Outsourse Web / Mobile / E-commerce Design

Category: Development Services

How To Use Kubernetes, Google Cloud and Docker
After years of growth and development, cloud computing has matured. Unlike on-premises deployment it ensures a fast infrastructure setup. Building a physical infrastructure may take weeks, while creating a cloud infrastructure may require only several hours. Other compelling advantages of cloud services are scalability, reliability, high performance, and security.

We use these services in order to be more flexible in “continuously” expanding your resources within minutes.

We have experience in Google Cloud, Docker and Kubernetes. It allows us to run any kind of scalable web applications

.We use Google Cloud Container Engine for deployment of our applications, which have different requirements for launching. We can run a lot of environments by docker technology using, for example, one application which needs CentOS platform and 100 Mb of RAM. We launch this application in Google Container Cluster near other various applications and they do not interfere with each other. Every application is running in their own isolated environments.

We are working on the following algorithm (Pic. 1).

Our Development Process

When we receive the request to develop an application, we assign it to our developers. Next, when the application is ready for release, our DevOps specialist prepares the docker environment for the mentioned application.

Docker is a great platform for launching each application in its own environment (CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian or other base image).

To launch the application, we use the Google Container Engine, that provides the docker cluster and private docker registries.

Before launch, we need to prepare the application description for Kubernetes (json or yml file). First of all, we need to build the image and push it into the private repository. We identify the based image in the description file. If the application is simple, we do not need to describe the difficult json or yml description file (Pic. 7), we only run the application with the docker image that we have prepared before.

If the application needs the Public IP-address, then the Google Cloud will provide it for the application and we can fix it as static.

The common process of our working can be shown as below (Pic. 2):

We use the Kubernetes docker cluster for hosting our application. It looks similar to the picture below (Pic. 3).

Usage of the following architecture helps to use the computer resources more effectively because some applications need a small amount of memory but the remote instance has a lot of it. Every application can be launched on its own Linux-Environment. Do not look on the main instance of the Linux OS type where the application is hosted.

The Google Cloud Container Cluster is as scalable as we wish. If we have a lot of new applications to host, we only add new Nodes to our cluster and launch the application in it. If the Nod has a lot of free resources, the cluster decides what application it launches on what Nod (instance).

How Buildateam.io Use Flexible Services To The Storing Of Data In The Network Cloud

We can make as many replicas as we need and we can increase our existable cloud storages to size as needed.

We can also use distributed file systems, for example, glusterfs, which can be used for simple replication between the remote servers. If our task is to increase our remote storage, we only add a new volume from various remote servers in the storage by gluster shell command. Afterwards, our cloud storage increases automatically.

Use Of Docker Cluster In The Final Application Launch

To launch the application, we can use the docker in some of the remote servers. When we need to increase the resource, we may be faced with some problems transferring the environment.

Why We Use Google Cloud And Kubernetes

The Kubernetes is used to manage a docker cluster.

The Kubernetes can be installed on every Linux host that has docker for example. Also the Kubernetes is used for managing a docker cluster in the Google Container Engine cluster by default.

When the cluster is launched, a user can enter into the Kubernetes web interface. To get access to the web dashboard, we execute the command kubectl cluster-info like above (Pic. 5).

If the user goes by the url (Pic 5, 2) he will see the next web interface (Pic. 6).

The information mentioned above means that the user wants to scale the cluster. The user can do that at any time because the Kubernetes supports this feature. The user can decrease the number of nodes or even increase it.

To create a cluster for applications that consists in a docker environment, the user can use the GCloud Web Console or the GCloud Console Application.

We Use The Google Cloud Shell Application To Manage Our Clusters

The GCloud application can install the kubectl as well. Kubectl is the application used to manage the Kubernetes cluster. The user needs to pass the authentication procedure to get the Google Cloud Access for his console. This is all that needs to be done.

For launching the application in Kubernetes cluster, the user needs to prepare the docker image which is the base of application. In order to do this, the user needs to create the private docker registry and Google Cloud provides it for the users.

