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Uptech

Tech (Product)
Kyiv
Verified
Creating apps for bold ideas

Uptech is a Ukrainian product studio that provides mobile and web development, UX/UI design, and product research services to startups from the USA and Europe. In addition, Uptech creates its own products. The most popular products are Rozmova, Sommo, and Plai.

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Вакансії в Uptech
6+years on the market
90+employees
150+implemented projects
7own products

Awards

Uptech creates high-tech solutions for startups from the USA and Europe. For the last six years, the company has helped more than 150 clients develop mobile and web applications that directly meet the needs of users. The company's specialists go through the entire product life cycle with the client: from idea validation and CA analysis to code writing and launch.

Uptech most often works with such business fields as fintech, healthcare, real estate, and social media. The company fundamentally refuses to cooperate with organizations that speculate on human weaknesses, violate the law, and create products that cause a threat to human health or life.

Uptech employees have worked on such projects: Dollar Shave Club, Nomad, Eatable, Aspiration, and Goat. In addition, the company has an R&D team that develops its own products. One of them recently entered the list of Ukrainian startups that received funding from Google for Startups Ukraine Support Fund. It's Plai — a product that helps HR professionals encourage team development and cultivate a high-achieving culture.

The founders of Uptech create a synergy of poise and drive

Company founders Dmytro Kovalenko and Andrii Bas studied at Kyiv Polytechnic Institute together. They were inspired by the success of Grammarly and books on product development and dreamed of launching startups that would change the world. Thus, in 2016, they decided to plunge into the world of Ukrainian IT and started working in large IT companies.

At the beginning of our careers, Andrii and I were extremely motivated to create products and implement new ideas. Unfortunately, we did not find the necessary support and freedom in the companies we worked in. So, we decided to create our own environment — more humane and free. Not just a company, but a community of professionals.

That is how Uptech appeared — a product studio whose main values ​​are humanity and mutual respect. The first employees of the company were our friends and fellow students from KPI. We were 100% sure of their abilities and skills. Since then, the team has grown significantly, but the values ​​and standards for the selection of new employees remain the same.

Dmytro Kovalenko,
CEO and Co-founder

Nowadays, Uptech is a company where each team member is responsible for their schedule, tasks, and results. All processes are as efficient and transparent as possible. Lots of different people work here, but everyone has the same goal — to create products that make the world a better place.

Dmytro and Andrii turned out to be ideal companions because they perfectly complement each other. Dmytro is an avid book lover, and adept of analytics, careful calculations, and balanced decisions. Whereas Andrii is a born leader with the drive of a startuper. He constantly has a lot of ideas and motivates everyone around him. Nowadays, Dmytro is the CEO of Uptech, and Andrii is the head of the R&D team. Before starting their own business, they both gained diverse experience in IT and tried themselves in different roles. Thus, they understand all stages of creating digital products and startups.

Dmytro Kovalenko,
CEO and Co-founder
We want to be reliable partners and help our customers develop products of high quality. We also want to create our own venture community, which will promote the emergence of new startups.

Uptech’s values

Freedom and responsibility.

Uptech is a place of mutual respect and trust. The company’s employees can take responsibility for themselves and their actions. Therefore, employees are given the freedom in organizing working time and place. In return, the company expects a responsible attitude to work.

Teamwork.

Uptech employees are not afraid to ask for help and value feedback. People learn from each other and support colleagues in their development. The company celebrates big and small victories and recognizes everyone's contribution to common achievements.

Constant development.

Uptech cultivates an incessant thirst for knowledge and development. The company's employees strive to meet high standards, set ambitious goals, and never stop at what they have achieved.

Transparency.

The relationships in the team and with clients are built on trust and honesty.

Entrepreneurial thinking.

The Uptech specialists do not only write quality code but also care about customer’s product values and user needs.

Quality result.

The Uptech team is not satisfied with mediocre achievements. Everyone gives their best so that the client gets the best possible results.

An office that houses all the planets of the Solar System

The company's office is located on Zhylianska Street in Kyiv. It is easily accessible from three metro stations: Universytet, Vokzalna, and Olimpiiska. Kyiv Polytechnic Institute is also located nearby. Lots of graduates of this university have been working in Uptech since their student years. When the company was creating the office design, employees were asked what they saw as the ideal workspace and tried to take into account everyone's wishes.

