Our Services
We're web developers, specializing in crafting websites using Ruby on Rails. We practice user centered design, building websites that work better and easier. To do this, we have a cross disciplinary team of experts to get your job done.
We Build Custom Web Applications
Need something very specific to your needs? No problem. We will start with your requirements and grow with your needs. We love interesting projects, and we'll help you design, prototype, and launch a product that will satisfy your requirements.
We Build Social Networks...Why?
If you're on this site, you probably already know the benefits of creating social networks for groups, clubs, companies, industries, etc ...and it's finding its way into more and more verticals. This is the era of social networking...and we can build your network for you.
Customized Social Networks
Whether you want to create a network for your industry with hundreds of thousands of members, or you want to help your local soccer league connect better online...we can build a custom solution for you.
Imitating successful platforms like Facebook, we offer technology that will help your group connect and communicate online effectively and simply. We turn it on...you build your community.
Corporate Employee Networks
Social networking has taught us how productive things can be when people start connecting to each other, forming groups, learning about each other, and collaborating together online.
"Productivy" is the key reason why corporations and companies are rushing to create private label social networks for their organizations. Whether behind corporate intranets or on the internet, we build enterprise social networks to help companies connect employees and their teams.
Turnkey Social Networks
Want something off the shelf and in a hurry? We have solutions for that. Use our turnkey solution to get all the standard social networking features like:
- friends platform
- blogosphere
- groups
- internal messaging
- search
- email alerts
- photo uploading & tagging
- activity feeds
- user profiles
- and more....
User Centered Design
We're passionate about building websites that are intuitive, elegant, and a joy to use. We drive our development from a user's perspective...always taking into account the user experience in the equation.
Rapid Development
One of our core philosophies is to develop quickly and to set short term deliverables. Developing rapidly allows us to accomplish our 3 main goals: help our clients control costs, keep clients satisfied along the process, and adapt to necessary changes early in the development cycle. We achieve our rapid development process by practicing scrum and weekly sprints.
Scrum & Agile
Scrum is the main system by which all our projects are managed. By practicing our own unique flavor of scrum, we are able to effectively increase team productivity and maintain better time management. Daily short scrum meetings are held to make sure our team works cohesively and are maintaining daily goals. The scrum master (project manager) keeps the client in the loop to make sure their project is on track.
Weekly Sprints
Our weekly sprints are the main units of deliverables. Sprints allow us to do weekly iterations of work and to really focus on building usable features. We choose shorter weekly iterations to maintain better focus on goals and to help keep clients in the loop. After each weekly sprint, we go through a thorough sprint review with clients to make sure development is up to par with expectations.
Tools
These are all the tools we use on a daily basis to make all the magic happen. Darn it...we just gave away the secrets to our magic.
Ruby on Rails
This language, framework, and surrounding developer community best supports our core values:
1. elegant code 2. rapid development 3. user centered design.
Rather than learning and supporting various languages and frameworks, we decided to commit to Ruby on Rails and focus our expertise in it.
AJAX
We're big fans of AJAX and how it helps create rich user experiences. We use the major AJAX libraries, such as Prototype and Scriptaculous, on a regular basis.
Oh yeah, Ajax, the all-purpose cleanser ain't bad either. (although we don't really recommend putting this in your web app).
Project Collaboration
Github - A version control system based on Git. We use a private hosted Github repository to store, version, share, and manage our code.
ZumoDrive - A filesystem in the cloud lets our team share files, images, and assets remotely...while keeping us in sync.
Lighthouse - We use Lighthouse as our general project management utility. It offers ease in managing tasks, assigning work, tracking issues, and collaboration.
Hosting & Deployment
Engine Yard - Top notch managed Rails hosting. Good for very high usage sites. Costly solution, but you get the benefit of outsourcing your sys admin duties.
Slicehost - A very good solution if you want us to put your Rails app on a cheap and reliable VPS.
Amazon AWS - The EC2, S3, & Elastic Block Store makes a pretty powerful and scalable stack for a reasonable price.
About Us
We're a boutique web development company located in Southern California. We are currently AVAILABLE to take on projects, so feel free to contact us to talk about your project. We will go through an initial needs assessment to see if we are the right match for you. We will be totally open and honest with you...if your project is not right for us, we will gladly help you find the right fit through our network of contacts. If we are a good match...then you are committed to using us for life!
That's a joke of course. Since our deliverables are in weekly iterations, you can quickly judge if our work meets your standards...and make your cost-benefit analysis accordingly (in plain english: you can hire or fire us on a weekly basis).
Contact Us
The best way to contact us is by emailing us. Don't be shy...shoot us an email and tell us about your project. We will give you an initial assessment for free with no obligation.
email: contact@methink.com
phone: 714.300.9988
Our Rates
We've been in your shoes, and we know that looking for good web developers is not easy or cheap. That's where we come in. Being sensitive to clients budgets, we've set out to create one pricing goal: the performance of a team @ the price of 1 programmer. Shop around, then give us a call. We're pretty confident our quality of work and price point will be attractive.
Affordable Solutions
Stop burning cash! One of the key techniques we use to keep development costs low for our clients is by always looking for affordable solutions. For example, we focus on our core niche technologies. The things we build well, we can reuse and build fast. The end result is giving you solutions that are better, cheaper, and faster. The end END result is happier client with fatter wallet.
Our "On-Demand" Team
To save costs, many clients are tempted to hire that 1 coding wizard that can wear many hats and do it all. If you find him or her...let us know! Don't waste time, to do it right, you will need a team of experts that has a breadth of knowledge. We've created our "On-Demand" Team to help you feel like you're getting the benefits of a team at the cost of 1 expert. Throughout our development process, you will have access to a project manager, creative designer, user experience designer, backend programmers, systems admin...all at the right time as your project progresses.
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