Software engineering firm NIX-United is always on the lookout for nonprofit organizations and charity efforts it can apply its services to for free.
So when a client pitched the idea of a website where the St. Petersburg community members can offer and request assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic, the team started on it right away.
Within a week, NIX’s team designed, built and launched StPeteTogether.com.
After going live in April, StPeteTogether.com has gathered a list of organizations, from the St. Petersburg Free Clinic to Feeding Tampa Bay, requesting help of all kinds during the pandemic, such as food donations and masks. Also on the website are volunteers offering free assistance for those needing grocery delivery, financial consulting, dog walking and more. The idea came from Eve Epstein and Robyn Rusignuolo, co-founders of SoleVenture, a back-office platform for self-employed professionals. Thanks to the website, they coordinated a donation of two carloads of food to the St. Petersburg Free Clinic - Baldwin Women's Residence on Giving Tuesday, Epstein said.
“We have a tech startup so I already knew them as good people and talented engineers,” Epstein said of NIX.
NIX designed the website to be applicable for other communities so that it can be a free resource for assisting people not only in Tampa Bay but around the country.
“If you’re a leader in your community and you can make use of this volunteer board, we’re more than happy to deploy it and show you how to make use of it,” said Kevin Woodford, director of strategy and business development for NIX-United.
Ukraine-based NIX Solutions was founded in 1994 and now has about 2,000 developers on staff around the world. In 2018 it established U.S. operations under the subsidiary NIX-United and in 2019 unveiled its U.S. Headquarters on Central Avenue in downtown St. Petersburg. With a fully-remote workforce, NIX-United employs about 10 developers, project managers and executives, Woodford explained.
Among the firm’s largest clients are IBM, Lenovo Group and Thomson Reuters. It also serves small businesses like local restaurant chains looking to launch their own apps, as well as entrepreneurs like Sharmi Albrechtsen, founder and CEO of SmartGurlz, a robot and app designed to get young girls interested in coding and STEM learning.
Hourly development rates are typically between $30 and $40 per hour, Woodford said, but the firm’s capabilities are not restricted to coding and website development.
“If it’s plugged into electricity, we can program it,” he said. The company places a strong focus on the discovery process and works with the client to properly gauge their needs and flush out what is needed to make it happen.
“We make sure you don’t end up with a product … that’s not maintainable, that’s not accessible or that you can’t hand off to anyone,” he said. They work to understand, “how does this make you money, how does this add value to your business? Do you want to recreate Facebook from scratch or do a simple integration?”
