Sloboda Studio

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a catering concierge service. We help corporate customers organize and execute catering from different great local restaurants by providing them with estimates, menu options, and then ultimately finding the right menu for whatever needs they have all the way through to the delivery of the food to their event.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sloboda Studio?

I needed to find a company to take on a development role and work with what our previous vendor had started.  We needed a web platform developed that allowed us to not only operationally improve our processes and automation, but also to give our customers a unique experience that allows them a better way of ordering catering.

The challenge for us was that because we had already had been operating for seven years and had already used the third-party applications, our customers were already used to a certain process and experience. It wasn’t like we could start small with an MVP and build from there. We had to at least provide the customers with the same experience that they’ve been having or better.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed our web platform on Ruby on Rails. They also handled some of the frontend work and the UX/UI of the platform.

What is the team composition?

At first, I worked with Alex (Head of Growth, Sloboda Studio) and Olga (Cofounder, Sloboda Studio) who evaluated our existing platform. We went over the items that we needed to get developed or fix or modify in order for us to launch. Then they assigned it to a project manager, a frontend developer, a backend developer, and someone who does a little of both.

How did you come to work with Sloboda Studio?

We evaluated Ruby on Rails developer based on their Clutch reviews. I was concerned about the communication differences of doing something overseas. When I reached out to Sloboda Studio, they were willing to chat with me on the weekend. It’s such a little thing, but just for that alone, I fell in love with them because I don’t have time during the week. We had a good conversation with Alex. Their team analyzed our existing software and gave us good advice in how to move forward. They recognized there were some faults, but they didn’t badmouth our previous developer. They weren’t so much focused on solving the problem, but building a relationship with me, which is what I wanted. I wanted someone I could partner with.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2018 and the work is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Sloboda Studio did in four or five months what took our previous vendor over a year. Not only did they do it, but they did it very effectively, efficiently, and with great skill. There’s a lot of transparency in the way that we developed. They’re creating efficiency on operations and they’ve substantially improved the UX. They’re saving me time and money on operations. What used to take somebody an hour to do is done in five minutes. That high-level person can now turn their focus toward other business areas.

How did Sloboda Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is great. The projects have been group projects. One project will consist of four or five different tasks that need to be developed. Once that’s completed, we create a new project that also contains four or five different tasks. We may have switched some of the developers, but the project manager has been consistent for everything. Olga has been a part of that as well. There’s always been someone consistently overseeing what it is we’re doing.

Every person that has come in to work on our platform has picked up from where the other person left off without any issues. I haven’t had to retrain anyone. It’s a completely seamless process. They’re always available to help.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of the things that was really admirable is their humility. They didn’t criticize our previous vendor. They just said they would help us out. There was no ego. They just wanted to deliver for us. They weren’t interested in just fixing our platform but wanted to build a partnership with us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We didn’t get into wireframes because of the cost associated with it. They were trying to help me with my budget and we skipped that. Not that it caused a problem, but it certainly created extra work that didn’t need to be done. Having a better picture of what you’re doing and what the end result will be is something they can improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You need to interview as many as possible so they can gauge the difference. This is one of the areas where Sloboda Studio really stood out. You need to articulate what you’re looking to do as best as possible. Be familiar with what you have. You need to know why certain languages are better for other things. You need to have a basic foundation.

What might be easy for the client, in reality, is not easy for development. Simply changing a color or a font could take hours of development. You need to understand some of those things before you start talking to developers.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a managing partner at a Middle Eastern employment services provider. We offer recruiting services to finance and banking firms.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sloboda Studio?

We were looking to build a platform that would help our users find suitable candidates. We also wanted to upgrade our system through automating our database.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built a product that processes our data and gives users access to candidate profiles and data analysis. They’re currently building a website to house the platform, and they’re adding security measures to protect our data.

What is the team composition?

I work with a team of seven people, which includes their COO, an account manager, and several developers.

How did you come to work with Sloboda Studio?

I conducted initial research on Clutch and shortlisted about six or seven companies. I held phone meetings with each of these firms, and most of them were unable to grasp my requirements. I eventually spoke with Yaroslav (COO, Sloboda Studio), and he understood our project immediately. I chose them because they knew exactly what we wanted, and they could identify the technologies they would use to meet our needs.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent approximately $20,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in January 2019, and the work is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The product has performed spectacularly in testing, and we’re very much looking forward to launching it in the near future.

