As 2020 is almost over, it’s time to take a look at how this year went for us. Regardless of all hardships that the pandemic brought upon everyone, our team managed to keep up with all challenges and we achieved results we’re proud of. Besides building apps and websites, this year we entered new territories, new rankings and we explored the land of corporate social responsibility!
Let’s dive in to our 2020 achievement agenda!
Q1: New year, new coordinates
We started 2020 in a new office in Bucharest, a place where our team could make software, projects, and jokes together. New office, new team! Early in the year, 2 new talented developers joined us. Stefania and Andrei brought fresh energy into our team just as 2020 started.
Loaded for action, the good news kept coming! We soon got selected as Top Software Partner by the Ethical Tech Alliance UK. We were proud to get this title after developing GDPR compliant apps for their clients.
Our first big project of 2020’s first quarter was the development of Tytonical. This is the web application that aggregates information from multiple parking providers. We developed a solid architecture that stores sensitive data in a GPDR compliant database based on personal data accounts.
COVID-19 pandemic kicked off and we moved to working completely remotely.
Q2: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger
April 2020 was QwertyBit’s most challenging month ever, but we survived it! As a software company, our work is not bound to a physical space. But this is just our industry advantage. Clients, partners, and the whole world also had to get in line with the newly imposed work conditions. WFH (work from home) is for sure the achronym of the year.
To encourage everyone to join the WFH lifestyle we started the “Stay at home” campaign that reached about 20.000 people. Since our industry allowed us to rapidly switch to working from home, we tried to give a hand to anyone still struggling with the shift.
In the second quarter, we participated in the 48 hour Hack from Home Hackathon. Using the global context, we developed an app that helps people become more informed about the risks of contacting potential viruses while traveling. This was an enriching experience as it allowed us to convey our skills into a useful tool for the hard times the world is passing.
Besides training our minds for good, our company also stayed active as a provider. We stepped into the design field by building Styler. We partnered with @AnaRapiteanu to launch stayler.design, a platform where interior designers can find 3D furniture models and use them in their projects.
The design field captivated us so we stepped even further, in fashion. We launched Desyr.co.uk, a progressive web application where fashion enthusiasts can share reviews about products they purchased.
Q3: We got this, we rock this!
The COVID situation went on into our third quarter and more and more industry peers felt the urge to take action and join forces to bring help to companies in need. That’s how Patronatul IT “pi” came to life. Our CEO, Vlad, becomes one of the founding members and the vice-president of the Romanian Patronage of IT companies. The patronage’s mission is to support the coming and the growth of small and medium companies in the IT&C sector in Romania.
This summer was different than the ones we knew before, with trips abroad and parties in the evenings but we still have some reasons to celebrate. First, 2020 was QwertyBit’s 3rd birthday! So we celebrated our first years of activity with a virtual cake and team gratitude.
Second, QwertyBit was recognised as one of the top 100 B2B Software companies in Romania, by Clutch, a US leading market research company. This result really motivated us to keep on working to deliver great projects.
So we did! In the summer of 2020, we launched Rexperia in the App Store and Google Play. Rexperia is a mobile application designed to help real estate owners sell or rent their properties much easier. This year was also hard on the real estate industry. We were extremely happy we had the chance to contribute to the situation with this project.
One thing we’ve done for the first time ever was entering the world of gaming! We launched Risky Deals in App Store and Google Play. Risky Deals is an exciting 2D mobile game where players can make simulated investments in real-world stocks or currencies. This experience was truly an eye-opener and made our team curious about the gaming world. We can only say it was the beginning of a journey we certainly want to pursue!
Q4: It’s still the most wonderful time of the year
We went on working from home till the end of the year and we’ll be doing this as long as it’s necessary. By October, this new normality was in our DNA.
The last quarter of the year was as busy as usual, with new projects, ongoing projects, and plans for the next year. We developed Kangaroo, a web app designed for brands to help them find advertising and sponsorship packages at events. This project took us to the culture field and allowed us to explore the affordances of the web for local businesses. We really loved the new factor it brought for us.
As we were so excited about our first game, it didn’t take long until we built a new version of it. We launched Risky Deals 1.1, an even more exciting version of the one before, with new features.
Before we step into 2021
We have to say thank you to 2020 for the challenges and opportunities it brought to us. It was not an easy year but an unexpected rollercoaster that took us places we didn’t expect but nonetheless enjoyed. We tipped our code into the fashion industry, we worked with designers, real estate professionals and we made games. It’s time to say thank you to our clients, partners, and team for the results we achieved together and we’re looking forward to new ones.
Our team is really excited about what 2021 has in store for us. The quote of this year for us is:
It’s sometimes like a roller coaster that spins your heart around, but you know why you got on, so you’ll roll
See you in 2021 with fresh forces and new visions!
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Creative with an Advertising MA in London, constantly developing writing superpowers as an advertising professional
