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One of our previous blogs mentioned the advantages of working with development teams from Ukraine. But war is a decisive factor influencing the statement that IT outsourcing is one of Ukraine's strong suits.

Let's look at some points that will assure you that Ukraine is not only about bravery but a very adoptive country that can cope with all negative war influence and provide high-level IT services.

• The Ukrainian IT industry continues to work and grow stable. Despite the war and related risks, the volume of IT services increased up to 16% for the eight months in 2022.

• IT companies are ready for various scenarios and possible attacks on critical infrastructure objects. Updated Business Continuity Planning (BCP) provides several options for responding to risks in case of a lack of Internet, communication, or power supply.

• Companies have adapted their infrastructure to the realities of wartime. In particular, critical systems are installed in the "cloud," and a network of Internet providers was diversified. In particular, the global satellite system "Starlink" premises are equipped with generators for backup power supply. The offices are equipped with everything necessary to maintain teams' uninterrupted and productive work.

• Ukraine and its infrastructure facilities repeatedly suffered from massive attacks during the war. Each time, the Internet and cellular connection worked stably or were quickly restored. This is also because Ukraine's Internet is decentralized, has a horizontal structure, and does not have key access centers, the destruction of which can paralyze the entire system.

• To minimize risks, Ukrainian companies have relocated specialists to safer regions and countries and have diversified offices in Ukraine and abroad based on the principle of distributed teams and a hybrid work format. The key issue when planning the operational activities of companies is human safety.

• The Ukrainian IT sector continues to hold the economic front of the country. Companies continuously fulfill contracts and projects in time, attract investments and new customers, and actively enter the global market.

The Ukrainian labor market continues to generate high-quality IT specialists, who save competitive advantages on the international market, have high-level expertise, broad specialization, and offer complex creative decisions.

All mentioned aspects debunked myths about working with Ukrainian IT outsourcers during the war. Ukraine is not about searching for help. We are about giving value and high-quality services. If you feel like launching a project with a reliable software development team from Ukraine, drop us a line, and we'll get back to you promptly.

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Becoming a more productive software engineer can be challenging, especially when new to the field. Learning many things takes time, but being a great developer takes much more effort than just writing code. Here are some simple tips and tricks to becoming a productive developer.

1. Minimize multitasking

Multitasking is a myth; our brains can't focus on two things simultaneously. Studies have shown that people who believe they are good at multitasking perform worse than those who acknowledge their lack of skill and practice focus instead. Generally, switching working contexts is terrible for productivity because it takes time to get back into a task after you've been interrupted.

Try to break down your work into larger chunks and work on each small task, gradually finishing the job. Small positive results will keep you going towards new studies and small wins. Or, use the Pomodoro technique, where you work for 25 minutes straight without interruption and then take five minutes off, like watching an episode of your favorite show or taking a break.

2. Set smart goals

Set SMART goals to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. These simple tips will help you plan your tasks efficiently:

• Stop over-committing.

• Don't set unrealistic expectations for yourself and your colleagues.

• Be realistic about what you can achieve in a given time frame, and ask for help when you need it – you might be surprised at how many people are willing to lend a hand or an ear when asked.

3. Communicate with the team

As a software engineer, you're not just building something by yourself; you're working with others to make something together. You need to be a team player to boost your productivity.

It's essential for everyone on your team – not just engineers – to feel comfortable offering feedback on each other's ideas and approaches during development. That way, your entire team will understand exactly where things are going wrong so that no one gets caught off guard by significant changes later on down the line (or worse: wasted effort).

If your colleague has an idea for improvements or upgrades, don't dismiss them without considering them first. Put the quality of your work ahead of your ambitions to be able to accept constructive feedback, even if it means redoing everything again from scratch.

4. Create to-do lists

With a to-do list, you always know your priorities. Having a clear list of tasks prevents you from getting distracted. Don't make up long lists that look infinite. Instead, make daily or weekly lists to see a quick result right after you've finished a small task. Also, set deadlines for each job to increase your chances of completing the task on time and feel a bit proud of yourself.