How did Sloboda Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate primarily via WhatsApp and email. They’ve also sent us YouTube video presentations with relevant information. Their project manager is in touch with me every day, and their team is very responsive.

They’ve also been very transparent in terms of their time management. Every month, they send a detailed report of hours spent on each task. They set clear deadlines and always deliver on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve remained under budget, and they’ve stuck to the outline they initially gave us. They fully understand our requirements, and when I ask them for suggestions, they give concise and meaningful answers. I’ve also very much appreciated the YouTube videos they produced.

Are there any areas they could improve?

This is minor, but they could improve their web design capabilities. This would help with marketing the product. Other than that, there isn’t much that I can provide in terms of constructive criticism. They’ve been excellent.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear about what you want, and they will be honest with you about their abilities. Also, I’m not sure that they’ll be able to develop an app without a preexisting database, so keep that in mind.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO and co-founder of Expert Access, a marketplace where people can book time to speak with experts in the sports and entertainment industry. We’re currently building our MVP and are looking to launch early next year.

For what projects/services did your company hire Sloboda Studio?

They were hired to assist us in building the frontend, backend, and admin panel for our MVP.

What were your goals for this project?

Our objective was to have our MVP help us gain customer insights and have something to demo as we raise funds.

How did you select this vendor?

We researched different teams overseas on multiple marketplaces. Sloboda Studio’s experience was enough to draw us in for an initial conversation, after which we knew that they were the right team for the project. Since I come from an agency background, I knew that their project managers were listening and offering valuable insight into our conversations.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

Sloboda Studio helped us assess the technology to build our platform on, proposing the most advanced and cost-effective languages. We anticipate working with them on all of our future phases.

What was the team composition?

They assigned two project managers and two developers to our project. Our internal team handled all of the UI/UX and worked with their team to get our vision onto the screen.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We've managed to get our admin, frontend, and backend up and running. We’re still working towards getting our entire MVP complete, but Sloboda Studio’s work so far has been very helpful for showing our investors that we already have a team in place that knows how to execute.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was great. One of the project managers seemed to be more experienced and helped the lower level manager when needed. They did an excellent job of managing our expectations and driving the project forward by asking questions and not just taking direction. This was very helpful because they had very good insight and valid points regarding the used technologies and how certain features work.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

It’s critical to have technical insight as well as great communication, which they do. Furthermore, their skilled developers were willing to work with us at any capacity.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

They should work on verifying the functionality of a feature before building it. We only had one small issue where we missed the exact functionality that we needed to create.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the co-founders of a content creation company. We’re developing a tool to make it easier for content creators in the media and entertainment industries to collaborate.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sloboda Studio?

We approached Sloboda Studio to develop a basic MVP of our web-based app to show to investors. It needed to be a semi-functional prototype that demonstrated what we were trying to do.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided Sloboda Studio with UI/UX mockups as well as an initial prototype to start. Their team implemented the UI design into the prototype using React. Afterward, they developed the backend functionality as needed using Ruby on Rails.

What is the team composition?

The team consisted of a frontend developer, a backend developer, and a product manager.

How did you come to work with Sloboda Studio?

We found them on Upwork and interviewed them. Because our other co-founder had a lot of technical experience, he interviewed the developers to gauge their Rails expertise and knowledge.

What is the status of this engagement?

Their work lasted from February–June 2018.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Sloboda Studio’s efforts allowed us to move the product forward, getting to a point where our internal team could proceed with future product development. We were also able to clear up some of our initial design decisions once we started building the prototype. Their team supported us throughout, helping us bring an actual MVP to some of our customers.

How did Sloboda Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

Their product manager was responsible for coordinating efforts on the development side and updating us on the project status. The team had excellent English skills, so we had no problems communicating back and forth. They kept extensive notes and Excel spreadsheets to keep track of hours, telling us clearly how much time they spent on certain tasks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their development team and leadership were remarkable. The frontend developers knew what they were doing, and the management was also strong. I even had the chance to meet their founder, who is excellent; he's driving the company forward.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would’ve been beneficial to have a more consistent team. This is partly due to our own budget limitations, but when a developer completes their task, the management can replace them with a different developer to keep everyone staffed. However, it’s challenging to work on a project with a rotating team. Having a dedicated developer stay on throughout the project would've been more conducive.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communication is key. During the development phase, document everything and communicate your point multiple times. It’s better to over-communicate than under-communicate.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a software developer at IOTA, a non-profit foundation developing an open source, permissionless distributed ledger technology for the IoT economy. We seek to enable innovation across multiple industries and regions.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to create new UI/UX designs for multiple pages, with assets and mock-ups provided in an accessible fashion.