The office has a lot of free space. The light permeates inside through huge windows. Everyone will be surrounded by a lot of plants. There are several open spaces, separated by glass partitions on which you can write with markers and hang stickers during brainstorming. The employees of Uptech work at large communal tables. However, everyone can fix their own workplace. To do it, they leave a sticker where they mark whether they allow someone to work at their desk.

An office Uptech

To discuss new ideas, Uptech employees go to one of the “planets of the solar system”. The office meeting rooms are named after the names of planets. They are located in the same order as the real planets. 

Yellow and black kitchen is the brightest place of the Uptech office. There is all the necessary equipment, coffee, milk, a huge collection of teas (the CEO of the company Dmytro is a real tea fan), and various goodies. Each employee has a named cup. All of the cups are placed on a special shelf in alphabetical order. No matter where you left your cup yesterday, you will find it in the right place on the shelf tomorrow. In the kitchen, there are containers for sorting garbage with instructions on how to do it properly.

Every detail of the office contributes to productivity and at the same time ensures the comfort of employees: orthopedic chairs, neck pillows, shoe dryer, slippers, blankets, library, board games, Swedish wall, tennis table, and even a hammock. If the office does not have something you need, you can always ask for it.

Uptech office

Colleagues like to spend time together in different locations of the office. The employees have cocktail parties in the kitchen on Fridays. They usually play table tennis after finishing their workday.

Instead of restrictions and control — freedom and work-life balance

The employees usually joke that they had the hybrid work format even before it became mainstream, that is, before the COVID-19 pandemic and a full-scale war. In Uptech, you can work offline and online without any restrictions. The schedule is flexible. Everyone determines their workload for the day and is responsible for the timely performance of their duties. Asynchronous communication is not a problem. If colleagues live in different time zones, they agree to meet at a time that is convenient for everyone.

In addition, the company encourages employees to maintain a work-life balance and creates all conditions for quality rest. Each Uptech employee is entitled to 20 days of holiday, as well as 12 public holidays per year, which can be taken at any time. The employees can work on holidays, and then take a longer vacation or divide it into several parts. Everyone chooses a convenient format for themselves. It is also possible to take up to 10 days of sick leave without a medical certificate. If you feel that you need a longer rest, you can go on a sabbatical for up to six months.

Uptech team members love to communicate with each other: sharing both professional and personal successes, analyzing failures, brainstorming ideas, planning workflows, etc. Therefore, the company has a clear system of meetings.

  • Agile scrum meetings while working on projects.
  • Quarterly all-team strategic and tactical meetings.
  • Quarterly demo meetings on projects.
  • Monthly all-hands meetings where company news and team achievements are discussed, and QA sessions are held.
  • OKR meetings for setting goals and planning tasks.
  • One-on-one meetings with the manager to discuss the personal development plan.
  • Meetings in technical teams to share experience and knowledge.
  • Group brainstorms where each department can ask colleagues from other departments to help with working out ideas.
  • Informal meetings where employees share life stories that have taught them something.
  • Meetings with invited speakers on current issues or problems — for example, methods of preventing COVID-19, media hygiene during wartime, Ukrainian culture and art, etc.

High activity and assistance to colleagues are converted into Upcoins

Uptech has its currency — Upcoins. Everyone can reward a colleague with Upcoins for fruitful work on a project or personal help. Employees can use Upcoins to purchase corporate merchandise, a gift, or donate them to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Nowadays, most people donate their Upcoins and birthday bonuses to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Just as developers before creating a digital product evaluate the target audience, so the Uptech HR-team evaluates the needs of the company's employees and only then creates a list of benefits. The company has two types of bonuses: educational and personal. Educational ones can be used for courses, workshops, books for professional development, and personal ones — for medical services, sports, or hobbies. The company also provides employees with the necessary equipment and takes over all repair costs.

The employee is given $100 for his/her birthday, as well as congratulations on professional holidays and important personal events (weddings, the birth of a child, etc.). The anniversary of work in the company is called Upversary. The company presents a sweet gift and collectible stickers to all employees.