The user creates the docker registry (Google Container Registry) and afterwards the user can push the docker images from the local computer into the remote private registry. When the images are located in registry, the user can launch the application based on the user’s private docker image that can contain the private data as well. The user can launch the application which is based on public docker images from another registry. One example is the official docker registry docker.io.

The private registry is needed when the user wants to store some private information with the application. When the user launches the application, he can set only the input environment, links to applications containers, and external volumes for application.

In order to launch the application, it is required to describe it by using the yml (Pic. 7 above) or json file with the description of containers that will be running on container cluster.

The description file of the application shows the application-based image or a group of containers that are needed to work on the whole application. This file is like the docker-compose.yml but it has own format that is understandable to Kubernetes.

When the description file is ready, it can be used to launch the application. The simple way to do this is to use the web-interface. However, the console application kubectl has more abilities to launch the user’s application in docker cluster. Thus, we always use it, if it is required to make more tuned applications’ environment. Each application gets its own external IP address after it is launched. Kubernetes makes this step independently without any additional user’s actions.

An Example On How We Manage GCloud Resources

So, let’s launch the simple application based on the nginx official image. In the dockerfile, I will change the index page, and we will see it in the web browser.

Installing The GCloud Utility Locally
```
$ wget https://dl.google.com/dl/cloudsdk/channels/rapid/downloads/google-cloud-sdk-116.0.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
```
```
$ tar -xf google-cloud-sdk-116.0.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
```
```
$ cd google-cloud-sdk
```
```
$ ./install.sh
```
```
$ gcloud init
```
Installing Kubectl With GCloud Utility Help
```
$ gcloud components install kubectl
```
Create A Cluster (Wait For A While)
```
$ gcloud container clusters create mycluster --num-nodes 1 --disk-size 10
```
```
$ gloud container clusters list
```
Prepare The Docker File With Changed Index Page

Log into the registry though the GCloud Utility to get push access. Build the docker image. Push the docker image into the docker registry (Google Container Registry).
```
$ cat Dockerfile
```
```
$ docker build -t nginx-app ./
```
```
$ docker tag nginx-app gcr.io/plucky-mile-818/nginx-app
```
```
$ gcloud docker push gcr.io/plucky-mile-818/nginx-app
```
After these operations, the user can see his image in the repository through the web console of Google Cloud.

We can use this image to launch the container or group of containers in our docker cluster and no one can get access to it without necessary access rights.

Launch The Application

To launch the application, we prepare the yml or json file that describes the application. We use this file when we create the application in our Kubernetes docker cluster. If we launch the simple application, we can use only the command line parameters to launch the application (container, containers, pods):
```
$ kubectl run my-nginx --image=gcr.io/plucky-mile-818/nginx-app --replicas=1 --port=80
```
```
$ kubectl get pods
```
To release the application to the world, we launch the next command. After some time, Google Cloud will give our application the external IP-address.
```
$ kubectl expose deployment my-nginx --port=80 --type=LoadBalancer
```
To look what IP address our application got we execute the next command:
```
$ kubectl get services
```
If we open the web browser and go by url http://130.211.94.91, we can see our index page that was described in dockerfile.

For each application, Google Cloud exposes the external IP whenever necessary. This IP address will be ours until the application is running.

If we need the static IP, it would not be a problem. We should change the type of IP in the network settings panel of the Google Cloud Console and then we can assign it to the different Google Cloud instance or services in Kubernetes docker cluster.

If a team uses a simple procedure during the process, it spends less time concentrating on application code. After the code is ready, the team needs to find the hosting place to launch its application. The team installs the OS, installs additional software, and set it up to make a correct launch of the application.

If we already have a platform to launch the application we decrease the deployment process significantly and use the time wisely for the development purposes.

We continuously monitor IT markets for new technologies and always test them before implementing them in our projects.

