Tag: CODING

Legacy Application Modernization: Challenges and Strategy

Posted on by Volodymyr Khitsiak

Imagine stumbling upon an ancient chest hidden in the depths of your office basement. As you pry open the creaky lid, you discover a treasure trove of mysterious artifacts — legacy code! These lines of cryptic programming hold the secrets of bygone eras lurking beneath the shiny surface of your modern tech empire. But fear not! With the right tools and strategies for Legacy application modernization, you can harness the power of the past and transform it into a beacon of innovation. So, grab your coding hat and embark on this thrilling journey as we unravel the secrets of working with legacy code.

What Is Legacy Code?

Legacy code is source code inherited from someone else or inherited from an older software version. It can also be any code you don’t understand and that’s difficult to change. 

It comes with caution and reverence, often accompanied by stories like, “This code was written years ago to ensure seamless integration with external systems. It functions, so we’ve hesitated to make changes, fearing unintended consequences.” The intriguing part is that the original developers are long gone, and there’s no documentation to shed light on its inner workings. Thus, unraveling the secrets of this code becomes a challenging and intriguing quest.

“The paradox lies in the fact that legacy code holds crucial elements of the program together. It serves as the glue that maintains the software’s stability. However, maintaining this code poses a significant challenge, requiring delving into its intricacies and understanding its quirks. It becomes a complex cycle: preserving the system’s stability means refraining from altering the legacy code, but it also entails grappling with the complexities of deciphering and keeping it functional.” – said Ihor Prudyvus, Engineering Director at Unicrew.

COBOL trap

Companies often face challenges when dealing with outdated or “legacy” programming languages. The software may be critical to their operations, yet the number of developers fluent in these older languages needs to grow. For instance, COBOL, a programming language developed in the 1950s and 60s, is still used in many financial and government systems. 

It is estimated that a whopping $3 trillion worth of daily commerce runs through COBOL systems, and a staggering 95% of ATM swipes and 80% of in-person banking transactions depend on COBOL codes.

Legacy Software Modernization
Image source: Reuters Graphics

As many COBOL programmers have retired or moved to other languages, there often needs to be more individuals who can maintain and update these systems.

One of the most widely known examples of this scenario was the ‘Year 2000’ or ‘Y2K’ problem. Many systems written in COBOL and other languages had been programmed to represent the year with only two digits, which caused issues as the year 2000 approached. Many retired programmers were called back to work to help address this issue, as they were the ones who had the necessary skills and knowledge.

Another example is the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, during which multiple U.S. states reportedly sought retired programmers familiar with COBOL to help maintain and update their unemployment benefits systems, which were being overwhelmed by the number of claims.

Common Scenarios Leading to Legacy Systems

1. Prolonged Development and Team Changes:

  • The development of the system started many years ago, resulting in the implementation of numerous functions over time.
  • The development teams have undergone significant changes multiple times, leading to inconsistencies and varying coding styles throughout the system.
  • Despite its value to the customer, the system may exhibit some instability, which is not considered critical.

2. Rapid Development with Low Technical Competence:

  • The system was developed quickly but by a team with limited technical expertise.
  • The codebase has accumulated significant technical debt, making it fragile and prone to issues.
  • Development on the system has almost stopped, awaiting a skilled individual to perform the necessary refactoring.
  • Making changes to the system’s design is challenging due to its current usage in production.

3. Unsuccessful Initial Version:

  • The first version of the system failed to launch, possibly due to team-related issues or other setbacks.
  • Valuable lessons must be learned from the initial failure, and the subsequent development should align with the original expectations.

4. Escalating Complexity of a Once Small and Clean System:

  • The current system, which was initially small and well-structured, has transformed into an unmanageable and chaotic entity.
  • The situation demands intervention to regain control and establish manageability within the system.

Pros and Cons of Legacy Application Modernization

Modernizing applications brings a range of advantages and considerations. Unlocking its potential can improve performance and enhance security and scalability. However, this decision requires careful analysis involving complex processes and potential risks. Research by McKinsey & Company suggests that companies with a high dependence on legacy systems have a 15% lower digital revenue growth than those with modernized systems. Ultimately, the decision to change the legacy code rests with you, considering your business’s unique circumstances and legacy application modernization.

Legacy software modernization

Pros:

  1. Improved Maintainability: Legacy code is often hard to understand and modify due to its outdated and convoluted structure. Refactoring or rewriting it can make the codebase more maintainable, allowing developers to understand, modify, and fix issues easily.
  2. Enhanced Readability: Legacy code may need more proper documentation or have poorly named variables and functions, making it difficult for developers to comprehend its logic. Legacy application modernization provides an opportunity to improve its readability, making it easier for future developers to understand and work with.
  3. Increased Efficiency: Legacy code can be inefficient, using outdated algorithms or suboptimal practices. Rewriting or optimizing the code can lead to performance improvements, reducing execution time, memory usage, or network latency, resulting in a more efficient system overall.
  4. Bug Fixes: Legacy code often contains long-standing bugs that have been patched over time without addressing the root cause. Changing the code allows for a thorough examination of the underlying issues and provides an opportunity to fix those bugs properly, improving the stability and reliability of the software.
  5. Integration with Modern Technologies: Legacy code might be incompatible with newer technologies, libraries, or frameworks that could enhance the system’s functionality or security. Changing the code allows you to leverage these modern technologies and improve the system’s capabilities.