How did you select this vendor?

I had worked with Sloboda Studio in the past and was always satisfied with the quality and speed of their work. Their communication was always good.

Describe the project in detail.

We hired them to build a new multi-page website for our data marketplace project. They created lots of graphics, interactive elements, and a responsive design that looked great on any device. It took one short video call to explain the requirements, after which the designer immediately began working on mock-ups. They opened the deliverables for feedback and implemented change requests on time.

What was the team composition?

We had one UX/UI designer and two managers from Sloboda Studio, who worked with one of our frontend developers.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Their UI/UX experts did a great job. They provided the deliverables we agreed upon and completed the project within our timeframe and budget.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was effective and comfortable. They clarified open questions rapidly and respectfully. 

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I especially liked communicating in my native language. This was a collaborative, positive experience. I will engage with Sloboda Studio again for our future website needs.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We were satisfied with them every step of the way.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CTO of an international business consultancy. I lead the development, technical project, and product teams. We provide strategic data-driven consulting services.

For what projects/services did your company hire Sloboda Studio?

We needed to scale up our team to accelerate and improve development for our core product.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a high-quality product with regular and mapped updates, implemented and managed using the Agile development processes.

How did you select this vendor?

We chose to work with Sloboda Studio based on the cost, efficiency, and quality that they offered.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

Sloboda Studio’s developers not only provide basic coding services but also participate in code reviews and offer feedback. We collaborate to define the best strategies for our product’s technical architecture, implementation plans, and development processes. The team’s suggestions are extremely valuable, making them a cornerstone of our product development. One core service they support us with is implementation support with a mobile interface for our dashboard.

What was the team composition?

There are usually between 15–20 developers working on the product at any time. About 50% work on the frontend, and the other half focus on the backend. While Sloboda Studio restructures the teams occasionally to accommodate our needs, the total number of resources stays relatively constant.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The finished product is currently a major selling point for our company. As a central element in the grand scheme of our services, it has swayed many clients in our direction and boosted sales. Additionally, it is regularly used both internally and externally.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Sloboda Studio joined our internal management process. At the direction of our product owner, scrum master, and QA team, the team communicates consistently and uses tools like GitHub, Slack, Jira, Confluence, and Trello to stay up to date with the project. We’ve never encountered a language barrier; all interactions and documents are done in English. They’re interested in our feedback and proactively find ways to improve.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Sloboda Studio offers high-quality developers that quickly familiarize themselves with our technology stack. They communicate openly and frequently which makes our interactions smooth and pleasant.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

I honestly can't think of anything at the moment. They are open for feedback and react well to it. Whenever I had questions or comments, they considered them quickly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a business consultancy. We provide marketing and intelligent solutions in the field of data analytics and data services, dashboard providing, data modeling, etc.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sloboda Studio?

We work mainly with data scientists, as well as a lot of consultants, but we don’t have a big IT department to help keep everything organized.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’re helping a client with a large batch of media data and were tasked with automating the process. We needed someone who is very good with Python that was able to work to translate Excel Sheets where data has been collected into structured formatting via Python, a couple of libraries, and integrating into Microsoft Azure. We were looking to shift a super manual process into a cloud service.

In the beginning, the scope was more an advisory base. Now they are slightly into the tech consultancy side.

What is the team composition?

Their team was comprised of one project manager and two developers.

How did you come to work with Sloboda Studio?

They were recommended. We were partnering with them in the beginning and for us, it’s a huge process of onboarded new external people. They were already in the system and that’s the reason I reached out to them initially.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost was around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2019 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They’ve shown us this kind of solution is applicable to a lot of other companies we are working with. It was the first time we had ever done this, but it’s been a very scalable approach. They have shown my team how to very efficiently work with remote staff. It’s been a challenge for us in the past but with a good project manager, everything was very transparent and had a positive impact on our internal staff.