5. Focus on the outcome

The key to becoming a productive software engineer is focusing on the outcome, not the process. The world is full of distractions, and it's easy to get bogged down in details or obsess over small things that don't matter in the big picture. Many engineers make this mistake by worrying about what other people are doing instead of focusing on their own goals. Focus on your productivity, and you'll be able to achieve much more than if you worry about everything else around you.

Summing up

Working as a software engineer is challenging, but you can increase efficiency and productivity with the right mindset. Software engineers are expected to be productive and efficient, so it's crucial to understand what it means to be effective as an engineer and how you can increase your productivity.

Whether you're designing an interface for an ecommerce store, an appointment booking, or any other website that requires users to fill out their personal information like a phone number, you have to put extra effort into it. Don't make your users wonder which phone number format is correct or go through a lengthy validation process to guess the valid format. If something like this happens, that means your phone number fields aren't properly designed. In this article, we've gathered several essential tips for creating error-proof phone number fields, so read on.

1. Use input masks

A Baymard Institute study reveals that 89% of users enter phone number data in a different format, even if there is a hint in the field. Use input masks to make your users submit the data in the correct format. They indicate the data format that must be entered, including the number of characters, restricted characters, etc.

Input masks combined with auto-formatting and geolocation are the easiest way to enter the phone number. If you're dealing with global users, automatic geolocation will detect their country, giving them a hint that they're on the right path. Meanwhile, auto-formatting will arrange the data, so users don't need to enter symbols like brackets and dashes.

2. Indicate geolocation

Ideally, when a user fills out the form, their geolocation is automatically detected once they input the country code. A common solution is to display the flag of the country next to the phone number, so users can quickly spot their location and receive an instant confirmation of their data entry. Alternatively, allow users to enter the country name and find their country code faster.

You can also use autocomplete forms. For example, when users enter a single digit, they have city code options with a country flag. Don't forget about peculiarities of each country, for example, states in the USA.

3. Don't rush with data validation

Don't annoy users with fast data validation. Allow them to enter the phone number and display the data validation result: confirmed or failed. A too fast data validation misguides users: they might think they've been unable to complete the data entry process. Also, mistake alerts frustrate users and deteriorate their experience.

Some websites show errors after users have completely filled out the form and pressed the "Continue" button while others use contextual checking and display an error message directly after filling out the field or even earlier. There's no right or wrong solution – pick yours!

4. Avoid multiple cells for the phone number input

The usage of multiple cells could prevent your users from wrong data input. However, it's not an ideal solution since it doesn't allow users to paste the copied phone number correctly. In the case with multiple cells, the copied information will be added to the first cell, and users will be forced to copy the number in chunks to paste them into each cell.

Moreover, multiple cells aren't mobile-friendly, and users must double their effort to correct the data in case of wrong input.

5. Guide users

The rule of thumb is to simplify the process of filling out the fields and help users quickly fix their errors. Without little guidance, they won't be able to understand what's needed from them quickly. Use these tips to enhance user experience:

- Display a status if the field is filled in correctly or not. For example, you can use icons like a green checkmark to indicate the correct status.

- Display the number of characters to fill out.

- Automatically arrange a phone number into chunks right after a user fills out the form.

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Different team members bring diverse perspectives and knowledge to our #codebridgeteam, improving problem-solving and performance. But sometimes, a difference can lead to conflict. And we know how to deal with it!

Let's get it straight first, why do the conflicts appear? The reason can be either objective and social-psychological or based on organizational-management factors. In most cases, the catalysts of conflict are always communicative conflict generators. It happens when one says what he/she thinks, and the other perceives it in his/her way. Among key conflict generators in relationships is non-acceptance of the behavioral moments, violation of ethics, and direct negative passages.

Who are usually the participants of conflict at the workplace? Undoubtedly, these are the primary opponents and the so-called supporting group (colleagues who can indirectly be involved in the conflict).

It is doubtful that the conflicting parties will not resolve their issue without involving a third party. As proven by practice, it is worth having a mediator to effectively manage and solve the conflict.

