How did we started up from Devs and PMs?
Tags: devops, programming, productivity
Published: 2022-08-10 16:21:20

We were developers, engineers and product managers working in tech companies from Silicon Valley to parts of the world. Out of scratch, we've been creating cloud applications to [automatically build projects](https://www.teamcode.com/products/tin). 

Our past stories were nothing special. Just like many others, we've been through enormous changes in technology and modern life. What could be a little different is that we've coded through the process, encountering and experiencing some of the most cumbersome problems. We found out that it wasn't only us who were suffering, but many others as well.

Out of these troubles, we decided to **create something new**. Something that might be a **solution to the problems**. Frankly, we did not expect perfection and we started with a tiny team. We were amateurs but we also had cumulative experience from our full time jobs. We start creating new tools and help [automizing non-coding tasks](https://www.teamcode.com/products/tin) so that developers could focus on their coding tasks. Our small steps grew sturdily as we tried to improve its platformization and scalability to serve our developer friends. 

We never really went all in until the pandemic hit. 

Undoubtedly, the pandemic has changed our lives a lot. All of us. Remote tasks and microservices became a great demand. At that time, there weren't many collaboration platforms available for developers yet. Even if there is, we'll need to dedicate time and even money to build development environments for every single test. It was extremely time and money consuming, needless to say efficiency and sustainability. The timing was just great for us to have enough technology and experience in cloud computing, allowing us to create something right for the modern world with standardization and automation. **We decided to quit our jobs** and focus on integrating our side projects into a better platform. Our very first beta was born to have [microservices deployed in the cloud environment](https://www.teamcode.com/products/pylon), cutting costs and boosting productivity.

In the current version of **Tin** and **Pylon***, we enable users to build projects from source code within seconds. It is possible to deploy a standardized development environment without hassle, while the resources between environments are well isolated. Pylon only needs your GitHub address, project name and HTTP port to start building, while Tin supports a wider build variation with support for GitHub, Docker and source code from local or even cloud IDEs.

![Tin Interface](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/9bocs0h46cyqthzlz1pi.png)

The cloud environment can be shared among teams and collaborating parties, allowing development and testing process done within the very same environment. With Pylon, one does not need to rebuild a test environment and eliminates the time cost for the CI/CD routines. Product managers and test engineers would be able to check on the projects with a single click on the endpoint.

The deployment process will start immediately and everything will be ready within seconds. If you have any doubts on how fast it could be, check out [how Tin works on an open source project like Jenkins](https://dev.to/gewzk/kubernetes-is-awesome-and-we-automated-it-further-3kmd). **No coding is needed** in the whole building process, we'll set them all up for you.

![Tin Building Projects](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/lsiwn8fqkvqbjl3x0o9i.png)

It is nearly impossible to provide cloud service free and so do us. However, we would still gladly offer 10GB of storage resources on Pylon and 300 computing minutes on Tin for **free** at the moment. And yes, the quota resets (but not cumulate) every month. Upon using up the free quota, you can manually choose to upgrade your plan or directly contact us if you need a designated plan for your team.

The startup path had never been anything easy. As young as we were, we'd still like to share some of our opinions on how it might help in starting up.
- **Problem Identification.** It could be highly competitive for startups in highly saturated domains. Identify problems and create solutions in your area of expertise, try to solve or provide better choices to others. It helps create value for your projects or products.
- **Enthusiasm and Patience.** Problem solving needs effort. It could be frustrating during the process, so be sure to maintain and be clear about what you're trying to do.
- **Start Small and Steady.** Huge expectations are usually accompanied with painful failures. Try to break down your goals and take every small step planned down-to-earth. Smaller goals could be easier to accomplish and sustain, and these small goals lead to a long term success.
- Last but not least, **A Bit of Luck.** Grasp the opportunities, who knows what will happen in the future anyway?

[TeamCode](https://www.teamcode.com/) started small, but we'll not simply stop on Tin and Pylon. We are creating more cloud based collaborating projects and products, creating and providing better experience and services to our fellow developers.