Need help setting things up or want to buy pre-configured images for your Magento Cloud Hosting?
Email us at hello@buildateam.io for an advice or a quote. Also feel free to check out our Managed Magento Optimized Google Cloud Hosting

Read more:

How To Setup Scalable Magento Kubernetes Environment on Google Cloud.
January 4, 2017
5 Reasons Outsourced Freelance Developers are Better For Business!
Chances are if you’re reading this you’ve had a need, or currently need to hire a developer for something. Maybe you’ve got an app idea and want to build an MVP, or your company’s Shopify e-commerce store needs some updating? We get a lot of people asking us why we think it’s better to hire freelance developers, and we try to give unbiased responses, even though we are an On Demand Freelance Developer Hiring Platform. Since this question comes up so much we thought we’d take the time to research the facts, and present to you 5 Reasons Outsourced Freelance Developers Are Better For Business. We also custom made the infographic too! Please share it!
1. Save Time: Freelance Developers save time. That’s a fact. Take it from us at BuildaTeam where we save our clients months of recruitment work, by vetting and hiring freelance developers using our proprietary testing method we’ve developed over the years. This tool was designed to quickly vet a freelancer’s skill set vs. the client’s need and save everyone time in the hiring process. We’re not the only solution either (although we’d like to think we are the best). Hiring internally is a long term solution, and can take several months to find a solid team fit. Freelance Developers, on the other hand, don’t need to meet the team physically and usually only work on a specific project, on a contractual basis. Because of this, they can start working quickly, saving your organization tons of time.
2. Save Money: The average full-time software developer in the United Stated earned a $99,510 salary in 2014 and no doubt that figure is growing annually. Unless your company is prepared to pay that kind of salary for a full-time team member then sourcing a freelance web and or mobile development freelance is your best option. The average freelance developer is charging $73/hour so you can imagine the cost savings for your business! For instance, the average website redesign is between 30-100 hours of work for a freelance developer, yet a full-time employee may drag that work out over a few months of paid salary. You do the math.
3. Get More Done: For any of us who have ever worked from home for a day, or been a digital nomad we’re sure you’ve noticed that saving time getting ready, and getting to the office has allowed you to crush half of your to-do list before you would even be in the office normally. Well, that enhanced productivity time is a constant for most freelance developers. The average commute to work in the U.S takes over 25 minutes each way, not to mention the time it takes to get ready, chatting in the office, distractions etc. Bottom line, freelance developers get more done for your money, period.
4. More Experience: This is a no-brainer. Freelance developers normally juggle multiple projects and gigs at the same time, often from several differing industries and technologies as well. This wide range of work allows freelancers to gain a much more varied experience than their full-time counterparts who work years often on one project at a time. More experience means more usefulness to you as the hiring manager. Again, get more shit done!
5. More Talent: The freelancer workforce is exploding, yet it’s getting harder and harder to source and hire fulltime software developers. There are currently over 60 million Freelance Software Developers in the U.S and half of the entire American workforce is expected to do some sort of freelancing by the year 2020 (although, admittedly this is not just Software related freelancing but still, cool figure right?). Focusing on hiring a freelancer will greatly open up your options no matter where in the world you are.
So there you have it. 5 Solid reasons to start looking for freelance software developers for your next website or mobile development project. In case you needed any further discussions, advice or info on who to hire for your project, our Project Managers are always standing by, ready to chat with you, for free! Email us any questions you have and we’d be happy to help you. For more info on what we do as a company, and how we help companies hire the world’s best software development freelancers please visit our site here. Also make sure to check out Clockspot – Saving your organization tons of time.

Sources:

https://www.fastcompany.com/3049532/the-future-of-work/heres-why-the-freelancer-economy-is-on-the-rise

https://fu-web-storage-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/content/filer_public/c2/06/c2065a8a-7f00-46db-915a-2122965df7d9/fu_freelancinginamericareport_v3-rgb.pdf

http://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/software-developer/salary

https://project.wnyc.org/commute-times-us/embed.html
December 2, 2016
Why You Need Help Building Your Startup MVP!

Has anyone ever paid you for just an idea? Didn’t think so. It usually takes at least a solid MVP, right?

Since we set up our company in San Francisco, we’ve been focused on helping startups build their MVPs and we’ve heard thousands of potential clients tell us that they have “THE” next big startup idea. We agree with the philosophy out here that confidence is really an important tool and we also believe that the mindset of “Fake it till you make it” is definitely subscribed to by most Bay Area founders. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, and it’s something that we adore about working in this region. Having said this, our CEO Lex’s response has always been the same since day one:

“The idea is important, but it’s ultimately the execution, that sets successful products apart, and that’s where we come in”.