Cons:

  1. Cost and Time: Changing legacy code can be a time-consuming and expensive process. It involves thorough analysis, planning, and execution, which can divert resources from other development tasks. Additionally, rewriting code may require extensive testing to ensure it works correctly, increasing the time and cost.
  2. Disruption and Risk: Legacy application modernization can introduce new bugs or unexpected behavior, potentially disrupting the system’s stability and causing downtime. To mitigate these risks, changes must be carefully planned, tested, and deployed. However, even with precautions, there is always a chance of unforeseen issues arising during or after the code change.
  3. Learning Curve: Legacy code often reflects outdated programming practices or technologies that may be unfamiliar to developers who have primarily worked with modern codebases. Changing the code requires developers to learn and understand the legacy system, potentially leading to a learning curve and slower development initially.
  4. Business Impact: Changing legacy code can affect the business’s operations, especially if the system is critical or has a large user base. Any disruptions or delays caused by code changes can impact user experience, customer satisfaction, and revenue generation. These considerations must be factored into the decision-making process.
  5. Loss of Historical Knowledge: Legacy code may have been developed by individuals who are no longer with the company or need to remember the system’s intricacies. Changing the code can lead to losing historical knowledge, making it harder to understand certain decisions, assumptions, or workarounds implemented in the original codebase.

Modernizing Applications: Case Study

Amidst the chaos of COVID-19, where industries and businesses were left reeling, one company saw an opportunity amidst the hardship. Booked It, a booking management software provider to the hospitality, leisure, and entertainment industries, seized the moment to embark on a remarkable transformation, catapulting themselves to market recognition by adding unparalleled value to their end users.

The challenge that Unicrew engineers addressed included:

  1. Outdated platform: Licklist (the leading platform) was developed long ago and must meet modern usability standards.
  2. Limited scope: The existing solution was tailored specifically for nightlife providers, limiting its applicability to other industry players such as festival organizers and leisure centers.
  3. Lack of adaptability: The platform could not be easily modified or adjusted to cater to new markets and target audiences.

Recognizing the importance of scalability, Unicrew’s engineering team meticulously devised a Cloud Migration plan. This comprehensive strategy encompassed financial considerations (FinOps) and detailed technical specifications to address scalability and security requirements. Upon receiving the client’s approval, the engineers seamlessly migrated to AWS, ensuring the platform’s scalability and reliability. 

Ihor Prudyvus, Engineering Director at Unicrew, adds, “We believe that adaptability and scalability are vital elements in today’s dynamic market. Our engineering team’s focus on creating an intuitive interface and a highly adjustable platform has allowed our clients to expand their reach and embrace new opportunities effortlessly.”


Booked It, once confined to a niche realm, now basks in the glory of a universal platform that caters to all its customers’ needs. 

  1. Booked It has evolved from a niche platform to a universal one.
  2. Over 600 businesses have joined Booked It.
  3. These businesses have seen a 19% increase in bookings on average.
  4. There has been a 13% increase in spend per head among Booked It users.
  5. Booked It now offers a variety of new features.
  6. The platform provides a user-friendly experience for its customers.

Legacy application modernization is complete, and Unicrew stands tall as the modernization architect, breathing new life into the realms of the old. 

Success with Legacy Code: 7 Proven Techniques

Improving inherited code doesn’t happen overnight, but you can progress gradually. Here are eight valuable tips to remember, whether you’re at the beginning of the process or have already been working on it for a while.

#1 Test 

Exploring the code entails embarking on a journey of understanding through the utilization of characterization tests and unit tests. Additionally, employing a code quality tool, such as a static code analyzer, can effectively unveil latent issues within the codebase. By subjecting the code to comprehensive testing, a deeper comprehension of its functionality is attained, enabling the identification of potential areas of concern. With this understanding, modifications and improvements can be made with enhanced assurance and conviction.

#2 Examine the Documentation

Reviewing the documentation outlining the original requirements thoroughly will provide valuable insights into the code’s origins. This readily available documentation is a guiding reference, allowing you to enhance the code while maintaining the system’s integrity. Without this vital information, there is a risk of inadvertently implementing modifications that introduce unintended and undesirable behavior.

#3 Minimize Code Rewriting

Resisting the urge to rewrite an inherited codebase is often a wise decision. The process is time-consuming and requires the involvement of multiple programmers. Furthermore, rewriting code can introduce new bugs and eliminate hidden functionalities. So, rewrite code only when it’s necessary.

#4 Opt for Refactoring Instead

Rather than rewriting the entire codebase, it is preferable to focus on refactoring. Refactoring involves restructuring the code while maintaining its existing functionality. This approach enhances code cleanliness, improves comprehension, and reduces the likelihood of errors. When refactoring, it is advisable to start with the most intricate parts of the code, refactor code with unit tests, perform thorough testing afterward, and have safety measures, such as Continuous Integration, to revert to a previous build if necessary.

#5 Implement Changes in Separate Review Cycles

Avoid making a multitude of changes all at once. Refactoring should be done separately from functional changes to facilitate code reviews. Isolated changes are more discernible to reviewers than an overwhelming number of modifications.

#6 Maintain Cleanliness in the New Code 

Ensuring that any new code added adheres to best practices and is clean is essential to prevent exacerbating existing issues. While the quality of the inherited code may be beyond your control, you can contribute by ensuring the code you write is of high quality.

#7 Conduct Further Research 

Working with an inherited codebase becomes easier over time. Junior developers may feel compelled to refactor the codebase without fully understanding the reasons behind its current state. However, experienced developers recognize when it is best to leave the codebase untouched and conduct further research to understand the code’s intricacies better.

Do you have a hassle with legacy software? Why wouldn’t you contact the experienced Software Architect and find a way to solve it?

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Best Resources For Laravel Developers

Posted on by Volodymyr Khitsiak

Being one of the most popular PHP systems since early 2015, Laravel framework becomes a must-have for both a full-time or a remote PHP developer and also for software engineers at unicrew. Sometimes, it even becomes a technology of choice, conquering Symfony, CodeIgniter, and Yii2, or being at least at the same competitor level. This post reveals the best sites to stay updated with everything happening to Laravel, not to mention the latest advancements in technology.

But before we jump into today’s post, we’d like to stress that despite the fact that there are a lot of sources out there to help you, we have divided them into two main groups: for beginners and experts. So, if you feel like earning the decent laravel developer salary, take a look at the suitable group and make sure you know those resources. 

Best resources for a junior laravel developer

This group covers the laravel 5 tutorial information target at intern and junior level laravel developers as well as at everyone who googles the laravel developer meaning. Typically, the links provided here offer you some basic information on this PHP framework, its features and help you get started. Still, some prior experience with PHP is required.