So, what can all conflict participants do to make the "way out safer"? The effective step-by-step plan for any person involved prescribes the following:

- determine your role

- if you are not a party to the conflict, listen to both sides

- try to understand the motives of the parties directly involved in a conflict

- reduce the degree of emotions (they usually increase the problem and distract from the actual subject of conflict)

- always keep in focus the actual subject of the conflict

It is essential also to keep in mind specific behavioral rules that may be applied during the conflict:

1. Resolving the conflict immediately means avoiding the temptation to ignore it and drive the situation deeper.

2. Be honest: if a problem arises, it must be exposed.

3. Practice straightforward communication - express thoughts and ideas.

4. Practice active listening – by applying paraphrasing, clarification, and the ability to ask questions.

5. Do not allow the conflict to become personal - explain that there should be no characters.

6. Focus on effective solutions - do not waste time and energy on things that cannot be changed.

7. Don't blame – encourage collaboration, feedback, and indirect criticism.

8. Do not tolerate conflict - no team members should know about possible problems. And primarily, no issue arises in social networks.

Hopefully, these approaches to identifying and resolving conflicts will help your teams to be more effective and keep the working relationships healthy and productive.

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After two years of remote work, some people consider it salvation, while others experience significant issues with keeping up with their teammates. If you're in the second team, it's time to change your relations with remote work. Consider our tips for remote collaboration in creative teams.

Set clear rules

Different people have different ideas of a quality result or a proper communication workflow. To avoid miscommunication, invest some time in creating guidelines and policies that describe collaboration rules and set working standards, like:

- A knowledge database with tutorials, videos, and other materials that help new team members quickly go through onboarding.

- A single database with workflow files and guides with all aspects of your workflows: project information, contacts of all team members, job descriptions, and so on.

- A communication strategy like rules for maintaining the work calendar, correspondence with clients, and conflict resolution.

Create communication channels

Most corporate messengers provide you with the opportunity to set up separate channels for different topics like work tasks, company updates, celebrations, and flood chats. Separate channels solve several goals:

- You can communicate transparently and keep everyone posted on the latest news.

- Separate chats are convenient and allow you to find the necessary information quickly.

- You don't need to distract the whole team whenever you need to clarify a question with another group of colleagues.

Communicate frequently

Keeping a golden middle between frequent and short conversations is essential for working remotely. For example, keep your daily standups limited in time and allocate no more than three minutes for each person. If you want to support an element of a casual, relaxed conversation, introduce an extra couple of minutes before the call to chat about non-related work.

Here's what you can do to keep your communication frequent and efficient:

- Don't spend time writing emails. Communicate on chats and messengers to get instant feedback.

- Encourage virtual coffee breaks and happy hours to keep up informal communication.

- Prefer video over audio to convey your non-verbal language and emotions.

Arrange virtual tours

Your colleagues may want to work from their homes, coworkings, coffee shops, parks, and other places they find comfortable. To step in their shoes and build empathy, arrange a virtual tour. Such a tour will help you understand your colleague's work context and consider their circumstances when you plan group meetings or mutual work. For example, working moms might need extra time in the morning to prepare their children for school, and the afternoon could be their most productive time.

Block all the distracting factors

Draw the bottom line between being aware of the leading news and constantly scrolling the feed on social media to absorb as much information as possible.

Indeed, it's hard to resist checking non-work-related web pages now and then. Time management methods like Pomodoro could help you balance work and rest without missing deadlines. Setting simple goals and deadlines every day also prevent you from procrastination. Imagine how satisfying it is to cross your tasks off the list at the end of the day!

Track the results

It's a myth that remote employees aren't as efficient as office workers. You can achieve the same or even better performance working remotely with the right metrics at hand.

However, it doesn't mean you have to micromanage your colleagues or install time trackers on their computers. Make commitments and set deadlines that'll help you see a final goal. Project management boards like Trello help you visualize all your tasks and avoid mess.

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If you've thought that you don't deserve the job you have or your achievements are just a matter of luck, you're likely to have impostor syndrome. Unfortunately, it's a common issue in web design since this job implies lots of subjective sayings and criticism that don't help cure impostor syndrome.

