FAQ

Questions & answers about software development

Frequently asked questions about software development, and our answers.

What exactly can you do for us?#

We design, develop, operate, and maintain information systems software to solve your business problems. You can put us in charge of any and all technical aspects:

How much does it cost?#

That depends on many factors, primarily complexity and scope of your project. In principle, we can either bill by time or agree to a fixed price up-front. If the task is small and clearly defined, a fixed price is appropriate. For more exploratory, open-ended topics with vague scope, a more flexible billing approach will be more sensible. Of course, we can also mix the billing models depending on the task.

Currently (as of 2024) our daily rate is EUR 1,307 (USD ~1,440). Your project will receive undivided parallel attention of two software engineers for 8 hours.

Most small fixed-price software development projects range between EUR 13,000 (USD 14,360) to EUR 77,000 (USD 85,080). All prices excluding taxes.

Talk to us about your situation and together we'll find a solution that fits.

How long does it take?#

You can start using a prototype after a month of development, in most cases.

Depending on scope and complexity, we usually complete smaller projects in two to five months. More complex systems can take up to a year and half until they are in production.

How quickly can you start?#

We can start most projects within two weeks after you accept our offer.

What's your process?#

We talk with you (and your customers or users). Then we build something useful right away. That's it.

You are able to try out the software at all times, so you can be sure we're building the right thing right.

As a two-person team, we're way more flexible than typical Agile/Scrum dev shops. Almost zero bureaucracy, instead you get a working high quality product, fast.

Why not Scrum/Certified Agile/ISO 9001?#

Instead of checklists, we focus on delivering software that works perfectly, is intuitively easy to use, beautiful, fast, and well-constructed for the long term. Of course, we immediately incorporate your feedback. Simple old-school lowercase agile without ceremony.

What do we need to provide you with?#

Nothing special. We'll go out and get what we need. You just give us whatever you've got prepared. If that isn't more than an idea - Great! We work with a network of freelancers who deliver parts such as UI concepts, graphics, texts, security, legal and more.

What additional tasks do I need to plan during development?#

After our initial talks, about one hour per week is enough to check out the current state of the product and to try it out.

What happens after the project is completed?#

Some say a modern software project is never done. We disagree and strive to deliver a solution to your business problem that is stable, simple, self-contained, and keeps delivering value over the long term with minimal maintenance. When circumstances change, simple self-contained software is generally easier to adapt than what is typically considered "modern" software: a brittle tangle of microservices and dependencies.

What tech stacks do you work with?#

We develop primarily in ClojureScript and Clojure on top of Open Web Standards and proven technology:

Why Clojure instead of Java/JavaScript/TypeScript/C#?#

Clojure is a modern language that runs on top of Java/JavaScript/TypeScript/C#. Clojure benefits from the entire ecosystems around Java and JS. Any Java or JavaScript/TypeScript library can be used in Clojure. The Clojure community is passionate, growing, and produces excellent libraries tailored for data processing and web development.

Clojure lets us work inside of running systems, which really speeds up development and debugging. We can iterate quickly and see immediate results. Clojure’s emphasis on simplicity, stability, and its powerful abstractions can help us build more reliable systems with less code. For example, its immutable data structures eliminate a whole class of bugs related to state changes.

Clojure leads to reduced complexity and lower maintenance costs in the long run.

What platforms can you develop for?#

All common platforms:

What databases do you support?#

We rely on modern relational databases:

In the past, we worked with MongoDB, MySQL, MariaDB, and Microsoft SQL Server.

Additionally, we successfully migrated critical business data from legacy database systems such as Db2, Paradox, Microsoft Access, and even reverse-engineered custom binary data storage formats.

Now, what questions do you have?#

We keep your data private.

You can reach us via email: office@fxp.at