So why do you need help building your MVP? First, for those that don’t know, MVP is a startup term for “Minimum Viable Product” meaning a product that may not be perfect and ready to support millions, but it will get you traction and prove the concept enough to get you the meetings you need. MVPs are important because they help prove that you’re on the right track. The key with MVPs is being able to iterate on the product early on, quickly and efficiently.

Products naturally evolve during development with the more user feedback and market insight you gain. Hiring full-time employees takes time away from product development, fundraising and other important tasks for founders. If you wait as long as it takes to iterate several times and get it perfect, then you could be too late to the party and someone could have moved quicker to getting funded, and grown their team and passed you up. This is where services like ours come in, and help non-tech founders and other early stage startups with their MVP development, while they work on the business sides of things. Not only does this allow the startup to move faster, but it also ensures a better quality product and a lot less stressful nights leading up to your big pitch day.

What is unique about newer solutions like BuildaTeam is that we aren’t just freelancers 8,000 miles away that you are need to explain the requirements to. We help you define and optimize those requirements and align them with your business objectives, leaving the legwork of writing the code to outsourced expert teams. This help founders ship early stage products both on web and mobile. Today there’s more of a paradox of choice on who to trust with your software development than flavors of ice cream from the Ice Cream truck guy. You need to pick the right solution either hiring in-house or outsourcing but the fact is, you don’t need to be an incredible tech developer or software engineer yourself any longer as much as you need to be a really good manager. You need to find the right solution for your team, and move quickly so you can get it right, before you run out of cash.

“Unless you’re already an entrepreneur with at least one nine-figure exit behind you, the answer is no. The reasoning behind this is simple: People buy products, not ideas.” – From a recent Fox News article on a similar subject.

So if you’re in charge of a startup that is moving too slowly with development for your liking let’s chat. We can help. Email us: hello@BuildaTeam.io

November 6, 2016
The BuildaTeam Story!

Over the past few years, I have co-founded several startups where I got to wear many hats and manage remote freelancers that needed well written specs. I faced all challenges of hiring and managing remote teams. But little by little I got a hang of it and after trial and error I figured out a recipe for having great distributed teams that actually ‘get sh*t done’ and it doesn’t need to be re-done. After our previous startup got acquired I was in a position to choose a new adventure. I figured that I should leverage my experience and help other startups get sh*t done. BuildaTeam was born.

In order to build an A+ team that could help me, I came up with a 4-step interview process. Slowly we grew our expert network from the core E-Commerce Services (Magento, Shopify, Woocommerce) to Mobile Application Development, Custom Software Development, and building MVPs for startups on Meteor.js. The team varies depending on the requirements smart Project Managers, Senior Developers, Creative Designers.

As a complete service, BuildaTeam.io now creates and manages exclusive expert teams from S. America and Eastern Europe that cost less than one internally hired expert. Similar companies exist in abundance of course, but those solutions can be either extremely pricey or lack quality. This is why we have been focused on not only delivering quality dev work, but also on being the product owners advocates – we make sure we use the best suiting technology, help cut off unnecessary costs, recommend marketing strategies, help select the best 3rd party providers.

RoyalRobbins is a multi-million dollar online clothing retailer whose eCommerce store was developed by us. Their E-Commerce Manager, Mea had this to say about BuildaTeam’s software development services:

“The customer service that BuildaTeam provides is unmatched. You can’t get help like this from other development companies. The whole team is so accessible and responds quickly.”

Another recent customer, DejaWho’s CEO, Alex, had this to say about working with BuildaTeam to bring their mobile app to life;

“I thought that buildateam.io did an absolutely amazing job creating my app DejaWho! We came to them with absolutely no technical background, no technical scope, basically with just an idea of how we wanted the end result to look like. Lex and his team did an amazing job with the discovery phase, getting an understanding of what we wanted, and they built this app from conception into acceptance into the app store. As any start-up app company, we had many changes to our original plan and the team was always there to talk us through it and would implement them into new versions within the next day or 2. The process was remarkably efficient and I would recommend this team for any app builders. Great team!”

