imposter syndrome is the feeling like you’re a fraud and a little bit of fear that the “real” experts around you will somehow figure it out. It can...
Learn about Cris’s background in hardware, how he got at Apple, before joining the Bixly team to be a part of a startup. Also, hear about his other...
Automated hosting is kind of like flying a plan with just an autopilot. Managed hosting is like flying a plane with both a trained pilot and...
Learn about Cody’s background in tech, how he got started with a hobby in game programming, to freelancing web development, to joining and growing...
In a world of endless SaaS and web apps, it’s easy to have dozens of apps powering your business that may start to overlap. It’s easy to jump from...
Learn about Andrew’s background in tech, how he got started, and how he ended up working with Bixly. Plus we talk about his non-tech related hobbies...
Lead Gen is all about finding the right fit between a real need in clients and a real solution from your service providers and that’s what we are all...
The internet of things is a term that refers to the increasing connectivity of our smart devices. When planning out your next web or app project,...
Tech interviews are often a different animal compared to screening in other industries. The process may take longer and will likely be much more...
Having an effective project manager is key to the success of your custom software project. Here Andrew goes over some skills every project manager...
Code audits are a low cost, low investment process that will help your project maintain consistency and meet industry standard practices. Unless...
Getting an estimate or even a fixed-bid quote on a software project is actually quite difficult. Either, you will need to spend a decent amount of...
At Bixly, it’s important for us to have a culture where any person of any background can succeed on our team. That means cultivating a culture of...
Building the perfect-fit, custom solution isn’t always the right choice for you or for you right now. If there’s an off-the-shelf solution that works...
Devops is a hot topic in tech right now. In this episode, we talk about what is devops, how it helps your project, and what your expectations should...
Staff Augmentation often happens when we are coming alongside your existing team. This could be to fill a gap, work on a backlog project, or to work...
We suggest having a familiarity with how software projects are structured and then finding great experts to work with. Otherwise, having a background...
Before starting your project, it’s important to have realistic expectations of how long it takes to make custom software (and therefore how much it...
Using domestic or overseas teams really depends on your budget, timeline, and how excellent your communication is. There is no one right answer here,...
Having excellent communication can make or break your project. Cris and Andrew discuss best practices, helpful tools, and some pitfalls to look out...
Wireframes are among the best and cheapest tools for refining and defining your app idea. They can often be a great place to start getting feedback...
We use Ionic for the majority of our mobile development projects. Why? Because it is in line with our goal to help our customers get to cash fast....
Staff Augmentation, or outsourcing, can be a great fit for many projects. Because custom software development requires so many skillsets, that...
This year more than ever technology is impacting where and how our students learn. In this episode we discuss everything from how the internet has...
The Medical Industry is one that continues to be transformed by tech. When thinking about custom software, there continues to be huge opportunity....
So our team has a bit of a wandering eye problem when it comes to technology. We love to be curious and continuously learn technology. Our team...
The product owner holds a unique position in any software project and they are key to bringing your project to success. The product owner represents...
Cody and Andrew discuss the unique considerations you should keep in mind as you work on kiosk projects. While a lot of the software technology can...
The agricultural industry is becoming increasingly data driven and automated, which means custom software has recently become a big player. Today,...
Project roadmapping is the most valuable thing you can do for your project. It is the best way to figure out what you need to build (and what you...
There are two main ways we structure projects at Bixly depending on our clients’ needs. Andrew and Cris talk about the differences between these two...
Cris and Andrew get passionate about the value that MVPs bring your product. In this episode of Tech Tuesday, they describe different kinds of MVPs...
At Bixly, our core tech stack has been well established for many years. We’ve been programming in Python/Django for well over 10 years and using...
Here at Bixly we like to be as transparent as possible about what it really costs to build a custom piece of software, because we think it is...
Project roadmapping (previously called the Discovery Phase) is something that we talk about a lot because it is extremely valuable and important! It...
As always with any nuanced and thoughtful discussion, the answer to this question is, “It depends.” It depends on how you go about building an app....
There have been several projects we have worked on in which a custom admin was either a huge milestone for the project or was the entire project...
Having been in the business of building apps since 2008, we have been able to distill viable apps into two categories. They are built for one of only...
Since working with Bixly, the BeGreat app has pivoted to a new concept, however version one of the app is still a wonderful example of how a simple...
In our blog about determining if you should make an internal hire or work with a team like Bixly’s, we talked about how it can be challenging to...
A process that we’ve referenced obliquely as part of our project road mapping process and in our blog about planning your kiosk software is creating...
Bixly has recently been working on an app in the agricultural space that helps workers duplicate a process that was formerly done with good ol’ pen...
Previously we’ve talked about what it takes to have a successful project. Today we want to dive deep on some of the communication skills that will...
In a previous post, we discussed the two different ways Bixly structures projects: fixed-bid and time and materials. In that post, we noted that one...
It actually took us many years to understand how vital this role was for the success of the project. For a long time, we thought we could handle it...
We recently put the final touches on the latest version of a mobile app for famous Fortnite streamer, Squatingdog. His companion app for Battle...
Bixly is just about to wrap up a software development project for a payment processing kiosk, and with that we wanted to take some time to reflect on...
While headlines have been filled with how Jeff Bezos is even MORE successful during shelter-in-place orders as a result of Covid-19, at Bixly we are...
Here at Bixly we offer what we call Staff Augmentation. This is when we supply the talent you need for your software project. There are a couple of...
At Bixly, we don’t like to reinvent the wheel if we don’t have to. There are certainly times when a bespoke solution is the right way to go and our...
At Bixly, there are two different ways to get your project done: Fixed-Bid or Time and Materials. But what are those and how do you know what’s right...
