Parvessh Agarwal
Founder & CEO
An entrepreneur at heart who connects business analysis, strategy, clear objectives and ROI with practical technology solutions.
LinkedIn →Hire software developers
with one contact for the whole build, not two vendors.
PixelCrayons is your point of contact for hiring software developers: we scope the role and write the proposal. Our sister company ValueCoders sources and supplies the developer, or a small team, against that one proposal and account team, so you meet the engineer who'd work in your codebase and sign just once.
Interview before signing · One contact throughout
Tell us about the role
Start Your Enquiry
Send a short brief. Once we have a complete brief, we confirm the date you will receive your itemised proposal.
What you get
PixelCrayons is your point of contact for hiring software developers; our sister company ValueCoders sources and delivers the engineer. You brief us on the stack and the gap, ValueCoders proposes the developer or small team whose delivery history fits, and you interview them before anything is signed. PixelCrayons handles escalation, billing and status, so you never manage two vendors.
- Vetted on real delivery, not a puzzleEvery engineer proposed has shipped production software, vetted against ValueCoders' delivery standards.
- One point of contact for the whole relationshipPixelCrayons handles escalation, billing and status while ValueCoders' engineers commit the code.
- Interview before you signYou meet the actual engineer and can ask for another before any commitment.
Selected work
Judge the work,
not the adjectives.
Outcomes tied to real engagements, not averages.
2004
Established
500+
Agencies served
4,500+
Projects delivered
340%
Revenue growth · 7 months
eCommerce
+127%
Organic traffic · 5 months
SaaS
85%
Faster delivery · backlog cleared
via agency partner
Where the work happens
What they cover
Software engineering,
commercially wired.
Engineers vetted on delivery history against real codebases, not a whiteboard puzzle, sourced from ValueCoders' bench and proposed against your specific gap.
Core software engineering
- Modern back-end and front-end stacks, matched to what your codebase already runs on
- API design: REST and GraphQL, versioned and documented as the product grows
- Database design and query performance across relational and NoSQL stores
- Testing discipline: unit, integration and full-flow coverage that means something under review
- CI/CD pipelines and release discipline, including the rollback plan
The surrounding stack
- Cloud infrastructure: AWS, Azure or GCP, sized to real load rather than a demo
- Message queues and background processing for work that shouldn't block a request
- Third-party and internal API integrations
- Security-conscious coding: input validation, dependency audits, authentication done properly
- Working across mobile, web or backend scope as the project actually needs
The commercial layer
- Working inside an existing codebase responsibly, not defaulting to a rewrite
- Code review as a habit, held to a documented standard
- Ownership of a service from ticket to production, including the boring parts
- Estimates that hold, and saying early when they won't
- Reporting that a non-technical stakeholder can actually follow
In practice
Beyond the ticket count,
what a software developer really does.
Plain notes on the work, the interview and the first fortnight, so the hire starts on the problem instead of the paperwork.
What the week actually looks like
A software developer embedded in your team spends less of the week typing new features than most briefs assume. There is reading: existing code, open tickets, the reasons behind decisions nobody wrote down. There is review, both giving and receiving it. There is the unglamorous work of fixing a flaky test, updating a dependency with a security notice, or chasing a bug that only appears with real data. Then there is the feature itself. A healthy week has all of these. If you only ever see new features, ask what is being deferred and who will pay for it later.
Signals worth listening for in an interview
Skip the algorithm puzzle and bring a real problem from your backlog, stripped of anything confidential. Ask how they would approach it, what they would need to know first, and what they would check before calling it done. Good candidates ask about your users and your existing code before proposing a solution. Ask about a time an estimate slipped, what they said, and when they said it. Ask what they changed after someone else's code review recently, and why. Listen for specifics: named tools, named trade-offs, a mistake they own. Vague answers about "best practices" tell you very little.
Have these ready before day one
Repository access, a working local setup guide (or an honest note that there isn't one), and credentials for a staging environment that mirrors production closely enough to trust. A short list of the systems the code talks to, and who owns each. Your branching and release process, even if it lives in someone's head today. The first piece of work, chosen deliberately: small enough to ship in the first fortnight, real enough to touch the codebase properly. And one named person who answers questions promptly. Slow starts usually come from waiting on access, not from the developer.