 

I love that we have two types of bonuses in Uptech. I usually use my personal bonus for an annual gym membership, and educational one — for various conferences. If there is some money left, I usually buy professional literature.

In addition, the company gives merch on various holidays or for certain professional achievements. It's always nice. A hackathon has been recently held where all participants received a branded T-shirt, a cup, and a pair of socks. In my opinion, the most practical gift is socks. They keep my feet warm on cold nights 🙂

Oleksii Andriushchenko,
Engineering Manager

Training is an integral part of the corporate culture

People are the most important value of the company. Therefore, they support professional growth of workers in every possible way. Each employee has a personal development plan that helps to conduct an inventory of abilities and skills, understand their aspirations and needs, and form career goals for the next few years.

Each specialist gets UAH 4,000 per year for training. This money can be spent on any courses and training. In case of exceeding the limit, the employees will receive 50% compensation of the cost of education if it is really useful for work. In general, the company adheres to the adult learning approach. It means that the company does not impose training but expects a corresponding request from employees. After all, there is a result only when there is a desire. For example, if an employee wants to learn English at a standard pace, he/she is covered by 50% of the cost of lessons. If a person is ready to invest more effort and chooses intensive training from eight hours a week, the company pays for the course in full.

The focus in any training is always on practice. Special attention is paid to the development of soft skills, in particular, the company has an internal leadership program. It includes training sessions for exploring your inner world, developing emotional intelligence, and mastering the techniques of interaction with other people, as well as coaching sessions.

One of the principles of the Uptech team is to lead by example. It means that specialists learn not only in courses or training but also from the experience of their colleagues. Each department organizes Knowledge Sharing meetings every two weeks. Everyone can request a topic and be advised of resources that will help them understand it. There are always a lot of people willing to share knowledge in this format, so the schedule of performances is usually drawn up several months in advance.

Here you can grow from a junior specialist to a startup CTO

Uptech offers a lot of directions for professional development. If you aspire to career growth and know exactly where you want to go, you will always be supported.

6 years ago I became the company's first iOS engineer. I was fortunate to be involved in building the iOS department and watching Uptech grow from scratch. During this time, I changed several roles: iOS Engineer, iOS Department Lead, Engineering Lead, and Back End Engineer. I am currently working as a Tech Lead on one of the projects.

I enjoy combining applied project work with mentoring and larger strategic company initiatives. I get the biggest thrill from helping newcomers reach their potential.

By trying different roles while working in Uptech, I gained a better understanding of my preferences and aspirations. My goal is to achieve the role of Chief Technical Officer (CTO) in a new company product that we are building in the R&D department.

Artur Myronenko,
Tech Lead

Uptech team loves spending time together

The People & Culture team always monitors the mood among employees and tries to adjust activities to their request.

The most favorite activities in Uptech are gatherings with a guitar by the fire in the forest and joint trips abroad. Last year, during the break between the two waves of the pandemic, the whole team went to Montenegro to celebrate the company's achievements of the last year.

Another common passion of Uptech people is sports. The company has its futsal team. The boys trained regularly and took part in the amateur championship. The company helped pay for the field rent, and colleagues came to the games to support football players. Nowadays, football is on hiatus. However, some employees play volleyball together every week and occasionally gather in the office to watch sports matches.

Each team has a separate budget for team building and decides how to spend the money. Previously, the employees chose various activities such as sports quests or creative master classes. Nowadays, the focus has shifted to acquiring useful skills, such as providing first aid or psychological support.

The last Uptech team event took place during a full-scale war in the format of a hackathon called Code for Ukraine. The company understood that people missed each other and wanted to spend time together not just to relax but to get together for a useful purpose. Therefore, they decided to brainstorm ideas for startups and create solutions that will help bring the victory of Ukraine closer or contribute to the reconstruction of the country after the war.

Six teams took part in the hackathon. Each of them created a demo version of a full-fledged application or website in one and a half days. Some employees were aimed at simplifying the process of transferring funds to charitable organizations. Others were aimed at cyberattacks on Russian websites, helping veterans, or increasing Ukrainian awareness of national history and culture.

The winners received $500 from the company for project implementation and personal expenses. The second- and third-place teams received $300 and $200, respectively. The management also promised to help participants who want to implement their ideas to apply for various grants to receive funding.