What's impostor syndrome anyway?

Even though imposter syndrome isn't yet recognized in international classifications, the problem exists and is studied by psychologists. Today, specialists define impostor syndrome as a persistent condition that won't allow a person to recognize their achievements and connect their hard work with positive results. People with impostor syndrome usually repeat the same phrases:

"I'm a fraud."

"People soon will find out that I'm not competent."

"My achievements are results of luck."

As a rule, people suffering from impostor syndrome have low self-esteem and don't assess their competence adequately. As a result, they don't enjoy their well-deserved praise and devalue their professional achievements and skills.

Here are the common reasons for impostor syndrome

•           Lots of criticism and comparison with the others in childhood

•           Lack of praise and support

•           Too much credit in childhood leads to inadequate self-esteem in adulthood.

•           The discrepancy between achievement send feedback ("Why have you got an A instead of A+ in the test?")

•           Not allowing oneself to make mistakes

‍Typical indicators of impostor syndrome

Now let's review some typical "red flags" that help you go through a quick self-test.

•           You're afraid of failing, so you procrastinate before each new task or project.

•           You feel you deceive people, making them think you're a professional and a competent person.

•           You never connect your achievements with your hard work. Instead, you think you've been lucky this time.

•           You never accept compliments or appraisals from colleagues.

•           You would like to be better than others, but a gnawing feeling constantly tells you that you're not unique or better than your pers.

•           You're angry when someone criticizes your work and can't accept adequate feedback because deep inside, you realize you have talent and professional skills.

‍How to overcome your impostor syndrome: 5 tips

The most working approach to overcoming your impostor syndrome is to speak facts and highlight tangible achievements, not just give compliments.

1. Enhance your competencies

First things first, you need to assess your professional skills to figure out your top skills and find room for improvement. For example, mobile UI/UX design could be your strong suit, while web design skills might require significant improvement. Ask your team leader or a mentor to provide feedback or use a skills matrix to get a comprehensive overview.

2. Find a purpose

When you don't see a final goal you're working towards, you can't evaluate the things you've achieved so far. That's why a clear professional goal like getting a promotion or starting a mentorship can get you to realize your strong sides.

3. Allow yourself to make mistakes

When equilibrists learn to walk on the rope, they learn to fall first. This practice helps them accept failures and don't be afraid of falling. Think about life as walking on a rope. Consider mistakes as an opportunity to learn and become a better person. Also, it's important to distinguish your personal mistakes from mistakes made because of external factors you can't control.

4. Control your emotions

Think about an impostor inside you and don't allow it to control you. Whenever you start feeling like you're not worth anything, allow yourself to live through negative emotions like anger and disappointment. Keeping a journal and writing down your emotions helps you keep track of your emotional state, get to know yourself better, and get rid of your negative thoughts.

5. Change your mindset

Most people with impostor syndrome have a typical mindset of a constant achiever. It's important to realize that life isn't all about winning and getting praise. Once you learn to appreciate the life journey, not a final result, you'll get much relief.

From Microsoft and Google to Uber and smaller tech startups, they all have been practicing or considering offshore mobile app development. If you can't make up your mind about this type of software development, you're not alone. Many businesses have doubts in the beginning, but most of them stay satisfied with their choice. In this blog, we'll spill all the details about offshore mobile app development: what it is, how it differs from nearshore and outsourced development, and its tangible business benefits. Let's dive in!

What is offshore mobile app development?

The concept of offshore app development is straightforward. It refers to moving software development operations to another country or a continent. That's how offshoring differs from nearshoring: in the first case, companies work with software developers from different time zones and countries, while nearshoring rarely involves specialists from another time zone.

A different time zone might sound like a disaster, but it's not a critical problem; in some cases, it could be a competitive advantage. If you're located in the US and your support team is in Ukraine, that means you can embrace more time zones and provide help for international clients.

