A consistent on leave process prevents a company from being accidentally disrupted when an employee request to be absent.

Leave request

Submit a leave request

Keep learning and growing. We started this team out of software practice advancement.

Culture

We build this company like we build a product. There are roadmaps for growth; there are phases; there are iterations. There might also be bugs, places where the company crashes because of bad organizational design, or cultural oversights.

Life at Dwarves

A collection of technologies we're evaluating and using across our projects

Tech radar index

In this update, we are excited to share the real journey of growth and transformation that our team has embarked upon, as we continue to strive to become a more skilled and knowledgable software team.

The stage of growth at Dwarves

It's our second attempt rolling out this program. But the motivation stays the same: Accelerating someone's current software development skillset.

Batch of 2022

Apprenticeship batch of 2022

We like the idea of labeling teams by what they deliver. Hence, the next chapter of Dwarves will be based on five angles.

The next leading chairs

2022 matched us with the 80th Dwarves. A notable highlight, and we're ready to have more. It's not easy to find people that has the same value. It takes true & solid seeks.

Road to 100

You will be working closely with a team of talented, kind people and working directly with our clients. There is a lot of freedom to contribute to the quality of the project and improve, or prove yourself

Growth lead

Hey, it’s Han and Nikki in your inbox again.

The future is blockchain and data

We built iCrosschain, a platform that helps crypto users move their digital assets between different blockchain networks quickly and easily. Our solution cut transfer times down to just 15 seconds – the fastest in the industry.

iCrosschain

Making crypto transfers faster and easier

Each month, we release a recap noting all the significant changes with our company and our team. In May, we kicked off Apprenticeship training, and our new chalet is ready for community to visit.

What's new in May 2022

Thanh Pham leads blockchain initiatives at Dwarves Foundation with a focus on building web3 products. His mentorship emphasizes the importance of logical thinking and long-term value creation in blockchain development.

Thanh Pham

Meet mentor Thanh Pham

Tuan Dao is a Senior Frontend/Blockchain engineer with 4+ years of experience known for his technical expertise in React. His mentoring approach focuses on creating a supportive environment where apprentices receive personalized guidance to develop their technical and professional skills.

Tuan Dao

Meet mentor Tuan Dao

In today’s edition, job interviews need a makeover, the 4 stages of hiring at Dwarves, Dwarves apprenticeship 2022, other talking points

The stages of hiring at Dwarves

The Apprentice program is a six-month earn-and-learn training experience for aspiring software developers to gain professional skills working on real projects. Participants receive mentorship, develop technical and professional capabilities, and learn state-of-the-art engineering practices through hands-on work.

Apprentice program

Each month, we release a recap noting all the significant changes with our company and our team. January 2022 will go over performance review and our growth on projects, new year highlights.

What's new in January 2022

Each month, we release a recap noting all the significant changes with our company and our team. December 2022 will go over our growth in blockchain, team members, upgrade on the benefits packages.

What's new in December 2021

A big congratulations to our Dwarves of 2021. Apart from the team's voting result for each title, the team leads also selected the Honorable Mention and Client Endorsed, as we want to honor all of the hard work.

Dwarves of the year 2021

Hey, it’s Han and Nikki in your inbox again. On behalf of the entire Dwarves team, happy 2022!

It's a wrap: 2021 in review

It's Han and Nikki from Team Dwarves. We're almost at the end of this year. While we know everyone is busy wrapping up 2021, we hope you're taking care of yourself and staying safe.

Engineering organizational structure

It's Han and Nikki from Team Dwarves. We're here with the fifth edition of our Dwarves Updates. October has been a wild ride for us as a company. Most of our effort was spent on rethinking growth paths for our engineers.

The path to growth at Dwarves

Here's another update from Dwarves for you. Throughout September, we have completed our bi-annual performance review.

Engineer performance review

This email is the third month we share about our journey to Software Craftsmanship.

Project compliance

We helped Tokenomy create a robust web platform and Android app that allows users to easily invest in cryptocurrency. Our work enabled them to launch on schedule, reach more customers, and establish themselves in the competitive crypto market.