How did Sloboda Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is very on point. It’s reliable and transparent, and we have a daily hour tracking that allows me to check what’s happening at any time. I have frequent check-ins with the project manager to see where we are. They have proven the ability to scale up quickly when we need something in the course of 1-2 days. Everything is super clear.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have the capability of combining a couple of tools and methodologies together. It’s not just pure Python developers but it’s more bringing really intelligent comments and thoughts onto the table. It’s not a matter of telling them what to do and they do it. They ask questions to make sure it makes sense. It’s a critical way of working. They do it in a very respectful and proactive way. I’m super happy with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

In the beginning, they weren’t as proactive. It has only been developed over the course of time.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend working with the people I worked with. It’s super important to take time to talk to the team. Move them out of the sheer development process but include them in the status updates. This will open new points of view for the overall manager.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was the CEO of SoftSource. It is a community working to unite c-level, sales, and project management representatives from Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus in the IT sector. The online platform focuses on facilitating the communication process and establishing lasting business relationships.

For what projects/services did your company hire Sloboda Studio?

We needed a partner to completely build our website.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to create a convenient online platform that allowed users to share their experience and grow a network of business contacts.

How did you select this vendor?

We researched a few companies that specialized in the type of web development we needed. Through my network, I found some reviews of Sloboda’s work. We contacted them and decided to engage.

Describe the project in detail.

After designing the UI/UX elements of the platform, Sloboda fully developed the website using Ruby on Rails for the backend and Bootstrap, React.js, and jQuery JavaScript libraries for the frontend. The team optimized the site for mobile devices and set up an email notification system to engage our users.

The web-based application has many functionalities. There is a catalog listing the different companies and participants in our various city club communities with information on their members, organized events, and any relevant news. Clubs have the option to remain public or be accessible only by invitation. Another feature acts a community management system that allows club moderators to accept, deny, or contact new users after receiving their application. Also, the platform serves as a marketplace where users can post leads and apply for positions in the software development industry. Additionally, there is a library that details general types of inter-company agreements and a search capability that stretches over all of the website’s content.

What was the team composition?

We mainly interacted with the project manager, who coordinated with two backend developers, a frontend developer, a designer, and a QA engineer.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our business has grown significantly since partnering with Sloboda. Our website is a main entry point into the industry for IT specialists in the region. Our main Facebook group has over 15 thousand members. The website’s club catalog contains over 500 entries and users can browse through to connect with colleagues and initiate collaborations.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Sloboda’s project manager effectively handled their team’s workflow and was always available for Skype calls. Our questions were answered immediately in scheduled meetings with their developers. The team was very helpful, responsive, and time-oriented. They became a part of our internal team, which allowed us to easily track their work. We also appreciated their proficiency in working with Ruby on Rails.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their transparent, responsive, and punctual approach to the project made them a valuable resource. Sloboda really understood our business needs and was able to intuitively develop all of the required features. The team’s honesty in giving and receiving feedback ultimately helped improve our internal processes.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They used our feedback to make improvements throughout the engagement. When there were challenges, they notified us immediately and promptly made the adjustments. So, at this point, I have no specific areas in which they could improve.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re still at the project stage—rather than already being a full-fledged company—and want to help people track their family timelines. Our platform gives the ability to create private networks for family members and close friends to upload and share pictures and stories about close and distant loved ones. The platform comes with a visual timeline, push alerts for family events and anniversaries, and capabilities for uploading and crowdsourcing family photos that otherwise may have been lost. I am a co-founder with another family member.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sloboda Studio?

We wanted to get an MVP up and running very quickly and then be able to iterate upon that very frequently during the development process. After, we wanted to get something live so that we could test it with extended family members, learn from those tests, and continue to refine the model until it is ready for testing in a larger market.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They have provided Ruby on Rails development work for creating the MVP. There is no mobile app component yet but we do plan on making it mobile enabled in the future. For now, our target audience is people who are comfortable using the platform on a desktop. We have finished phase one and are about to look at phase two, which might include exporting into something like PHP.

What is the team composition?

We have a very flexible relationship with Sloboda Studio. We have worked with a project manager, who would coordinate with a number of different tech developers, and one of the cofounders himself, who would brainstorm and discuss with us while overall boosting the entire process.

How did you come to work with Sloboda Studio?

We found them through a reference, from cityFALCON, who is a friend and contact of mine in the tech world. He highly recommended them as they helped him get his product up to speed. He showed me some of their output and explained a little bit about what they could do. My initial conversations with one of the cofounders turned into an ongoing engagement.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together about one year ago and the engagement is still ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

For an application, I think there are two sides to measure it from: first, how usable it is, and second, how well does it visually work. We came up with a basic, unfinalized design and they interpreted it into something that is highly usable. The application works and makes it easy to upload an image and description, which then create alerts. For example, if I upload photos from my grandparents’ wedding anniversary it will effectively push a picture alert notification to respective emails, which all sounds easier than done.