The official Laravel site is the first site to visit. Here, you can find out everything you need to know before you create a laravel project. System requirements, basic installation and configuration tips, it covers everything.

The Linkedin’s Laravel group is well worth checking out. Currently, there are 2,000+ people there with 150 novel discussions taking place every month. You can easily search for or check the already available helpful and intellectual discussions regarding your queries. So, it’s a great medium for learning and picking up practical tips.

The Laravel Community on Reddit covers all the fundamentals like installation and database setup through examples.

The Laravel blog tutorial will teach you not only Laravel essentials, but also how to add business value.

Best resources for Middle/Senior Level Laravel Developers

The second group will be appealing for those who are already aware of how to install laravel windows and want something more exotic.

Laravel.IO aimed squarely at the developer community, makes a smart way to go to stay updated with the latest framework happenings. It covers the latest resources, news, secret hints regarding the Laravel PHP framework.

Laracon.us this year deserves an honorable mention. The 2017 seminar will arm you with the latest technical knowledge. It would be appealing not only to a senior Laravel developer from the USA, but to any other technical expert worldwide as well.

Laracasts.com will help you remain competitive in the Laravel development niche.

Github laravel sounds all too familiar. Indeed, here you can find anything already existing about this smart PHP framework.

Anyway, if the laravel link to a route is not just words for you, it’s wise to keep these key links in mind. But please don’t limit yourself to the world of today’s Laravel resources, always look for the novel sites to sharpen your skills.

Know other sites which can get real-time updates on laravel htaccess and the stuff like that delivered to you? Thank you for sharing below.

HIPAA compliance implemented right

Posted on by Volodymyr Khitsiak

Does your app handle protected health information (PHI)?  Should it be HIPAA compliant? If these issues are familiar for you and if you have heard about PHI and HIPAA, we’ve got you covered. Below, we will tell you what you need to know about HIPAA and everything related to it to maximize your chances of gaining both HIPAA and FDA approval in this regard.

What’s the post about?

Due to gigantic demand in digital health over the last few years, more and more health apps software development vendors and people working in the digital personal health information businesses have to become HIPAA-compliant. This post reveals some useful information regarding the basics of HIPAA compliance, including the following:

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So, let’s get started.

HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It is a set of standards for the protection of certain health information, especially personal health data. Not to incur the high costs of non-compliance, all medicine and healthcare application development companies need to strictly follow this special act upon building any kind of eHealth and mHealth and or wearable software solutions. In other words, it is a must-have act to keep in mind if you are in the  medical and healthcare software development business.

All businesses and organizations that work with PHI (Protected Health Information) must be HIPAA-compliant, not to mention the ones that work in the following industries:

  • Hospitals and Clinics
  • Health insurance agencies
  • Pharmacies
  • Dentists
  • Psychologists
  • Nursing Homes
  • Chiropractors
  • Health Plans
  • Clearinghouses.

Needless to add, the HIPAA rules apply to both doctors and other people involved (called “Covered Entities”) and to the developers, hosting provider and others (called “Business Associates”). To put it simpler, every party involved in the medicine and healthcare industry, be it a patient surveys & feedback gathering app, EMR/EHR system, trials & research collecting solution or a training & certification platform, it should be HIPAA-compliant.

First things first: find out whether or not the data you collect would be subject to HIPAA rules.

Second, check the main meaning of the HIPAA-compliant and ensure your product satisfied four major 4 rules:

  1. HIPAA Privacy Rule
  2. HIPAA Security Rule
  3. HIPAA Enforcement Rule
  4. HIPAA Breach Notification Rule.

To put it simpler, below, is the extensive checklist to develop a good HIPAA-compliant app.

  1. Ensure your health care app features the following:
  • Its back-end system is made according to HIPAA safeguards.
  • Before downloading your app, your users must see a link to the app’s privacy policy.
  • It tells users how their data is protected and how it will be used.
  • It comes with a secure-only login option.
  • It encrypts data during transit.
  • All if its data is stored on a HIPAA compliant server (and encrypted at rest). By the way, when it comes to the best HIPAA compliant hosting servers, Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure are definitely well worth mentioning.
  • All of its HIPAA compliant data is shared within the organization, across a network, or within an app.
  • It comes with a system performing regular security updates.
  • It offers the ability to wipe user information remotely if a device is lost or stolen.
  1. Implement a system to audit medical information and other data so that you can easily ensure that your healthcare app hasn’t been accessed or modified any time such necessity might occur.
  2. Perform dynamic and static application security testing on a regular basis.
  3. Implement the possibility of regular updates and bug fixing.
  4. Request Unicrew for a professional HIPAA compliance audit to forecast risks or detect errors related to the HIPAA compliance.
  5. And one more important thing to mention: don’t use push notification to update the PHI because that implies violation of the privacy regulation as outlined in HIPAA. So, remember to never inculcate any PHI information in your app’s push notification (both in mobile and desktop applications).
  6. Don’t violate in your messages. Do you know that text messaging can prove to be extremely useful in boosting doctor and patient engagement? But don’t send PHI texts as regular email applications; do it through the HIPAA approved organization’s app instead. Therefore, if sending PHI messages is necessary, it’s of paramount importance to integrate a HIPAA compliant email service provider into your healthcare app.
Hot Tip: sending PHI featuring texts through non-medical communication apps can result in a HIPAA violation as well. The best way here is to choose a medical digital communication vendor.

Anyway, HIPAA provides no safe harbor for businesses. That means that the main idea for all businesses involved in medicine and healthcare application development is to design a highly secure healthcare app from its first stages and to always maintain this highly secure level.

Key Takeaways

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects the privacy and security of health data and it is really crucial to develop apps in an HIPAA compliant way. Use this guide to ensure that your health care software remains in compliance with the HIPAA standards. By the way, in case you need any help with the HIPAA compliance implementation, Unicrew is always at your disposal. We have senior-level specialist in our expert team. We’ve created some great HIPAA compliant apps and can help you with yours.