Do You Have the Time and the Money Before any serious endeavor, it’s important to count the cost before you make the commitment. Everyone has the...
At Bixly we have a great set of talent in UI/UX, not least of whom is Nick Wortley, founder and partner of Bixly. Combined with our team of design...
What is Oscar? If you’ve worked with Django before, you’ve probably heard of Oscar. Oscar is an ecommerce plugin. It allows your development team to...
If you’re one of our clients, you’ve certainly spent a lot of time talking with Cris. As Chief of Staff, Cris fulfills a hybrid role. Internally,...
Overflow is a way to pay for your drinks in a busy bar. You can see the app here. It’s built in Ionic, using Angular. The back-end is written of...
Bixly has partnered with an excellent company called QubeChain on a couple of projects that are actively leveraging blockchain technology. Recently,...
There are perhaps no two things more important to your customers than these two aspects, and if they are done properly they should never be overtly...
One thing we’ve discovered… is that we often end up saying “Automate can do anything!” It’s a wonderful thing to be able to say, but it’s a tough...
We at Bixly are excited with the progress of Automate and would like to share some of our challenges and conquests along the way. Bixly Automate is a...
I have built over $10m worth of custom software over the years through Bixly. In that time, I have seen many bright-eyed, tech-minded people with...
That’s what the life of a front-end web developer often entails, so how exactly do they connect with each other? I’ll start with the process esteemed...
Hey all! My name is Aaron K. and I’m one of Bixly’s newest Front End Developers. I’ve had the pleasure of working with this wacky, talented, group of...
The topic of a recent meeting was what could be done to further the growth of the tech industry in Fresno. The question was posed to us, “What does...
What is Stashboard? For those of you that don’t know, Stashboard is an open source status page that runs on Google App Engine. It can be customized...
What is MQTT? MQTT is a network protocol used for device to device messaging. Once a server is set up, you can subscribe to topics. Once a...
Are you interested in controlling Stripe based on rules? Maybe if a customer has been there for so long, they get a discount, or some billing change...
Interested in connecting your jQuery to your Nebri instance? We would like to provide these two helper libraries to kick start your efforts. jQuery...
Terry Woodward, of http://artilectmarketing.com, reached out to us in 2015 with a challenge. It was our first close encounter with the Hospitality...
As you know, there is a HUGE selection of Marketing Automation tools available. I am writing to show you a programmatic approach to accomplish...
Event Driven Architecture (EDA) is an alternative to Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Rather than summarizing the pros vs the cons, I would point...
The functionality that I am looking for is actually very difficult to come by. I want to be contact by certain issues/people at certain times, and...
I love when non-business thinkers give great advice the really is useful for a business. Here’s a lecture that talks about systems and people. A...
Here’s some pics of the 2014 Halloween party that happened at our office. Plenty of dancing and janky costumes.
I was honored to speak at Google Developer Group – GDG Fresno 2014. Keynote speaker none the less! Here’s a picture of me speaking, along with some...
Home automation is made a zillion times more powerful when the devices are connected to the web. A proper hub or gateway achieves this by routing...
I find myself explaining what a rule engine is very often. Here’s my answer, and some thoughts on where a rule engine can fit into your technology...
Here’s a huge list that I will try to keep updated. It contains software/tools that have reach some degree of usefulness and/or buzz in the Event...
I ordered a little present for the office to enjoy. No charge guys!
We, programmers, are lazy. We despise repetitive tasks and are bored by monotonous project requirements. As much as possible, we automate processes...
As a recruiter, I am fortunate to meet many people on a daily basis. One of the things that tends to come through is the ability to pick up on...
I love this article that just came out on Slashdot entitled: Happy Software Developers Solve Problems Better Checkout the article on Slashdot. There...
I just wanted to show everyone around. Our office is always changing, so here is the latest look:
The folks over at job-board site www.monster.com have shared 12 rules for the workplace regarding etiquette. Even though most employees know to...
From Wikipedia: Stigmergy is a mechanism of indirect coordination between agents or actions.[1] The principle is that the trace left in the...
What’s interesting is that the word automation is so attractive, yet it seems to mean almost anything. It’s in danger of meaning nothing. But we all...
Luckily we run into people that have already made the decision to use Django even before calling in, but you might not be in that boat. How do you...
Django-crispy-forms is a third-party Django application which lets you create beautiful forms in “a very elegant and DRY way”. Best of all—you don’t...
When I started in web development, Gnome terminal and its tab interface were the tools I used for my terminal needs. We can say that web development...
I think Zapier is a killer service. Also if you haven’t seen IFTTT you should do that. It’s kinda what like what Apple is to PC, IFTTT is to Zapier....
We have a couple options for implementing a rules engine in Python: we can roll our own, or we use an existing one. Regarding the first option, it...
There are many options out there for a new project; they come in the form of languages, frameworks, concepts and paradigms. While many of them are...
Django is a sophisticated web platform that uses Python and supports streamlined design and rapid development. Django is also an excellent foundation...
Django is a Python-based web framework with excellent tutorials available online. Most Django development tutorials are geared for someone who’s...
According to the Popularity of Programming Language Index, the powerful but simple object-oriented programming language known as Python is now the...
We all have our reasons for wanting a great rules engine in Python/Django. For us, those reasons are a) we enjoy programming in Python/Django and b)...
Here’s some popular home automation packages which use rules in some fashion. We would argue that rules would be THE way to automate your home almost...
Rule-engines have a special advantage over their imperative counterpart. Lets get some footing with a quote from Martin Fowler: A rules engine is all...
I recently traded a few emails with Pedro Sobreiro about NebriOS and how it could be used to for business strategy optimization within a Business...
Supervisord is a nifty daemon for running and monitoring processes, that in the words of our sys admin Randol, “is everything Upstart isn’t.”...