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An API, or Application Programming Interface, is a set of rules and protocols for building software and applications. It specifies how software components should interact and allows for communication between different systems. APIs can be used to allow third-party developers to access certain features or data of an application or service, enabling them to build their own applications that integrate with it. Tech startups can use APIs in a variety of ways to expand their reach, improve their products and services, and increase their revenue. APIs enable startups to leverage…

A well-designed API is both an important business driver and a must if you want to split your software product into smaller modules. Whether you decide to deploy your app as a set of microservices or separate the client-side rendered frontend from the backend, you need to think about how the individual components will interact with each other. Externally, a high-quality API can be a huge selling point. This is especially true in the B2B world; letting customers access your service programmatically can help them improve their products or create…

Over the past ten years DevOps has become the standard for software engineering. DevOps introduced processes of automation that make software development and QA effective and accessible not just for large engineering teams, but startups, as well. However, like all new technologies, DevOps has changed quickly over the past decade. In this episode of the MovingFast Tech Podcast, Martin Prokeš shares his experiences with DevOps over time, including: How do we define modern DevOps? What are the latest tools and concepts? Where can developers find the best resources to stay…

We are pleased to announce the promotions of Martin Prokes to VP of Engineering and Petr Vecera to CTO. Both began working at profiq in 2014 as junior engineers, and have grown into technical and people leaders in our organization.  Our people are our greatest assets, and the reason for our success. We grow organically from the bottom up, which creates opportunities for our employees. These changes bring new ideas and energy to our leadership team, and help us scale the organization while we continue to grow. We look forward…

We recently hosted a Peer 2 Peer Tech Leader roundtable discussion in the Rocky Mountains. The group is composed of engineering leaders from a wide variety of software tech companies ranging from smaller 4-6 person engineering teams at startups to engineering leaders at FANG companies, and organizations in the government sector responsible for over 400 engineers. The primary goal for the roundtables is to provide a forum to network with peers, to share experiences, and to learn from each other. For each meeting a discussion topic is agreed upon -…

Lauded by customers as a “communication lifesaver” and “a game changer”, one of our clients, Colorado-based Serenity App Inc, is making a big impact in the senior care space with its cutting-edge platform, Serenity Engage. Serenity Engage streamlines and protects communication between the families of seniors in residential and hospice care and their often multiple care providers. We are excited to work closely with Rob Pinna, Serenity Engage’s VP of Engineering, and develop this product from its foundation. We've enjoyed building it using event-driven architecture, with React and Redux powering…

Having fun is the best way to learn.  Albert Einstein It all started two years ago when our colleague Petr brought his new Beta fish to the office. Before long, everyone knew how to care for the fish and the aquarium. Then, we bought a new tank, and a few months later, an even bigger one.  Fast-forward to Christmas 2020. Since our office closes for nearly two weeks, no one would be available to take care of the fish and the aquarium. So, we moved the fish to our older,…

Carl Jung once said, “The creative mind plays with the object it loves.” Like Jung, we believe play can fuel innovation, and sometimes, the wilder the idea, the better. ? You might be wondering why would we submerge a PC in liquid (in our case, mineral oil)? To that, we reply, “Why does anyone climb Mount Everest? Because they can.” So, we did! We created a Linux PC from upcycled computer parts, submerged it in mineral oil, lit it with LED light strips, and added a LEGO ship, because no aquarium…

At profiq, we are always interested in learning something new, and trying novel technologies. One of these technologies is Elixir—a functional programming language whose main strengths lie in fault tolerance and scalability through concurrency. This makes it a good candidate for backend development, especially when it comes to high-traffic web applications. We, for example, utilize Elixir’s properties in cooperation with Divvy to handle a large number of financial transactions. But, this, of course, is not its only use. As it turns out, Elixir can do a lot more. One of…

In an earlier article, we introduced you to Presto, an open-source, distributed SQL query engine. It lets you use SQL to query data from many types of storage solutions. This includes data sources that don’t support SQL natively; for example, a JSON file stored on AWS S3. What’s even more interesting, is that Presto lets you perform joins across multiple databases based on different technologies. In our view, Presto is a great tool for organizations that store their data in multiple data sources, and want to analyze this data without…