Next, you might wonder about the difference between outsourcing and offshoring since both are buzzwords in the tech domain. Let's clarify: outsourcing means hiring contractors from other countries to complete a specific feature or a project, while offshoring means moving business operations overseas. So basically, you hire people abroad to complement your in-house team.

Offshore mobile app development is trendy due to its cost efficiency, flexibility in finding specific talents, and more. Below, you'll discover the benefits of offshore app development for your business.

Benefits of offshore app development

You can't go wrong with offshore app development if you implement Agile management and timely communication. By intelligent management of a remote offshore development team, you can reap the following benefits:

1. Access to a vast talent pool

Some projects require specialists with specific expertise and skills. But what if you can't find experienced Python developers or Data Scientists in your area? Go for offshore app development instead! In this case, the world is your oyster. You can expand your talent search and select professionals that can contribute to your project with their expertise and pass on the knowledge further.

2. Cost efficiency

It's no surprise that certain countries have lower software development rates while maintaining an excellent quality of services, diligence, and communication. If you live in the USA, Australia, Great Britain, or an EU country, offshore app development could be a lifesaver for cost optimization. For example, Codebridge offers rates from $22 to $30 per hour, which is 4-5 times cheaper than in Northern America.

Low development rates don't necessarily mean the low quality of code you get. Because factors like the cost of living influence the rates of offshore app developers, they can play into your hand and help you improve app development costs.

3. Team scalability

It takes time and money to hire in-house employees, onboard them, provide necessary training, and constantly develop them. Moreover, dismissing an employee also involves compliance with local regulations and laws.

With an offshore team, contract work makes hiring and firing easier. An offshore team can take over subsidiary management, cost control, accommodation, insurance, and more. They're in control of hiring, firing, project management, and control of the final product quality.

4. Lack of personal issues

The in-house team has shortcomings like the need to invest in their professional development, team building, personal well-being, and so on. With offshore development, you can talk business. As a rule, offshore teams handle many energy-draining tasks like project management, interpersonal communication, conflict management, etc.

5. Time for your projects

Offshore app development helps you focus on high-level business tasks and strategies instead of managing projects and teams. Since you don't have to worry about organizational moments like social benefits packages, employee development, or search for a viable technical solution, you can concentrate on matters the most.

In conclusion

Indeed, offshore app development isn't a silver bullet. Risks like poor communication and failure to embrace remote team management are always present. Luckily, you can prevent pitiful situations with a proactive approach to selecting a perfect offshore mobile app development company. Consider these tips:

Work with trusted platforms like Clutch and Upwork that guarantee money refunds and provide reviews from real clients;

Do your research and check an offshore team on social media, Google, and other resources.

Conduct interviews to evaluate developers' hard and soft skills, involvement level, and business-oriented mindset.

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Contact us for more details if you're interested in offshore mobile app development with a team of experts.

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While developing sites and applications, you often see that the design is drawn beautifully. Still, when it comes to implementation, the developer has to puzzle over how to bring the design into reality.

We sum up here key difficulties in working with design from the developer's view, as well as those tricks that make the life of a developer easier.

What frustrates the most?

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Changing the order of components in the mobile version‍

We create an HTML skeleton and change it upon style properties. If there is one block in the design on the mobile version and another on the browser, both elements are in the HTML skeleton, and styles are hidden for different versions. For example, if in the browser there is a picture, and under it, there is a text, and in the mobile version it is a picture under the text, then this is not a problem; there are properties in the style that can change the order. But when the structure changes are too complicated, such as a picture appearing in the middle of the text, you need to devise a solution to build the ability to display it this way. Therefore, it would be great to avoid it incase it is not very critical for UX.

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‍Different spacing between identical items in a list

Any sequential elements usually have the same properties (for example, menu items), and the style is typical for all to have less code. And when you see, for example, three buttons in a row, and between them, there is one indent of 20 pixels, and the second is30, then we spend time clarifying whether this is so or wrong.

The same is with the sizes of icons, which are also in the list; if 1-2 icons are knocked out in size, then you need to spend extra time processing them.

