Our conversation with online bathroom and plumbing specialists, Victoria Plum

We talk to Victoria Plum's IT Director Jon Coates about our recent partnership, and how our skills and experience with DevOps and engineering helped evolve their way of working, enabling them to meet some key deadlines during a period of major transition.

• 17 March 2022

What were the main challenges that you were facing before working with Dotfive?

We had some fundamental changes to our backend development and DevOps teams, with some long-standing members leaving. We had to make sure we retained as much of their knowledge as possible, but could also continue without any project disruption to support the business growth. We knew that the UK IT recruitment market at this time (mid-pandemic) was a challenging one as more and more companies moved to grow their online presence, and therefore finding the right permanent replacements would take time, plus onboarding time, giving us a potential issue with our deadlines.

What were the main reasons for you choosing to work with Dotfive?

We had worked with Dotfive many years ago on a smaller data migration project, and they had grown dramatically over that period, so we already knew the level of competency that they would bring to us - just what we were looking for.

What are some of the key benefits of working with Dotfive?

The level of knowledge the engineers brought to the team was second to none. During the initial talks they said that they would be "deploying code on day one" which I honestly thought was just a sales line - but they really did start deploying to our live website on the first day!

How has working with Dotfive helped to improve your business?

With any change there are always opportunities to improve, and I think Dotfive have offered us seasoned advice on how to take the team and platform forward. Solid documentation and the removal of some key technical debt pieces has left us in a much better place.

What is the best thing about working with Dotfive?

The engineers that we've worked with from Dotfive have fitted really well into our culture, and really embraced being part of our team. We are a team that likes to promote engineering a solution, so being able to bounce ideas around from the off was great, and because of their ability we could be confident that the ideas were good, as well as the execution.

What would you like to say to other businesses who are considering working with Dotfive?

It's one of those decisions in your career where you're not 100% sure how it's going to work out, but this is a rare one that's worked out exactly as I'd hoped. We got everything we were looking for and more. Not only did Dotfive get to work with us immediately, we didn't need to hold their hands. Furthermore, Dotfive offer plenty of additional advice, as they have experience in so many different subjects which has helped us decide technically on how to approach future projects.

To find out more about our exciting work with this great client, read the case study now.

They said that they would be "deploying code on day one" which I honestly thought was just a sales line - but they really did start deploying to our live website on the first day!