 

It was my first experience participating in a hackathon and I won!:) My team and I created an app concept to support the mental and physical health of military veterans. The key factor in choosing an idea was the desire to solve some real problems of Ukrainians. In the end, veterans were chosen as the target audience. What they do for the whole country is priceless, and the development of such an application is a way to thank them. We believe that everyone's sincere contribution brings our country closer to victory. Therefore, we continue to do what we do best.

Iryna Shtohrin,
UX/UI designer

The selection and adaptation of newcomers in Uptech

To get into the team, the candidate must first of all be proactive and ethical, have a product mindset, high standards, respect for colleagues, and a desire for continuous self-development.

The selection process consists of four stages.

  • CV screening.
  •   An intro meeting with a recruiter where general issues are discussed.
  • There may be another conversation with a recruiter or tech lead (depending on the position).
  • A technical interview with 3-4 team representatives which can last from 2.5 to 4 hours.

After the start of a full-scale war, the company introduced a fast-track selection option. If the candidate desires, he/she can go through all interviews in one day. This shortens the selection process to one week.

All newcomers undergo a three-month trial period (onboarding). On the first day, a new employee, together with a mentor from his/her department and a colleague from the People & Culture Department, talks about mutual expectations and receives a kanban board. The board contains tasks that do not allow a person to get lost and which he/she must complete during the trial period. Newcomers are also given a welcome pack with a branded T-shirt, notebook, pen, eco-cup, and candies. After passing the trial period, the employee gets a sweatshirt and socks.

During the first week, the employee gets to know colleagues from different departments and attends a coffee & vision meeting, where the CEO talks about the history and plans of the company and shares his vision of the new person's role in the team. Separate meetings are also organized, dedicated to interaction in chats, rules of communication in a team, and even corporate memeology, so that a newcomer immediately feels like at home and understands specific jokes:)

 

Three months of my trial period passed quickly. It felt like I had been working in Uptech all my life! I liked it from the first day in the company. I participated in all design activities and felt like a part of the team.

During this time, I learned a lot, met a cool team, and fell in love with my profession. I was very lucky with a mentor who helped me throughout the month, gave me interesting tasks, and materials for studying, and also shared her life hacks.

Tetiana Veretennykova,
UX/UI designer

Uptech employees volunteer and support charitable initiatives

The company's employees always respond to urgent requests and participate in various volunteer activities. They care about the environment, so they participate in planting trees and cleaning the territories. They stopped using balloons during celebrations. The employees also started sorting office waste and made merchandise as environmentally friendly as possible. Before the full-scale invasion, they provided financial support to the Pliushka shelter for homeless animals.

During the pandemic, some amount of money was given to hospitals, in particular, Mykolaiv Hospital. They chose this institution because the company employs a lot of people from Mykolaiv who wanted to support their hometown.

With the outbreak of full-scale war, Uptech directed all its efforts to support the army, the Ukrainians affected by the war, and of course, its employees and their families.

Uptech is about humanity, trust, and support for me. During the evacuation from Kyiv, company founders Dima and Andrii coordinated the work of the team, directly participating in navigating people and helping them find accommodation. We have established a monthly payment for colleagues who serve in the Armed Forces. We regularly provide our army with additional equipment. We support the relatives of our colleagues who joined the ranks of the Armed Forces with donations.

During the eight months of the full-scale war, we transferred more than UAH 10,000,000 to the charitable funds Come Back Alive, KOLO, and Serhiy Prytula Foundation. The company also supports the initiatives of employees who volunteer and buy cars, walkie-talkies, heaters, and other necessary things for soldiers.

Daria Voiedilova-Lisovyk,
People & Culture Lead

Nowadays, the whole team looks forward to the monthly meetings for a single slide called the best news. This is a slide showing the amount that Uptech donated to the Armed Forces during the month. Everyone feels their contribution to this donation and sees in it the motivation to continue working, no matter what.

Oleksandr Kulyk,
iOS Department Lead
In times of darkness, the hearts of bright people are better seen. Since the start of the full-scale war, I have witnessed a lot of acts of kindness and support from my colleagues. I am incredibly proud of what Uptech and our people are doing now.

Do you want to join the community of real professionals?

 Choose a vacancy in Uptech and send your CV!

 

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