How these hires usually go wrong
The brief says "full-stack, any language" when the real need is someone who knows your framework's quirks. Or the developer is handed a vague epic with no product owner, and builds what they think you meant. Or code review is skipped to go faster, and a few months later nobody understands the module. Another common failure is treating the developer as a ticket-closer and never involving them in estimates, so the estimates are wrong and nobody owns them. Name the stack precisely, name the person who makes product decisions, and keep review non-negotiable from the first pull request.
Working with the rest of your team
A developer's output lands on other people's desks. Designers need to hear early when a layout is expensive to build, not after it is half done. QA needs to know what changed and what might have broken around it, so ask for clear pull request descriptions as a habit. Whoever runs your infrastructure needs warning before a change touches environment variables, queues or database migrations. Product owners need estimates stated with their assumptions. Agree where these conversations happen (a channel, a stand-up, a ticket comment), so decisions don't live in private messages that vanish when someone leaves.
When a generalist is the wrong fit
If your problem sits deep in one framework, such as a slow Laravel queue or a React rendering issue, a specialist in that stack will get there faster. If the real gap is architecture, meaning the schema and API contracts under several services, you want a backend or data-layer specialist first. If you need a defined product built to a fixed scope and date, a project team fits better than an embedded hire. And if the bottleneck is unclear priorities rather than engineering capacity, another developer adds output nobody asked for. Fix the backlog first, then decide who to hire.
How it works
Brief to embedded,
one contact throughout.
Start
Brief and a call
You describe the stack and the gap to PixelCrayons; ValueCoders proposes the developer, or small team, whose delivery history fits.
Once the brief is complete
Proposal and interview
We confirm the date your proposal arrives. You interview the ValueCoders developer yourself before anything is signed; if the fit isn't right, we propose another.
Your decision
You sign off
You confirm the scope, the payment and the access we need. Nothing starts before this.
Typically 2 to 3 business days later
Inside your repo
Repo access is granted, your conventions are reviewed and your stand-ups are joined.
Every month
Scale either way
Bring in another developer as tickets pile up and scale back when they don't, with the same PixelCrayons account team coordinating each change.
Requests, approvals and the weekly review for this engagement live in your Prism workspace. Each decision is recorded against the outcome it expected. See how Prism runs an engagement →
Get a Proposal
Meet the actual people before anything is signed
Why through us
One contact,
the right engineer behind it.
PixelCrayons scopes the developer hire and remains the account holder. ValueCoders supplies the engineer. You have one contact and the right engineer for your stack, and it's always clear who is accountable for what.
Vetted on real delivery, not a puzzle
Every engineer proposed has shipped production software before yours, vetted against ValueCoders' own delivery standards. A track record on real codebases tells you more than a whiteboard session: it shows how they handled an actual dependency conflict, not how they solve a puzzle.
One point of contact for the whole relationship
PixelCrayons scopes the developer role and writes the proposal, and a single PixelCrayons team handles escalation, billing and status while ValueCoders' engineers commit the code. You're never coordinating two vendor relationships yourself.
Interview before you sign
You meet the actual engineer, ask anything technical, and can ask for a different proposal if the fit isn't right, before any commitment is made.
Named plainly, never hidden
This page, and every stage of the engagement, names ValueCoders as the team delivering your developers. Once the proposal is signed, it stays clear whose engineers are committing to your repo.
Side by side
How you typically hire,
versus through us.
An in-house developer is still the right call when the role is permanently full-time and central to how your organisation builds software, and we'll say so when that's true. This is for every other case.
| Hiring it yourself | Through PixelCrayons | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to a working developer | A full recruiting cycle: sourcing, interviews, notice periods, onboarding | Eligible work can typically start two to three business days after scope, payment and required access are confirmed |
| Vetting | CV screening and a take-home exercise: you find out the truth on the job | Delivery history against real codebases, reviewed by ValueCoders' own standards |
| Management overhead | Yours entirely: sourcing, screening, onboarding, ongoing management | PixelCrayons' account team handles coordination; you review the work and set priorities |
| Vendor relationships | However many agencies or freelancers it takes to cover the gap | One proposal, one point of contact, whichever engineer is actually assigned |
| Risk when it doesn't work | A mis-hire costs velocity until it's caught, then a difficult exit | Propose-again is built in; the replacement inherits the handover notes, not a blank repo |
Who is accountable
The people accountable
for the work.
Saundaraya Gupta
Technical Manager
Brings technical delivery, client communication and project management together so work moves from brief to release smoothly.
LinkedIn →Every engagement
A named coordinator and escalation contact
Know who coordinates your engagement, who owns the work and how to escalate an issue.