And here is one more from the CEO of PrideBites:

‘BuildaTeam is not only the most skilled developers we have ever worked with, but also the most time oriented. I highly recommend their work, and truly enjoy working with such good people.’

November 3, 2016
Debunking Common Web Development Myths

In the past three years of doing business, BuildaTeam has helped nearly 200 companies build and launch their web and mobile projects. We have accomplished this by giving our partners exclusive access to the world’s best freelance remote developers through our platform where they are hired and managed by our locally based Project Managers (on your time zone) to keep you in the loop at all times. We have thousands of Developers, Engineers, Data Scientists and more experts on the platform, but even an expert starts somewhere. So if you’re out there thinking about getting into web development, we found this great article on Huffington Post that debunks Common Myths of Web Design…and we thought we’d share it here.

1. You have to begin coding at a really young age

This is a very common misconception. Yes, it is true that many programmers are young, but there are just as many of them in their forties, fifties and older. This misconception is largely fueled by the media.

Prior to the break of the millennium, young innovators were not considered to be immature, irresponsible and not worthy of a cent in investment money. In fact, as early as 2005, young founders, innovators and programmers were a marginalized group.

Fast forward to today and the script has been flipped; now you are considered ‘old’ if you begin after the age of 18 – at least in the eyes of the media.

Check out the stories of Alan Turing, Grace Hopper and Brian Kernighan for some much needed motivation.

There is no right age to start programming; the right time is whenever you are ready.

2. You need to be a genius

Wrong again. I am a web developer, and have worked with many other developers over the years from different countries and languages and I can’t think of one of them who is a ‘genius’. I am not saying that there are no Einstein-like programmers; we all know that there are. But this group of geniuses is more the exception than the rule.

In reality, most programmers are simply people who have a passion for problem solving, computers, computing, and this passion fueled them to get better and better every day.
Often times, this misconception comes from everybody else, not programmers. We see someone that came up with a ground breaking innovation and we automatically put them up on a pedestal and proclaim them better than everybody else.

Most programmers are actually quiet and teachable people who are not really interested in taking credit for their work.

3. Men are better programmers

This myth has no basis in reality whatsoever. It will alarm you even more if you knew the foundational roles that women have played in the tech industry.

Grace Hopper invented the first compiler. Ada Lovelace is considered the first computer programmer. The first computer language, FORMAC was developed byJean Sammet at IBM. Sister Mary Kenneth Keller was part of the team that came up with BASIC.

Need I say more?

Yes, today the tech industry is heavily biased towards men. The statistics stretch beyond the workplace back to the university days where females do not constitute up to 20% of computer science graduates.
The tragedy is that most women have come to hold this bias as truth.
But it is just myth ladies, nothing more.

4. You’ve created a website so you are a developer

No you are not. If you created a site it just means you created a site, nothing more. Being a web developer is not that simple. It requires you to become adept in a wide range of skills and to work at updating and refreshing said skills regularly. Being a web developer is hard work, just like any other worthwhile pursuit in life.

Now, to be fair, if you have created a website you are on the way to becoming a web developer. To continue on this part you need to study key books, read key blogs, attend conferences to learn from the old heads and yes, experiment with a wide range of tools and technologies and yes, build a lot of sites.

Web development is a tough discipline, but the challenges it poses are surmountable if you have the passion and the continued knowledge.

5. Once a site is built, it’s finished

In many ways, a site is like a human being; it is a living, breathing organism that needs constant care to stay alive and functional.

Think of a web developer as a nanny; his job extends far beyond just putting up a site. Many companies employ developers round the clock to ensure that their sites operate seamlessly without glitches.

If you’re looking for an experienced web developer to assist you with anything, definitely shoot us an email at hello@buildateam.io and we’d be happy to discuss your project, and get you a free quote from a proven expert on our team!