In a nutshell, Unicrew has the required understanding, infrastructure and diligence to provide you with the 100% HIPAA compliant application. So, get ready to capitalize on new opportunities for growth in the space!

How to strengthen the security of your web application?

Posted on by Volodymyr Khitsiak

Do you know how to develop web applications that bring unparalleled success?

Your web apps should provide a rich and consistent user experience while being flawless and fault-free, regardless of being open source or paid. At the same time, web security is of key importance. Use this extended checklist to focus more on the web application security regardless of your development stage as it is suitable for both before the launch period and during the very first stages of software development.

Before we go further, please note: this web app security checklist is a good starting point and inspiration for your work and you can save it for later, so it’s always at hand the moment you might need it. Plus, you can use it to control things at the development stage upon outsourcing.  That will minimize risks while choosing the needed vendor for your web app.

Anyway, to deliver a truly great product, ensure you deal with secure web development. And now, let’s take a closer look at key recommendations on how to secure your web product.

So, let’s get started. We will divide our web application security list into 4 main groups:   

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And now let’s examine every of this group in details.

During the software development processes, a lot of attention should be paid to web app security. Whether you are developing on your own, or prefer outsourcing/outstaffing services, make sure the developers make strict use of canonicalization and know what the server is expecting in every field.

  1. Scan for web application vulnerabilities: all components of your software (from each pushed version up to production should be scanned. Your product should not contain any format string vulnerabilities. Improve the security when some weak points are detected.
  2. Start with secure coding. Develop each piece of software using both secured and separate dev systems. It’s crucial to set both development systems and production systems with equal security vigilance.
  3. Upgrade without downtime in a fully automated manner.
  4. Avoid SSHing into services (except for one-off diagnosis).
  5. Decommission the app in case its maintenance and support are no longer available.
  6. Set TLS for the whole web resource, not just login forms and responses.
  7. Set HSTS responses to force TLS only access. HTTP requests should be redirected to HTTPS on the server as backup.
  8. Ensure that users using your APIs are authenticated and authorized in the right way.
  9. Set canary checks in APIs that would detect illegal or abnormal requests, therefore, preventing attacks.
  10. Assure the developer’s choice of randomness and algorithm is always of top-notch quality.
  11. Consider creating a practiced security incident plan. Who knows when you might need it.

Being a first line of defense, authentication should be really securely and carefully crafted. Below are the key secure web applications authentication things to keep in mind upon creating any software:

  1. Ensure that all your passwords used are hashed with the proper crypto, for instance, bcrypt. Creating your own crypto is not recommended.
  2. Don’t invent your own login, forgot password and other password reset functionality — you might not get it right in all scenarios, instead, use industry-standard best-practices and proven components.
  3. Set clear but adequate password rules encouraging your users to create long passwords.
  4. Set CAPTCHA on front-end APIs to safeguard back-end services against DOS.
  5. Don’t forget to set several-factor authentication for your logins to all service vendors you deal with.

The way your data is stored and handled is of vital importance. When you develop or outsource, these are the key web development database aspects to take into consideration:

Fully encrypt all of your data, including private data such as name billing details or access tokens.

  1. Store all of your backups in an encrypted manner.
  2. Ensure that all your backend database and services are stored on private VPCs, which are not open to the public.
  3. Put strong passwords and use minimal privilege for the database access user account.
  4. Keep and share sensitive data via a key store created for this purpose. It’s not recommended hard-coding in your products or storing valuable data in GitHub.
  5. Prevent SQL injection by using SQL prepared statements. For instance, when you use NPM, use npm-mysql2 that supports prepared statements rather than npm-mysql.

If you take security very seriously, cloud configuration issues should be handled in a proper way:

  1. Your services should offer minimum open ports. Of course, security via obscurity is in no way a protection, still, non-standard ports can make it a more difficult for hackers.
  2. For inter-service communication, divide logical services in separate VPCs and peer VPCs.
  3. Minimize IPs and “botification”; use min. access privilege for your ops and developer team.
  4. Set IAM roles rather than root credentials.
  5. Rotate passwords and access keys on a regular basis.

Key Takeaways

During every stage of the development processes, a lot of attention should be paid to security. All of your sensitive information should be encrypted. Start with secure code and make sure every aspect of your web app remains secure. Don’t forget to take strict use of canonicalization and ensure you know what the server is expecting in every field.

Never forget a step in your website development again, use the checklist, which includes many straightforward vulnerabilities. However, pay attention to the fact that checking all items off the list is by no means a guarantee that your web app is secure. Nevertheless, it’s still a good starting point.

Software maintenance and support in practice.

Posted on by Volodymyr Khitsiak

So, you are about to launch your software. Well done! But if you want to lead it to industry-leading products, don’t forget that to make your users fall in love with it. To achieve this, you need to provide A-level software maintenance and support services after the launch.

Yes, even once your product has been successfully tested and launched, remember that it still requires maintenance and support since no software solution is perfect. Your product is not an exception, and like any other, it definitely needs post-deployment life-cycle support for modifications or upgrades. Wondering what the system maintenance and support services mean? Let’s take a closer look.

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Software support and maintenance services optimize the product solution performance by reducing bugs, eliminating useless development and applying advanced development.

Let’s dig in deeper. But first things first. Generally, software maintenance support includes both the hardware and the software support. Needless to add, software support and maintenance services are not all about product maintenance only; Software support and maintenance services include:

  • Regular updates
  • Ongoing maintenance and modification
  • New features and novel functionality integration
  • Proper software configuration management.

When it comes to software support costs, in general, they consist of the following:

  • Labor (IT specialists for support equipment, and training equipment)
  • Material (operational, maintenance, support and diagnostic software programs)
  • Other overhead costs, which happened after the product deployment.

Indeed, the value of product maintenance is huge. Wondering why? Below, we have hand-picked the most important reasons why you might need to invest in further support and maintenance services once your product has been launched. So, let’s take a more in-depth look.

