Introducing the product enthusiasts at Ankora Software

Berlin, Germany - we are thrilled and excited to welcome Ankora Software to the Pangea community of elite vendors. As the newest member of the pack, they will enrich the community with a team of talented and product-driven individuals. From what we hear, they are true product geeks who rarely allow any malicious product idea to get past them - to discover more, continue to read!

Crafting loveable products

Ankora Software Inc. is a growing software development company with headquarters in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. 42 people strong, the company is led by Nermin Hadzic. He makes it a point to stress a product-first approach to craft and deliver delightful experiences that users love and value. The team’s measurement for success is the number of lives impacted by the technology and products they build. Therefore, they take end-to-end ownership for any product they rub shoulders with. Treating it as their own.

This attitude is rare. But, it may explain the 9.0/10.0 client rating across 8 segments as one can see here. Paired with raving review and testimonials, it is safe to say Ankora stays true to their beliefs:

“I've worked with the Ankora team across 3 products of my own and worked with them on another 5 with other companies. They are reliable, great communicators and really take ownership of the products they build. I would recommend them to anyone”

- CEO @ Seed to Series A Startup in HealthTech

“The Ankora team is very flexible to work with. We had vague requirements and Ankora gave us suggestions for a solution that we approved. Ankora kept to its budget and delivered more than was required by the agreement. My experiences are all positive.”

- Fredrik Björklund, CTO @ IoT open

The Ankora team in action, solving hard problems through a product-first approach.

A product-first vision

During the Pangea verification process, we had the opportunity to talk shop and tech with Nedim - a mediocre pool player, but an excellent CTO.

When asked what the mission and vision are in terms of technology, Nedim shared transparently. At Ankora, their main tech vision is to build and expand an autonomous team of competent developers who thinks product-first. This should translate to the developers setting the needs of the client and product as a priority. With years of cumulative experience and growth, the Ankora team has found that the product-first approach yields the best results. Both in terms of technology and client satisfaction.

From a product perspective, their main focus is stability and security. Whether it is nitty-gritty details such as styling language of the code, or major decisions such as architecture, scalability, and performance, they do not take any step lightly. The team is proud to have a culture where every task is considered a challenge to themselves. Where individuals strive to master and grow in every facet of the process. Hence, the ideal target developers for Ankora are those that think about the consequences of their solutions and those who are able to make a decision with the product and client insights in mind. In parallel, they should build stable, tested and reliable products. Solve problems, propose new features and integrate seamlessly regardless of the situation.

Nedim in his natural habitat at the Ankora office plotting on the tech strategy.

JS stack for the win

Due to the preference for a product-first approach, Ankora navigated towards the JavaScript (JS) stack. They have a strong focus internally on mastering the JS stack and its ecosystem. In parallel to supporting their product-first approach, the JS/TS ecosystem covers all the bases of modern software development, from front-end, back-end, and mobile app development. Additionally, JS is easy to introduce to new developers, and the ecosystem’s ability to be written on an enterprise level is both driving factors for the stack decision.

With the above in mind, the most used stack at Ankora is no surprise and includes TypeScript, React.js, Angular.js, React Native, Node.js, MySQL, MongoDB, Google Firebase, AWS Lambda, and SASS.

As one last point, Nedim emphasized that Ankora encourages their developers to propose new tech since it promotes more growth and better understanding internally. While staying flexible to the client's requirements, when stack is concerned. In the end, what is important for the team when evaluating the impact of new technology is increased developer satisfaction and the ability to better recruit engineers locally.

80% of new hires are referrals (!)

With a clear tech vision and strategy, the leaders of the organization have facilitated for the team to enjoy:

• A team-based organizational structure
• A fact-based decision-making culture
• An environment where the team is empowered to solve their own problems
• A policy where the equivalent of 5%-10% of annual salary is spent on continuous education and learning
• A culture where team bonding activities take place weekly in the form of either sports games, outdoor activities, or social events

With all this in mind, it is still remarkable (!) that 80% of new hires hail from internal employee sources and that the 1-st year retention rate is 100%. This notion was further cemented by the fact that the team rated their advocacy to Ankora as 9.2/10.0. This sentiment was captured during the Pangea verification that derived the team health score here.

There is no doubt that the team at Ankora is a positive, passionate and talented bunch. This is best reflected in the Pangea employee spotlights where you can get to know them at closer proximity:

• Meet Kerim, a top engineer who happens to be an ex-national athlete in speed skating
• Meet Namik, front-end engineer with jokes for days
• Meet Emina, the great mess and the queen B of the Ankora team
• Meet Edis, another front-end dev whose motto is live and let live

It is encouraged to kick back and keep cool between the builds.

Team Ankora, we have high hopes!

If you liked what you heard so far, you should check out the engagement details of the company. Here you can discover project insights, services, and the engagement types offered. This will support you to determine if Ankora software should be part of the shortlist for your next project.

In summary, Ankora is a stable engineering partner for any new product development and in-house process automation. On a 3-5 year horizon, Ankora Software aims to be a no-brainer option for clients when they think of a qualified and holistic engineering workforce to hire. From what we have verified, the foundation is there for the team to achieve just that.

We at Pangea have our fingers crossed that we will witness the rise of Ankora Software in the coming years. Hopefully, we can play a small part in their impending success. And having seen the steady growth trajectory of other community members from Sarajevo such as Ministry of Programming and Maestral Solutions, we have high hopes for Ankora Software to follow suit - no-pressure team 😅

That said, welcome to the Pangea community to the Ankora Software team!