All engagements. Roles may be combined and vary with your engagement.
Before you sign
Our commitments
Each one says where it applies and links to its full terms.
Time-zone overlap
At least four hours a day inside your core working hours. Two hours plus a daily written handover for the US West Coast.
Managed specialists only; not a staffing promise for project teams.
Full termsClear IP & Ownership Terms
Your materials remain yours. Bespoke deliverable rights, licences and handover are agreed before work starts.
All engagements.
Full termsClear Delivery & Escalation Ownership
Know who coordinates your engagement, who owns the work and how to escalate an issue.
All engagements. Roles may be combined and vary with your engagement.
Full termsWhy not just hire a freelancer?
A freelancer can be the right choice for a single, well-defined task. We are set up for work that needs an accountable team: a named coordinator, delivery reviewed by QA and a senior lead before release, and continuity arrangements written into the engagement. Confidentiality, ownership and escalation terms are agreed in writing before work starts.
How does time-zone overlap work?
Your engineers work at least four hours a day inside your core working hours. We set the window with you before the engagement starts and hold it for as long as the engagement runs. For the US West Coast the live overlap is two hours each morning, with a written handover at the end of every Indian day. We do not run night shifts: engineers who work nights leave quickly, and keeping the same people on your team matters more to us than a longer overlap.
Can we try you before we commit?
For eligible managed specialists, yes: up to 14 calendar days or 80 logged working hours, whichever comes first. Stop within it and eligible trial hours are free; continue and they're billed at the agreed rate. Unpaid trial work stays ours. Project work and other roles get a paid pilot with scope, acceptance criteria, duration and fee agreed first.
What if we want to stop?
Cancellation, notice and any renewal terms are written into your proposal or statement of work before you accept it. If an engagement ends early, we hand over completed, paid-for work and list any unfinished work separately. For an eligible specialist trial, you can stop within the trial window and pay nothing for eligible trial hours.
How we handle claims, credentials and your data: group credentials, dated ratings, how case figures are signed off, client permissions and data handling.
How to vet
How to vet a software developer
on a real backlog problem, not a puzzle.
An algorithm puzzle says little about how a developer works in your codebase. ValueCoders vets against its own delivery standards before anyone is proposed. These are the tests to bring to your interview.
| What to test | Bring this to the interview | Red flag |
|---|---|---|
| Approach | A real problem from your backlog, stripped of anything confidential. Ask how they would approach it and what they would check before calling it done. | A solution before any question about your users or your existing code. |
| Estimates | A time an estimate slipped: what they said, and when they said it. | A slip they only raised once it had happened. |
| Review | What they changed after someone else's code review recently, and why. | Vague talk of best practices. Listen for named tools, named trade-offs and a mistake they own. |
| A healthy week | What filled a recent week of theirs besides new features. | Only features. Reading, review, flaky tests and dependency updates belong in the week too. |
| Working with your team | A pull request description they wrote recently: what changed, and what might have broken around it. | Nothing on what might break, or on who needs warning before a change touches environment variables, queues or migrations. |
No trial on this role. If the problem sits deep in one framework, a specialist in that stack gets there faster; if the gap is architecture, start with a backend or data-layer specialist.
Questions
Frequently
asked.
ValueCoders, our sister company. The developer you interview and work with day to day is on ValueCoders' bench; PixelCrayons scopes the role, writes the single proposal and remains your contact from start to finish. We state that openly here and throughout delivery rather than passing their developers off under our name.
Once we have a complete brief, we confirm when your proposal arrives, and you interview the developer before anything is signed. Eligible work can typically start two to three business days after scope, payment and required access are confirmed.
One account team, for the whole relationship. ValueCoders is named in the proposal and throughout delivery as the company supplying your developers, while escalation, billing coordination and status reporting stay with the PixelCrayons account team you signed with.
One is the normal starting point. A second developer joins only when the scope of work really calls for it, and monthly resizing goes up or down, arranged by the same account team each time.
Tell PixelCrayons early. Proposing again is part of how this works: ValueCoders puts forward a replacement who picks up the first developer's handover notes on your codebase, so switching takes days rather than starting over.
One proposal,
the right engineer behind it.
Brief PixelCrayons on the stack and the gap. We scope the role and stay your point of contact throughout; our sister company ValueCoders delivers the engineer under a written proposal, and you interview the actual person before anything is signed.
Interview before signing · One account team
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