For more information on BuildaTeam please visit our site: www.buildateam.io

October 21, 2016
Avoiding Development Trade-offs: Who We Are

Here at BuildaTeam.io we recognize that there are thousands of options for outsourcing web and mobile development services. It’s enough to make anyone’s head spin, right? It can be so stressful that some of the Product Owners put off development and even technical planning of their projects for so long that they end up with ‘had to be done yesterday’ deadlines when they contact us. At the same time, the barriers to starting a development agency / freelance business for software development services and advertising it online continues to lower. This results in a flood of low-quality offers that look like great deals on the surface. It requires a full-time involvement, dedication, patience, strong communication and technical skills to be able to filter through all of them and successfully choose a long-term technical partner from the first try. In the end, companies are either spending their development budget on one or two elite team members, or they’re outsourcing to “questionable quality” freelancers (just to achieve some digital footprint). It’s more important than ever for companies looking for developer solutions to dig deeper and decide which option(s) are best for their business.

From all available variants for developing the web or mobile application for your business, we will concentrate on the main options: you could build a team in-house, work with a local freelancer or local IT agency or outsource the development offshore to a company or an individual. Each option has its benefits and trade-offs.

Our team is full of undercover superheroes!

Building a team in-house is the best way to go and would allow you the most flexibility with the project. It is expensive to manage and do the HR legwork, though, plus you have to compete with some sweet experiments to attract the best available talent. Good for you if you can afford this game!

Another option is to hire a local agency with an in-house team. It’s a great way to get the job done with reasonable quality in a planned manner. It is usually quite costly as well since the agency has to take care of the administrative overhead. Some of the local agencies after being unable to find the talent for the in-house team on time would likely be working with offshore developers trying to deliver projects and maximize the profits.

Relying on local freelancers or friends can work out for smaller projects that don’t require complex technical skills. Most likely, you’ll be choosing from a very limited talent pool and might end up with an amateur doing things he is unqualified for. From our hiring experience, we noticed that it takes to interview hundreds of people before finding an excellent full-stack Engineer, DevOps and Business Analyst in one.

Outsourcing development offshore, say, to Asia or S. America or Eastern Europe can be very successful and cost effective, yet can completely destroy your timeline as communication can break down very easily due to the time difference, poor documentation, language barriers and lack of expertise. A good way to combine quality and price if you are strapped for cash is to have one technical person in-house and let him manage the distributed team on a daily basis. He would be able to help you transfer the business requirements into technical documentation and recommend on what skills the team should have and help you pick the right people. Based on this idea of combining an in-house team to keep the quality high and experts worldwide to maintain the cost lower – our founder Lex came up with BuildaTeam.

Note: We do NOT all have amazing beards. Sorry, false advertisement.

At BuildaTeam we are very excited to be offering affordable on-demand web and mobile development services. As our name suggests, we specialize in building an entire team of experts fully dedicated to a project and extremely affordable thanks to our tiered pricing and global talent pool. We use American based Product Managers, Architects, and Team Leads to make sure that technical documentation properly reflects the business objectives, communication doesn’t skew the requirements and code quality standards are met upon the product delivery. Combined with a pre-vetted (read about our 4-step interview) pool of Sr. Engineers worldwide creates a win-win situation for everyone. Our HQ is based in Silicon Valley, the epicenter of technology and development. Our teams include Designers, Software Engineers, Data Scientists, DevOps Engineers, Architects and other experts required to get the job done effectively and efficiently.

Whether you need Custom Software Development like proprietary Business Automation and Management Tools, a complicated Magento store set up or an iOS / Android Application – BuildaTeam will manage each piece of the development puzzle for you!

In essence, you get the best of all worlds while working with us: you get a fast moving, agile team that works like they’re in your office, you get the cost savings of working with remote developers. You also get 24/7 support out of the box and instant access to your local shop.

We exist to alleviate the stress and provide a simple, cutting edge and extremely efficient solution for all your development needs. You don’t need to take our word for it, here’s what some recent Product Owners we work with have had to say about working with us:

“I thought that Buildateam.io did an absolutely amazing job creating my app DejaWho”

“Build-A-Team is an excellent company, with a big team of varied skills. They are responsive and knowledgeable. Also their project managers are incredibly organized.” – Mea from RoyalRobbins.com

You can read more testimonials here: https://www.BuildaTeam.io/reviews/

Email us at hello@BuildaTeam.io and our experienced Product Managers will help evaluate the cost of your project.

August 17, 2016