1) Good maintenance and support services can guarantee:

  • The consistent and enhanced performance of the software product.
  • Regular product improvements and updates
  • Instant or almost instant bug fixing
  • Peace-of-mind protection
  • Proper handling of the software and hardware. (Your team will get to know how to use everything to keep all of your software and hardware working at the best).
  • Enhanced security of all your data.

2) More loyal customers. People highly value the ability to contact the support team and get heard and helped in a quick and proper way. So, if your clients get the help leaving them completely satisfied, they will become even more loyal to your product.

3) The ability to centralize and consolidate all your manufacturers’ contracts into a comprehensive repository.

4) Risks prevention and working problems elimination. The maintenance and support specialists can notice and even predict problems with both software and hardware.

As you can see, the importance of software maintenance is really huge. 

Hot tip: to gain full advantage of product maintenance and support services, they should be provided by a strong and reliable IT partner, boasting experience, knowledge, and infrastructure needed.   
  • Read the reviews and partner only with a reputable and experienced application support vendor.
  • Choose the service provider that works on the “stop reacting and start preventing” basis.
  • Keep in mind that cheap or expensive does not mean bad or good. Pay attention to the quality, not rates.
  • The chosen outsourced product maintenance process vendor should offer several support options, not to mention live chat, email, phone, and online knowledge base.

By the way, at Unicrew, we already have many long-standing partnerships with a lot of ISVs to guarantee a full ecosystem of support services. Unicrew provides product support services offering experienced, travel-ready resources across multiple geographies to quickly establish or enhance engineering teams. The company uses specific tools to properly support continuous releases, deployment, testing, and performance monitoring and risks preventing techniques. .

Key Takeaways

Since no software can be perfect, product software maintenance is crucial for the proper functioning of any software over a period of time. That will bring you lots of advantages, even despite the fact that it brings additional expenses. Proper handling of software and hardware allows your business to save in the long run as it safeguards you from troubleshoots with your software and hardware. And we have to admit that perfective maintenance is also an important part of your clients’ satisfaction. So, if you are about to launch the new product or already did it, don’t forget to sign the software maintenance and support agreement with a strong technology partner, such as Unicrew. And continue to maintain your product running at its best.

Why Outsource Startups Prefer React

Posted on by Volodymyr Khitsiak

Modern web app startups require web development technologies allowing to create an app with a basic set of a functional and user-friendly interface within the shortest period of time. Unfortunately, not all companies have their own development team, which can develop the required application for them.

Moreover, it might not be profitable for a custom software development company to develop such an app using its inner development services and therefore, many companies these days have turned to using outsource services. By default, software outsourcing allows big product development companies to save both time and money.

When it comes to software development outsourcing, there are many web mobile solutions to speed up and simplify the process of modern applications development. One of the leaders is React.JS. React.JS means Facebook development, today, everyone knows what is Facebook. The main products of this company (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger) are written on React.JS. Hundreds of software development startups also choose React.JS and to tell you the truth, there are multiple reasons for that. In this article, we will be speaking about 8 reasons why React.JS is the best choice for outsourcing startups:

  • It has a great community and support

There are plenty of training materials available to quickly master this app development technology, and the React.JS development community can always help you to solve a nontrivial task. This web applications technology has passed the “run” on the most popular resources in the world with the maximum loads and confidently proved itself as a powerful development project tool. React.JS has steep rivals in the form of Angular and Vue.JS – but developer statistics speak for themselves.

  • It is reactive aka fast

The name itself speaks about speed. React.JS was created with the requirements of modern users in mind – everything should happen instantly, that is, “reactive” and without reboots. React.JS was specially designed to display changes to the data as fast as possible without reloading the page. This causes the users to “catch up” and spend time in the application more – downloading once, and the information itself is updated. It’s hardly possible to sell an app when it simply does not load or takes lots of time to load.

  • It is flexible

The end result is often significantly different from the original idea. After the project is launched, its support requires constant flexibility to change and react projects are ready to deal with that. Indeed, React.JS is designed taking into account the fact that the display of the app will constantly change, and react.JS developers as such should be able to easily and quickly change the necessary components without negative consequences for other components of the system. React.JS itself is divided into many packages, and if necessary, they can be replaced or removed at all. This allows you to save significantly on the development and, if necessary, change the business model of the startup, which is critical for many.

  • It is only about view and design

React.JS responds exclusively to the display of the content, it’s updating. This is not enough for a full-fledged site, but it’s enough to manipulate all graphic content. React.js takes on the function of displaying the site correctly and quickly, giving developers the ability to choose the necessary server technology and supplementary levels. In a React.JS-based software development project,  you can easily manipulate user-themes and different views for different devices, which has already become a must-have.

  • It’s Easy To Learn

React.JS was designed to simplify its own development. Therefore, it is made as simple as possible. React.JS is easy to learn as it essentially contains a regular JavaScript and an add-on over HTML, which allows you to attract JS developers to develop and do not waste a lot of time learning the team under compressed deadlines.

  •  It has a cross-platform mobile framework

React.JS includes a React.JS Native project that allows creating mobile applications just like a React.JS site. The system requires some sort of customizations to build under Android or iOS, but everything is very simple. This allows you to write a fast cross-platform application with access to even the hardware functions of the phone. The majority of startups today are oriented to the mobile market and React.js is a good choice.

  • It can be easily integrated with 3rd-party libraries

React.js easily interacts with thousands of existing libraries. This allows us to use the knowledge of existing libraries and, when designing software development projects, use a variety of technologies, and, with the same ease, change them to others. Also, there are already many adaptations among the other JS frameworks to React.js for better interaction. Therefore, there’s no necessity to write a redundant code – a duplicate, and it’s possible to immediately get started with writing the core functionality.

  • It is free and open-source

React.JS is open source, meaning that it’s free, and its code is open for viewing. It has become the standard. The control over the code of the technology itself is constantly followed by hundreds of programmers, since they themselves have chosen React.JS for their products. This gives some confidence that this technology will be as successful in future as it is at the moment. This is quite critical for young startups, which depend not only on their own efforts, but also on the application development technologies used.