Tokenomy

Building a modern crypto investment platform for Tokenomy

We worked with BaseHQ for two years to build and improve their software for executive assistants, helping them create new features and make their system faster and more reliable.

BaseHQ

Creating the first platform for Executive assistants

Each month, we release a recap noting all the significant changes with our company and our team. July 2021 we will move toward blockchain industry and prepare for performance review in August.

What's new in July 2021

Being able to make decision trains ourselves to accept responsibility with an open mind. Either it's a success or a failure, we move forward.

Making decision as a team member

It's Han and the Dwarves team again. Since June 2020, we've been planning on a new office/studio in Da Lat.

Da Lat office

We helped Momos, a pre-seed startup in Singapore, build their first MVP, a centralized data hub that simplifies online operations for food and beverage businesses through third-party integrations and data analytics.

Momos

Building a central hub for food and beverage businesses in Singapore

We helped Attrace, a Dutch company, create a transparent affiliate marketing platform using blockchain technology that connects online merchants with websites in a secure, fraud-resistant way.

Attrace

Building blockchain solutions for affiliate marketing

Hi, this is Han, the CEO of Dwarves Foundation. This month the Dwarves score 40th client that we have the honor to serve. And for that, we decide to launch the Dwarves updates.

Dwarves updates

We helped Setel expand their fuel payment app into a full-featured platform that makes refueling simple for Malaysian drivers. Our team built the conversion features that bring new users to the platform through deals, vouchers, and targeted marketing.

Setel

Building Setel's fuel payment super-app for Malaysian drivers

During the height of the pandemic, we helped Para build a platform that quickly connects nurses with hospitals facing staffing shortages. Our COVID-19 support program allowed them to accelerate development when they needed it most.

JoinPara

Connecting healthcare workers with hospitals during COVID-19

In short, this 3rd volume is all about one thing: Trial

Tech Radar Volume 03

Dwarves tech radar volume 03

We helped Relay quickly develop and launch their workflow automation tool for early market testing. Our engineers built a complete solution including a Chrome extension, web app, and Slack integration that helped Relay acquire their first paying customers and prepare for their next funding round.

Relay

Helping Relay launch their workflow automation MVP for the US market

Our path with Basecamp didn't cross by accident. Years ago, we embarked on the Slack community and had it applied for internal communication. And project management on another tool, where documents & files are in G-suite.

Adjust the way we work in Basecamp style

Sometimes the situation calls for realtime payment. Team lunch, device purchase, house cleaning, monthly drinking water. Normally, we pay it forward and claim those expense later. The reimbursement will be included in your payroll of that month.

Reimbursement

You will always grow by learning and playing with new and cool technologies. From books to conferences, you’ll get a yearly budget for your learning and development goals.

Continuing education allowance

We built Naru, a browser extension that helps people stay organized and productive while browsing the web. Working with a US-based designer, we created a task management tool that follows you across tabs and remembers your tasks no matter where you go online.

Naru

Naru: a task manager that works right in your browser

We helped Mudah.my switch from an outdated system to a modern, faster one that can handle more users and grow with their business.

Mudah

Upgrading Malaysia's largest online marketplace

We joined Reapit as their offshore development team, helping them transform their desktop software into a modern cloud platform. Our agile team delivered critical components on a tight timeline for their major platform launch.

Reapit

Building cloud solutions for UK real estate

2020 in review

2021 in review

Dwarves Tech Radar v2 contains the practices to simplify the workflow, new techniques/ approach methods to upgrade our current standards and expand the domain knowledge.

Tech Radar Volume 02

Dwarves tech radar volume 02

We helped Aharooms create a suite of digital tools that enables small hotels in Vietnam to improve operations, increase bookings, and boost revenue, especially during the challenging COVID-19 period when adaptation was crucial.