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‍All design components are arranged according to logic and not scattered around the space

It's good when the finished design is somehow structured in columns or horizontally. When they are randomly scattered across the canvas, it seems that the design is still in progress. This makes it difficult to view the application logic, making it difficult for a Project manager and the customer to find the desired screen.

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But in addition to all of the above, there is something that makes our life easier and brighter: the UI kit

This is the most beautiful and helpful thing a developer can take when bringing a design to life.

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‍The block with inputs, buttons, and dropdowns helps a lot

If these elements are separately drawn in different states, regardless of size, it significantly reduces the development time and further testing.

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‍Fonts and colors

It is handy to indicate all the headings of a specific style in the project and text in blocks of another. This will help when one person starts the design but his colleague has to replace him and finish the project. A block with all the project colors is not required, but it can be helpful. This will protect against the appearance of 2 or 3 shades of red, with validation errors, for example.

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Based on our experience, we are sure that these points will help with the optimization of work among both developers and designers and reduce the time for clarification during development. And designers will not be pulled with clarifications and will continue to create beautiful things. 

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When designing a healthcare app, you need to consider a few important aspects that significantly improve the user experience. Discover them in our latest article.

Healthcare app design must not only fulfill business goals but also cater to users' needs and demonstrate excellent usability. In this article, based on our experience with the Healthier project, you'll find proven tips for designing a healthcare app with a holistic approach. Read on!

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1. Research

An essential part of the design process goes to figuring out the details:

• Getting to know the stakeholders.

• Eliciting requirements and business goals.

• Understanding users' interests and needs.

• Shaping the benefits for users.

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Typical activities for this stage include stakeholder interviews, user interviews, competitor analysis, and customer journey mapping to elicit valuable insights.

During this phase, you may discover not-so-obvious pain points of a target audience you wouldn't even think of in the first place.

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2. Navigation

The target audience of healthcare apps is versatile, depending on their purpose. However, you must consider one thing for all of them: simple navigation.

Don't put the data over users. Simplify the interaction with data (with the help of dashboards, visual elements, and animation) and think your onboarding steps through. For example, don't ask for too much personal data that doesn't have any relation to a user's health.

In designing healthcare apps, the rule of thumb is to balance straightforward navigation and overall aesthetics. Don't neglect the UI – it's just as important a part of the design as user experience (UX).

For instance, when designing Healthier, one of Codebridge's projects, a medical platform that connects patients and doctors, we wanted to create an attractive yet convenient design using the best practices and UX principles. The color palette fits the medicine theme, with the white background and blue elements with bright and warm tones for highlighting essential blocks. The Montserrat font is formal enough yet modern and eye-friendly.  

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3. UX writing

Microcopy, or UX writing, is the language of an interface: buttons, notifications, statuses, and so on. It is as essential as the application's interface and its features to convey the message to users and guide them. It's vital to speak to your audience with the right words and help users understand what the application is about, what values it provides, and how to get what they need.

When writing for a healthcare app, use simple language. Avoid professional medical jargon and terms if your application is targeted at a broad audience without a professional medical background and expertise in this field. Also, medical terms can create a false impression that their illness or a health condition is more severe than it is.

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4. Visualize the data

"Tell me, and I forget. Teach me, and I remember. Involve me, and I learn."

This phrase vividly highlights the impact of data visualization through illustrations, animations, dashboards, and other elements. When designing healthcare apps that involve a high volume of health state displays, it makes sense to leave out long descriptions and visualize states like blood pressure, heartbeat, and weight gain dynamics.

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5. Inclusive design

Don't leave behind people with disabilities. Make sure you can cross off the list these statements:

• Content is readable and suitable for all screen readers

• Videos have subtitles, while images and audio files have brief descriptions

• Font, buttons, and other navigation elements are adjustable and have labels

• Your microcopy is gender-free and non-bias.

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In conclusion

Healthcare app design requires a thorough analysis of the target audience to understand their needs and pain points. Moreover, medical apps, like no others, require the usage of inclusive design guidelines to embrace the majority of target users.

If you've got an idea for a healthcare application in mind, drop us a line to discuss its implementation and design.

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