Top app development companies interview: Team Extension

Elena Daiana Paschia is the Team Leader at Team Extension. The mobile app development company was founded in 2016 by Moe Jame and is located in Bucharest, Romania. The company employs 40 IT professionals and developers.

Elena Daiana Paschia worked as a Software developer at a multinational company that developed mobile games. Her work included C++ frameworks that were integrated in the apps, as well as iOS and Android development: maintaining old applications, implementing new features and improving current functionality.

Let’s see what Elena Daiana Paschia has to say about Team Extensions and the mobile app development world.

What does Team Extension do?

We are a nearshoring and offshoring technology company based in Bucharest. We started with a simple idea: to discover, hire and retain top talent. We are in a hyper growth mode and we are building a team of smart and motivated people who are passionate about programming.

Our company specializes in hiring app developers on client’s behalf as well as co-leading projects. Our team is composed mainly of mobile app developers, about 60% of our developers are iOS and Android developers.

What clients have you worked for?

Our clients include startups and Fortune 500 companies that are based in Western Europe and in the United States.

If you had to choose one category, what kind of app do you think is Team Extension’s specialty?

We have industry-specific experience in the automotive, construction real estate, defense and entertainment to name a few.

Our specialty is to make clients happy. This means that any app they need, from any category, we will dedicate our resources to create a quality outcome. We have a high learning curve in the tech area and based on our past experience, I can state that any obstacle can be passed when the right people are working on it.

What is the average budget of the mobile apps you develop?

I would say an average budget would be 40,000€.

Do you develop all mobile apps in-house or do you outsource some parts of the process?

We do everything 100% in-house. The advantage of doing this is that people find it easier to work together while being in the same office and with the right environment they are pleased to come to work and to get as involved as possible in developing software.

Which would you say are the best mobile apps that your company has developed?

We are proud of all our apps, as we are dedicated to build products at the highest standards. If I had to name some of them, I would say a music streaming app for Sony Universal Music developed both on iOS and Android. This app has challenged our team, in a good way, as they had the opportunity to develop it from the beginning, in a tight deadline, but with a strong focus on quality.

Do you prefer to build mobile apps with native, hybrid or web languages?

It is a case by case situation. By far, we lean to the native apps, as they offer the most reliable, responsive and user-friendly experience. Also, the possibilities and functionalities are wider when developing using the native tools, rather than using cross platform solutions when building web apps. In some cases, the hybrid/web approach works well, especially for MVP, and/or proof of concept to test the market’s demand for an app.

Let’s focus on iOS and Android mobile app development. Which are the Pros and Cons of each platform?

I feel that for both of them, their advantages are also the biggest disadvantages.

For example, developing for iOS comes with a lot of restrictions and lack of control. While sometimes this can be frustrating and hard to understand why it has to be so inflexible, it also leads to a safer environment. One of the examples here is the fact that submitting a build takes a couple of days, as Apple has to review every build, but this leads to quality apps on the App Store, as opposed to Android where submitting an app on the Play Store is really easy and without any constraints, but the quality and the content is questionable.

Other than that, I consider that another con of the Android platform is that there are a lot of manufacturers, thus a wider choice of phones that lead to bigger problems for the developers: custom OSs, UI issues due to many resolutions, etc

Which one will evolve more within the next 5 years?

I think Android will evolve more, as it’s easier for app developers to start on this platform and due to the fact that Java language is more popular, has a wider usability and it’s also taught in computer science colleges.

Which device is the best in the market right now?

I think Samsung Galaxy S8 is a must-have device as it has an amazing design and a lot of great features: sharp and clear display, powerful camera and a great quality feel overall.

And which device do you feel more comfortable developing an app for?

We are comfortable developing in both. Even though the community is way bigger within the Android app developers and the fact that there are a lot of open source libraries that can be integrated in the project within minutes, I feel the more comfortable platform is still iOS, as usually it’s more straightforward and compelling.

Why is AppFutura useful to you?

For what I had the chance to see, until now, I think that this is a very useful site that helps you to grow your business.

You can add your company information, team members, clients you've worked with, certificates, skills focus and projects you've worked on in order for future clients to have a better visibility on your company work.

Go to AppFutura's Team Extension developer profile to get more information about them.