How did Sloboda Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been helpful, responsive, and extremely adaptive. Their ability to think through a problem is notably impressive as well. For example, they recognized that apple phones imported pictures at a 90-degree angle and were able to correct for that. I think that they have also contributed to the development of the idea itself. One of their key strengths is that they will help out on even small projects and not meticulously charge for every half-hour of services rendered.

Their pricing is both fair and flexible; despite this, they go beyond what is the basic requirement in order to get something up and running. We principally use them for development work but would also consider them for design work during phase two. Skype is our primary form of communication and email is used for sharing documents and specs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I have been most impressed with their responsiveness and positively helpful nature. Unlike the company that referred us (who has already raised funding and put together a team), we are a very early stage concept. Sloboda goes beyond what is normally necessary and has done a great job; from my relatively limited experience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only improvement I would recommend—and it’s minor—is to work on the problem of some things being lost in translation. This is often a challenge when dealing with people oversees. I think an improvement in English language capabilities would save time and avoid sometimes overly blunt conversations. However, there were no problems with the platform.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Provide very clear specs up front and understand what Sloboda Studio can and can’t do for you. For example, I am fully aware that they, at this moment, cannot do mobile apps; however, if I expect to create a mobile application, I think they would be able to find a partner who can do that. They are able to manage and hire teams to work on behalf of a single client, which is something that is potentially a very attractive thing for some potential clients.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO at Mynewsdesk. We are a B2B company that helps our customers with PR and communications by providing media monitoring, social media integration, and offering channels to contact different journalists.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sloboda Studio?

We needed more resources to extend our web application and were interested in working with an external team of developers.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They are extending our web application, which is currently a running beta with a larger launch planned for autumn. They are using Ruby on Rails and React as the main frameworks to built the backend, and then deploy the code on Heroku integrating with our frontend platform.

What is the team composition?

Sloboda’s team had a project leader—or Scrum master—and a team of front- and backend developers that integrated with our team.

How did you come to work with Sloboda Studio?

Sloboda reached out to us. We wanted to work with them because we found their company and work exciting.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in December 2017, and the work is ongoing.

How did Sloboda Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

We have great communication and collaboration between the teams. They always give detailed and helpful feedback. We use Slack for daily communication; we have sprint meetings and planning every two weeks; and before each sprint meeting, I meet with the Scrum master. Sloboda’s lead developers have integrated with our in-house developers, so we have open lines of communication with them.

Before the project started, we were concerned with how well the teams would integrate, so we spent a week letting the teams get to know each other and work together. After that, we felt secure in the fact that the project would go smoothly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have open and honest communication. If there are challenges in the project, they notify us right away, which is something I was unsure we would get with an outside team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve been open to our feedback and are already working on areas where they could improve. Any time there has been an issue they’ve made improvements or adjustments quickly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If possible, meet with the Sloboda team in-person. In general, it’s good to know the people you’re working with and their culture, and in our case, it helped the two teams integrate early in the project. Either go to their office or have them come to yours. It’s worth the cost.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of SalesFolk.

For what projects/services did your company hire Sloboda Studio?

We hired Sloboda Studio to help build a software platform, optimize internal processes, and improve our customer experience.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to automate and streamline our internal processes for higher efficiency and greater transparency.

How did you select this vendor?

They were initially recommended by a friend who has been working with them for the past six years. I spoke to several other firms, but they seemed to be the most affordable with the highest quality.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

They helped us build an app using Ruby on Rails. We had already built out most of the backend architecture, which had some existing documentation. The Sloboda team helped us finish and launch the product, while also adding additional features and functionality; This included rolling out another version of our software. Their developers used best practices for committing code using Github and various automated testing software.

What was the team composition?

In the beginning, they provided one backend developer, but later added another backend and one part-time front-end developer. We had some issues with the first front-end developer, so they replaced him with a better one as per my request.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

They were definitely successful in improving our internal processes.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The team almost always hit deadlines, used Github to track code, and were always available on Slack. I worked closely with Sloboda's developers and reviewed all code they committed before pushing it live. They were very knowledgeable about Ruby on Rails.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are organized and good developers—better than some of the ones I've seen in Silicon Valley.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

Some of their developers were definitely better than others. One of the developers was truly exceptional, while the other one wasn't quite as strong. However, they did a great job with helping me replace the weaker developer, and even gave me a two-week free trial period to test them out before hiring them.