The Bottom Line:

When it comes to a display technology for a modern startup, React.JS is one of the best choices as it’s fast, powerful and at the same time easy to learn.  That’s exactly what the majority of the web developers have been waiting for so long, but everyone was forced to write their own decision.

The ability to adapt to mobile platforms makes its way to the mobile app market. Its direct competitors such as Angular and Vue.JS are also good solutions, but in most cases, React.JS takes the crown simply because it comes with a better documentation and it’s easier to use.

When it comes to outsource a software development, the ease of the framework based on React allows attracting into the design as many people as possible and it’s easy to control the development process, which is critical for startups, who have to implement a cool idea that looks cool even in the shortest possible time.

Every day several new IT startups pop up somewhere in the world, and more and more executives these days prefer React.js as a good technology for developing a modern application.

Ten Advantages of Using Cloud Based Software in Your Business

Posted on by Volodymyr Khitsiak

Wish to maintain your business ahead in your industry? Worried how to augment your small business, reducing risks and possible pitfalls? Fancy wowing your clients while calming the chaos around lots of documents and changes flying back and forth?  Wondering how to reduce costs, energy consumption and physical footprint?

Consider cloud computing. To tell you the truth, there are many benefits of cloud based software. Below are listed the ten most important cloud computing advantages targeted at small-medium businesses.

  1. Single platform for everything. Having all of your data in one cloud computing platform allows you to make data driven decisions, helping your company succeed. Manage, control and share all your projects within one platform. No need to switch from one software to another. Keep your work a little more organized.
  2. Access from anywhere 24/7 without holidays or day offs. If you move your business to the cloud, all your data could be securely accessed from any location you might happen to be and anytime you need, no matter whether it is day or night, the working day or the national holiday. In other words, your work becomes mobile and travels with you. Picture this: you can start working on your project via your office Macbook, share it with your team while being on a conference with your personal laptop and check the status of your project late at night with your iPhone. Indeed, all your work is at your fingertips.
  3. Flexibility and Scalability. If you go to the cloud, your small business systems and processes will adapt and flex as your small business grows. Stop paying for what you are not using and don’t need to. Get things set up your way, benefit from using the best technology cloud applications have to offer at the best cost for a given size of business.
  4. Data protection. Bank-level data security showcases another distinct advantage of using cloud services. No matter which cloud service you choose, it will offer you the common security features: data encryption; antivirus protection; account theft protection. By the way, the advanced cloud computing vendors offer such options, as several factor authentication, fence-view, and Print-screen prevention, and etc. Indeed, keeping your sensitive information secure and protecting against attacks is best left to specialists. For you, that means even if the disaster happens or once you lose your device or laptop,  all of your business sensitive data will remain protected. Protect your company infrastructure and customers personal information with a reliable cloud computing vendor!
  5. Solid cost savings. You don’t need to hire the whole IT department to maintain your data centers, and secure your data. No need to pay for each software install and update either. That does not mean that you will use the cloud computing software for free, no, you will pay just for using the cloud platform tailored to your business needs and that price will include all the data updates, platform support, features included, and security checks. Most of the cloud providers, for instance, Amazon Web Services (AWS), run your APIs that scan for security vulnerabilities in other users’ accounts within the platform on a consistent basis. Moreover, you will pay only for what you need, not for everything included. In general, cloud applications are charged on time, features or company size basis.
  6. Advanced reporting and analytics. Have a look at what your team is doing, check what and when your customers have been viewing. Analyze the behavior or your customers and the ones that failed to get your product or service. Since forewarned is forearmed, you have all chances to motivate your customers, improve your services and boost your sales.
  7. Amazing time savings. You don’t need to travel to another city or country to check the documents, sign the new contracts with your business partners, you can do everything online. So, skip the travel, forget the suitcase and log in 24/7!
  8. A great way to present your company. Take full advantage of using cutting edge cloud applications technologies, digitize your business, showcase your customers that you are an innovator.
  9. Real time updates and reminders. Stay in the know with everything happening to your product. Instantly get real-time updates not to miss something important. Set useful reminders to get notifications according to your business needs.
  10. Major daily activities automation. Typically, business applications stored in the cloud are greatly optimized. You will enjoy doing your daily tasks faster and in a more convenient way. A simple example is that you can set the time when your email campaign should starter and it will begin in an automated way. Your involvement is not required.

When it comes to disadvantages of cloud computing, we can name only several ones:

  • Rare inaccessibility. Your cloud solution might be temporarily unavailable because of lost internet connection or updating processes. Though, that happens not so often, it is still a red flag to concern.
  • No security within the cloud. Naturally, cloud data service providers guarantee you the cloud security (security of the cloud), but it is you who are responsible for the security within the cloud. Get to know more about user access permission settings, which can be applied on an individual or group basis and make sure you manage your share privileges in the right way. Prevent confidential, sensitive material from leaking to your competitors!

Thus, you need to consider all the common pitfalls cloud computing could bring and ensure that you don’t fall foul of them.

The Bottom Line

Of course, there are both advantages and disadvantages of using a cloud storage for your business. But we can now see that there are far more advantages of cloud computing than disadvantages. It’s also worth noting that you can learn to avoid pitfalls by carefully considering the disadvantages of cloud based software and finding the right ways to cope with them. For instance, since the cloud data service providers cannot guarantee you security within the cloud, learn how to manage your share privileges in the right way.

Anyway, keep the listed above ten cloud computing advantages in mind and they will give you a marked edge over the competition.

If you’re not already using all advantages of cloud computing, we have to ask: What are you waiting for?

Top 10 characteristics of the professional software engineer

Posted on by Volodymyr Khitsiak

Great software engineers are not only valuable employees, but also productive contributors and the key to the success of your online project. These days, becoming a programmer has become a boom and as a result, you can find hundreds of software engineers out there. In fact, today, there are around 26.4 million software professionals in the world. But how to determine which candidate should you hire for a long term cooperation? What distinguishes a great programmer from a general programmer?