Aharooms

Building a complete tech system for small Vietnamese hotels

We provided an augmented team for beGroup, Vietnam's popular ride-hailing platform, to help them launch their beCorporate enterprise service on a tight timeline while their in-house team focused on their core consumer app.

beGroup

Helping launch beCorporate enterprise ride-hailing service

We built AirWatt's system that uses artificial intelligence to track how businesses use electricity, helping them save money and prevent equipment problems.

AirWatt

Creating a smart system to monitor electricity use

We helped CJC create Voconic, a cloud platform that makes it easy for financial companies to deploy complex systems with just a few clicks, reducing manual effort and errors while working across different cloud providers.

Voconic

Building Voconic's cloud platform with Google for financial services

We designed Sol, a travel app that helps groups stay connected, organized, and on budget during trips. Our comprehensive approach included user research, visual design, and interactive prototyping.

Sol: making group travel easier and more fun

We built an online platform that helps dentists in Singapore run their practices better. Created by a dental surgeon, Dental Marketplace connects dental professionals, makes finding events easier, and simplifies everyday tasks.

Dental Marketplace

Making dental work easier in Singapore

A couple days ago, I was asked if I were ever a product person, what would I do to make the best out of it. It took me a while. I mean, I've never walked in this shoe before. Wth is a product person? I wondered. And I started digging. Here it is, "Making sure your product/ thing shipped out flawlessly." A perfectionist mindset.

Go the extra mile

We figure a small team is easier to share perspectives, update on what's happening and discuss different work aspects. Besides better communication, working cross functional creates a higher chance to understand the whole operation flow.

The dwarves runs by ideas

For this edition, the theme is to get the whole team used to the concept of a central knowledge base, every study to expand our view to the tech scene counts. The design team also has a place to contribute and discuss their practices.

Tech Radar Volume 01

Dwarves tech radar volume 01

We launch The Dwarves Tech Radar as a living asset to evaluate the adoption decision and keep the technology direction stays on track. Tech Radar is how we do R&D, how we work on self-growth and motivate continuous curiosity.

Forward engineering

Strategic guidance on purposeful hiring - hire for actual needs rather than scaling, understand the role deeply before posting a job, and recognize when additional help is truly needed to maintain quality.

A tips of hiring - Do & don't

People thrive when they believe in what they create, not from fake happiness programs. We value individual contributions, hire based on skills rather than background, promote knowledge sharing, and focus on meaningful work.

How people matter should work

We helped BHD Cinema transform their outdated mobile app into an intuitive platform that allows customers to easily browse movies, book tickets online, and enjoy a seamless cinema experience, turning movie-goers into loyal BHD fans.

BHD Cinema

Redesigning BHD Cinema's ticket booking app for a better experience

Effective client relationship management through flexible planning, thoughtful communication, service quality, and balancing toughness with empathy to build lasting partnerships.

Account management strategies

Operations is a very sensitive area of the company, so be very picky. A great ops person can dramatically improve the way your company works and make your life a lot easier.

Hiring for operations team

If you’re doing creative work, research suggests you’ll want to be surrounded by ambient noise. A café or co-working space is the perfect choice in this case. If you need to focus on a specific task, however, you’re going to want silence as quiet spaces help us focus on straightforward tasks.

Places to work

The Dwarves HQ is in Saigon, Vietnam. Fifty-ish people and two cats have desk space in the Saigon office, but those people also work from home regularly. We expand the office space when the old one is full and people want the new office. Anyone is welcome to visit Saigon and work from the office at any time.

Where we work

How we empower innovation through software craftsmanship and build products that matter

What we stand for

Since most Dwarves Foundation employees work in Saigon, this section is written with that as the default. Some benefits don't make sense in other countries. We will try our best to provide comparable benefits and perks as it makes sense, though...

Benefits & perks

Our core values guide our strategies and individual actions so that we create a company whose character is as radical as our work.

What we value

2018 notable hightlights and achievements

2018 in review

Hire people who tell us what to do, not the other way around.

Hiring approach

Being office-present keeps you effective. Firms lean on that. It explains why companies are down to invest a fortune on building creative office with other benefit packages. There's nothing wrong about that. I'm just saying there are others ways to keep people.

Duy

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