🇨🇦 I'm a native English-speaking Canadian.
Communicating with me is a breeze.
I help owners evaluate software proposals and vet technical staff
Get confidence that you're asking the right technical questions before you invest in any new software, and before you start hiring a programming team.
🇨🇦 I'm a native English-speaking Canadian, which makes communicating a breeze.
I help you vet and onboard programmers and tech project managers who rapidly get stuff done
If implementing new software isn't your core competency, it's easy to get dazzled by rehearsed demos and technical jargon.I help you cut through the noise. I have 11 years experience as a full-stack software developer, building custom dashboards, CRMs, ERP integration... and watching projects succeed and fail.I've worked with programmers who talk a good game but couldn't pass a simple fizz-buzz test.And project managers who are great at scheduling Zoom calls to "discuss" but don't understand the technical limitations of their own product.Avoid paying fakers. I help you select people who know what they're talking about, even under scrutiny by a fellow tech.
Don't make decisions without an impartial 3rd party
I'm your tech-savvy auditor who helps you avoid investing in the wrong platform
Keep me by your side during demos to help you evaluate what tech will work for you and what tech definitely won't.Arm me with knowledge of your business domain and what objectives you're trying to accomplish with new software.Insert me early in the process... before you start throwing good money after bad.
Urgent assistance for broken tech projects
Got an existing tech project that has gone off the rails? I can help.
If you've already invested money and time into a project that has gone nowhere, I can help you get it back on track.
Get in touch for an honest assessment of where you are, where you want to be, what work can be salvaged and what needs to be safely jettisoned.My goal is to save you money by avoiding monthly fees and budget overruns for services and modules you never needed in the first place.
Why Dima?
I have the technical background to help you assess the platforms and people you're about to base your business on.
Clear, succinct bullet-point emails
Short mission-oriented phone calls
No accent, no confusing tech terms
No intercultural communication issues
I'm a "graybeard" full-stack software developer myself, having worked in startups, and consulting for over a decade on system integration projects, CRM implementation, ERP integration, and KPI Dashboard projects.For 11 years, I've seen technical projects succeed and fail. Sometimes for unforeseeable reasons, but more often in these scenarios:
Tech claimed to have background and skillset they didn't have. Business couldn't tell for first few months. Tech was 'let go'.
Business hired tech without understanding their own existing infrastructure. Tech didn't realize what integrations he had signed up to build, treaded water for a month, then quit.
Business never had a tech before and tried to manage them like a salesperson. Frustration on both sides and tech quit.
Business had excellent infrastructure built over a decade prior. Tech came on wanting to re-write everything in the newest languages. Business agreed. Tech started, got in over his head with "edge cases", 6-figures spent and new tech was unusable. Tech moved on to next project.
Do any of these scenarios sound familiar?I help you ask the right questions early to avoid these scenarios and prevent you from throwing money into a bottomless pit.🇨🇦 I'm a Canadian native English speaker, so communicating with me is simple.
Pricing
About to invest
in an online platform?
$129 - Platform Risk Evaluation
Get me up to speed – You and I will discuss in detail your current business, what objectives you're aiming for with your investment in a new platform... your must-haves.
DEMO – I will join you on a phone call or Zoom screensharing demo to evaluate the platform and interview the people running it.
REPORT – I will email you a detailed report of the strengths and weaknesses of their platform in light of your objectives, and a rundown of competing platforms.
Do it custom? – As a basis for comparison, I'll write up a guide on what it would take to build a comparable custom solution "in‑house".
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About to hire
a technical person?
$299 – Tech Worker Risk Evaluation
Get me up to speed – You and I will discuss in detail your current business, what your new hire is meant to accomplish, and make a list of your must-haves for them.
Technical Interview – I will join you on a phone call or Zoom interview to ask technical questions and evaluate them.
Take-home test – I will prepare a customized technical exercise or coding test, specific to your objectives, to weed out applicants who can't do the work.
Report – I will evaluate their results for you, and give a recommendation on whether they can technically get the job done.
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Case Study
In 2020, a medium-sized consumer packaged goods company had invested 6-figures in custom software... and by mid-2021 had received nothing to show for it...
Before I was brought in:
The sales team was taking orders via email, and an office assistant was transcribing those orders into Excel, then manually emailing those spreadsheets to a warehouse. And then manually entering those orders into their accounting software.
Time consuming, sure, but more importantly: COSTLY. The warehouse was charging an exorbitant hourly fee for processing every single attachment, racking up thousands a month in admin costs.
The office assistant was so busy typing and retyping orders, and making so many transcription mistakes, that she didn't have the time to add value anywhere else. Sales guys were waiting hours or days for her.
To solve this, the company owner had personally hired a software dev agency to build integrations so they could start taking orders online.
The "new platform" was supposed to transmit those orders electronically to the warehouse. In theory: no more admin costs.
Unfortunately, after 18 months of software development, the new platform was perpetually "90% complete" but it still wasn't taking any orders.
The owner received multi-paragraphs emails going over the technical details, but there was no finish line in sight.
What I discovered:
While waiting for the new platform, the Excel typos and order errors piled up. Backorders were lost and forgotten. Customers jumped ship and never returned.
18 months later and the "new platform" couldn't talk to the warehouse's systems (API) without even more costly code re-writes.
The warehouse's dev team wasn't helpful either- trying to get them on the phone was a battle. Their integration documentation was 1 code snippet inside a 3-page Word doc. Not much to work with.
The good news: I discovered the owner didn't need a custom everything-in-one platform. At least, not immediately.
How I solved it:
Step 1- I helped the owner build an order tracker. No more lost orders.
Step 2- I helped the owner build an online order form for sales reps to use. No more typos and wrong SKUs or inflated quantities shipped.
Step 3- I built a "bot" that auto-transcribed orders from the owner's tracker to the warehouse's online order entry system AND to their own accounting system.
Result: the company known for losing orders became the company that ships the right orders, on time, without billing mistakes.
It didn't need to take 18 months. It didn't need to take a giant all-singing, all-dancing platform that none of the admin staff could understand.All it took was an order tracker, and a bit of clever code for a "bot" that auto-transmits orders to the warehouse, waits for shipping, and then invoices. Simple, minimal-supervision needed, minimal-training needed, fully automated.No more monthly transcription costs. No more battles of wits with dev teams and support staff. No more monthly maintenance costs for a platform that never even went live.
I helped this non-technical company owner simplify and problem-solve, and I might be able to help you too.Start with a free 15-minute discovery call to get me up to speed on where you're at, and where you want to be.