Unicrew, the custom software development agency with a proven experience, has hired and worked with dozens of developers.  And now we are sharing our expertise regarding how to determine a great programmer with you and how to differentiate the great experts from the bad software engineers. We have collected 10 characteristics your ideal professional software engineer should possess. For your utmost convenience, we have also attached How to test this skill section so that you could test every of the mentioned above features. Let’s take a closer look.

Characteristics of a good software engineer:

  • Expertise in the particular area. Without a shadow of a doubt, the key thing in hiring a good software engineer is his or her experience in the particular area, not in general. Everything is pretty simple: if you need a .NET developer, make sure that you are hiring a person that has a proven experience in .NET development. 

    How to test this skill?

    • Ask for the best work samples and request at least some previous job referrals. Even when you are not too tech-savvy to properly evaluate the technical side, you may have a glance at how those samples look like and what the person’s previous colleagues think about him or her. Usability and performance are the main things to pay attention to.
    • Prepare some tests your candidate should be able to cope with. Today, there are dozens of Internet sites where you can find tests for IT specialists. However, it’s of key importance to ensure that you are giving the assignment, which is suitable to the candidate’s level. You simply can’t expect a junior-level developer to successfully handle tasks, which not every A-level developer can cope with.
    • If you have a friend or a colleague, who is a skillful developer with a time-proven experience, ask him or her to conduct the interview with your candidate. Definitely it is not always a great way to go, to ask a person who is not that much into your business to check the abilities of other developer. Just for the record, this step is not essential to follow, that is only a recommendation.
  •  Team player, but can work alone as well. A good developer always acts as part of the team and strives to make his or her code as clear and consistent as possible so that any member of the team could understand it. That is especially true for big projects. But the ability to work alone is also highly appreciated. How to test this skill?
    • Ask if your candidate has helped his/her previous team members and if yes, ask him or her to describe those situations in details. Luckily, there are dozens of team player texts out there where you can pick up useful questions to reveal whether the particular person is a team player.
    • Imagine that you are already working with this person and ask that person to share some innovative, out-of-box thoughts about the project. A good team player is usually open to communication and can calmly express his or her vision.
    • Sociability and ability to work alone are highly appreciated if the person is a team player. The working alone ability can be tested by asking the person to choose whether he or she prefers to conduct the assignment, which involves others or requires more time if acting alone, alone or in a team. All you need to do is simply to ask.
  • Seems attractive to you. Follow your gut a little bit. Everything is pretty straightforward here – if you like the person, you can hire him or her, if the person doesn’t seem attractive to you, pass by this person as you won’t be able to effectively work with that person in the future. How to test this skill?
    • Ask yourself if you like this person and whether you wish to work with him or her. Be mindful of that.
    • Ask your software design colleagues if they share your vision about the candidate.
  • Healthy skepticism. Good software engineers do more cross-checking and sanity checking, finding subtle bugs. Even skillful programmers make mistakes, and it is a good sign when the person can acknowledge that he/she, too, may commit these mistakes. How to test this skill?
    • Ask your candidate to find and check errors in the code. If the person offers a long-term solution instead of a one-time or short-time reprieve, it’s the one you should hire. Of course, before testing your candidate, you should prepare such a test, which involves long-term solutions and a short-time reprieve.
    • Show your candidate some code and ask him to tell you what he or she thinks the reasonable time frame for it is. Compare with what other IT specialists say.
  • Creative and innovative. Creative and innovative developers are those who are constantly looking for the novel ways to solve the already solved issues. Sometimes, it’s better to spend a lot of time to find expiration to create something really catching than to follow the generally accepted steps.  To put it simpler, a creative developer can offer really amazing solutions because he or she thinks out of the box and sees everything from different sides. How to test this skill?
    • Give your candidate an assignment, which involves creativity and check how she or he can cope with it.
  • Tech and computer addictive. A good developer should enjoy everything that is connected to technology and novel tendencies. He or she should be always willing to find out something new about novel technologies and should be updated with the latest Tech news. Such a person will always stay on curve and can offer the best solution to any problems. How to test this skill? 
    • Ask which computer and tech-related resources the candidate knows and reads.
    • Ask how the person finds solutions to the unknown problems.
    • Ask your candidate to tell you about the latest technology that has excited him or her the most (for example, self-driven cars, virtual headsets, or other things like that).
  • Ability to learn. A person who has a great ability to learn is like a treasure to your company, remember this. Nobody can do all because things and technologies keep changing, and very few can learn to do. It’s so true now – rapid change requires rapid learning. That’s why learning ability is always among the top-performing hires. How to test this skill?
    • Find a good learning ability test. Luckily, today there are hundreds of similar tests on the Internet.
    • Show your candidate how to do something in the sphere he or she specializes or in general and ask him/her to repeat this. Make sure you show something that the average person with a good learning ability can repeat from the first time.  Of course, a person who can’t program in Python, won’t repeat even simple things if he or she doesn’t know anything about this, so find a good test to check the learning ability.
  • Detests bad code. Bad code brings different kind of problems, we all know that. A good software engineer admires good code and hates its bad versions. Great engineers tend to simplify the problem instead of making something really complicated. How to test this skill?
    • Ask your candidate to show the example of a good code and a bad one. And let him/her explain why. He or she should clearly understand how to distinguish between good code and its bad analogue.
    • Give your candidate an assignment, where there are two ways out – a short piece of code and a long one. A short one, in most cases, is more difficult to make as it requires more skills and competence in the area. Check how he or she can cope with finding the short one.
  • Remains excited about what he or she regularly does. To efficiently cope up with routine tasks is a necessity for any programmer, but very few remain excited about what they do. How to test this skill?
    • Ask what your software developer likes best in his or her work and why. You can hear how passionate your candidate is about what he or she is doing.
  • Competitive. Competition drives success, it’s a well-known fact. Healthy competition ensures quality of work and promotes learning and self-improving. But to remain healthy-competitive, a candidate should be self-critical. How to test this skill?
    • Check the market and determine if the candidate wants a competitive salary for his devoted work.
    • Check how self-critique your candidate is: ask him or her to tell you about the main weak and strong points.
    • Ask your programmer to tell you about the problem he or she has previously faced and how the person handled it and what conclusions were made. Ask the related questions to help your candidate.


The bottom line

These are the most wanted characteristics your ideal software developer should possess. If you find someone with more than half out of the mentioned above qualities, consider yourself very lucky.

Advanced process and productivity management infrastructure

Posted on by Volodymyr Khitsiak

You might think that to reduce risks and set up right processes in the development environment, it is enough to choose the right methodology for your ultimate project. It is also known that no matter which programming languages the development team uses, the right software development process these days is almost always agile. At Unicrew, we are aware of this, but agile software development is not the only way to go with. There are still projects, which software development life cycle requires another development methodology, like waterfall, iterative development, the spiral model or rapid application development (RAD) with prototyping or other.  

Anyway, the main point of this article is to highlight that it’s crucial to remember that despite the methodology applicable to your project, all the processes have to be unified. Smooth, straightforward and result-driven workflow is something your technological partner has to provide you with. Plus, a well-designed functionality and security are always winning factors for any product development provider.  

Why Unicrew: Competence and Development Tools Used

We at Unicrew understand the value of right infrastructure applied to the process of software engineering.  Conducting different work from requirements analysis to building software architecture and novel functionality, we understand how important are security, transparency, and communications. They directly affect the quality and productivity of your team. There are a bunch of professional tools and instruments Unicrew uses to deliver first-class services. In total, we can divide the instruments we use into the following categories:

  • Software design and development
  • Testing and quality
  • Security and performance.

Tools Unicrew Uses During the Software Development Cycle:

  • Atlassian Jira – robust project management system, which is also a good task and test management system.
  • Atlassian Bitbucket/Git – cloud-based source version control, which makes it easier for the whole team to simultaneously work on one issue and to switch from one version to another without any hassle.
  • Slack – powerful team communication tool, which significantly improves the working processes.
  • Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 & 2017 and PHPStorm – IDE platforms, which boost product development, analysis and design.

When it comes to security and performance, there is also an array of professional tools our team uses. The most widespread security and performance tools are as follows:

  • LastPass – the leading passwords management system, which keeps all your vital data protected.
  • Google Drive Apps – secure online cloud applications, which are used to increase productivity.

To achieve A-level quality every our development process includes software testing. Quality Assurance and Effectiveness tests conducted by our team help us remain assured that all our products perform at best. The tools we use on a regular basis are:

  • TestRail – modern test case and test management software tool, which helps us release bug-free products.
  • Codeship – fast and secure hosted Continuous Integration service, which boasts a set of already pre-installed and ready to go CI dependencies, making it easier to get started, manage teams and streamline projects.
  • TeamCity – popular build management and continuous integration server from JetBrains, which comes with a vast selection of developer-oriented options, taking the team’s performance to the next level.
  • Atlassian Jira – powerful system, which is useful for test cases.

Anyway, as you might see, the development life cycle of any top quality product requires different tools. Gain a competitive advantage with Unicrew, which masters all the needed tools for outstanding product development. Partner with our dedicated team and you may count on the  following benefits:

  • Premium quality products tailored to your ultimate needs
  • Better collaboration with our project management team
  • Bank-grade security
  • The possibility to solve your real business challenges, always remaining on top of what’s important.

So, to make your product clear, transparent and productive, Unicrew is a way to go.

ASP.NET or Java For Web Applications Development

Posted on by Volodymyr Khitsiak

ASP.NET and Java are often compared as they both work well for the enterprise application development. Aimed at building A-quality enterprise apps, these two technologies both have pros and cons, and thus, supporters and opposers. This article will help you choose the most suitable technology depending on the complexity of the applications required.

But before we jump into today’s post, we should mention the following: if it seems odd for you to compare ASP.NET with Java, don’t get annoyed – we know that C# programming language is a direct comparison with Java. ASP.NET is directly compared with Java Server Pages (JSP).

Microsoft .NET and Java Similarities

To tell you the truth, there are a number of similarities between these two technologies, the main ones are listed below:

  • They are used for enterprise level development, offering security and functionality needed.
  • They both simplify the app development by offering an array of standardized, modular components and services.
  • Both of them allow developing and integrating web services, so they become more extensible and interoperable.

ASP.NET or Java: What to Choose?

You wouldn’t go wrong picking either of these two computing technologies. Still, when thinking about which technology to choose, consider the key benefits each of them brings.

Develop with Java because:

  • Java perfectly runs on different computers, devices and consumer gadgets whilst ASP.NET is mainly targeted for the Windows operating system.
  • Java is ideal for complex solutions requiring huge volumes of users. In today’s custom software application development, Java is a programming language of choice for complex applications, in particular banking solutions, as it allows to secure their data at the highest level and guarantee consistent, smooth and secure access to thousands and thousands of users at the same time. A good example here is Amazon.
  • Java lets you use additional frameworks, giving almost endless development opportunities.

Whilst Java is the primary programming language for huge sized enterprise solutions, still, there are a few reasons why NET development gets the crown in the famous. Net vs Java battle when it comes to medium sized applications. They are:

  • Deploying any ASP .Net web application is easier and faster than a similar Java app using your IDE of choice.
  • Developed by Microsoft and integrated into the Windows operating system, NET framework does not involve any third-party vendors, maintaining top quality.
  • There’s one standard integrated development environment for any Microsoft .NET product –  Microsoft Visual Studio, Java doesn’t feature one standard tool.
  • ASP .Net apps are scalable.
  • Finally, Microsoft tools have an edge over Java for creating apps featuring rich graphical user interfaces.

With that being said, ASP .Net becomes a great solution if you are developing a middle-sized product for Windows, otherwise, develop with Java. Anyway, as it was already mentioned, both ASP .Net and Java will do your job just fine, so you wouldn’t go wrong picking either of those.