SEALs – software engineering consultants for Schibsted companies

SEALs is a specialized team of software engineers doing short and mid-term projects for Schibsted companies.

Do you have a need for extra programming power to reach a deadline?  Not enough internal resources to launch that important product soon enough?

Schibsted Tech Polska´s SEALs is an internal Schibsted alternative to using expensive external consultants. The software engineering team has a broad set of competencies, including UX designer, front-end developers, back-end developers,  DevOps and other.

We look at ourselves as a specialized task force, moving fast and efficiently to solve software engineering problems. Nothing inspires us more than being able to help a Schibsted company launch an exciting new product in its market.

When doing our projects, we always look for best practice, knowledge, and solutions from other Schibsted companies.

Learn about how we work in this video

In this video, you will learn about how the SEALs team cooperates with the Swedish company Vinguiden to create an app for selecting the best wine to the food.

Two product areas

SEALs can help you in two product areas: Digital product development and cloud services. We plan to offer other services in the near future, depending on the needs.

Digital product development

The main area for STP SEALs is digital product development. The team can help with almost any new web or mobile application you would like to build. We put together the team needed for your particular project.

The team can either take responsibility for the whole project – or work together with your own software developers.

Cloud and infrastructure

With DevOps competence on the team, we can also help with cloud services and infrastructure. For instance, we have much experience in moving services to AWS or other cloud services.

Why use STP SEALs

STP SEALs is an excellent alternative to using external consultants.

There are several reasons why:
It is a Schibsted team! This means you are working with colleagues in your own group rather than consultants from an external company.  You can trust that we have the same interests in making your project a success. And you know we will still be there to help when the project is done!

You tap into other teams´ experience and competence.  There are now more than 30 different software development teams in Schibsted Tech Polska. As internal consultants, we can develop your project using best practice, knowledge, and solutions from other Schibsted companies. This is particularly a great advantage if part of the project is to integrate with other Schibsted services.

It is a very competent team.  We have high standards when hiring software developers in Schibsted Tech Polska – and STP SEALs is a very experienced and efficient team.

It is reasonably priced.  Working only with internal customers we can offer you help at a price that is close to self-cost. The prices are approximately half of what you will pay for an external software engineering consultant in Oslo or Stockholm.

The SEALs is a highly competent team of software engineers capable of taking on a wide range of projects

How we work

The process always starts with a meeting to analyze your needs. We discuss what you want to build and what type of competence is necessary for a good result. A crucial question is always when and how fast the project needs to be done – and whether that matches with our available resources. Sometimes we will do a small pre-study to find out more or to make a good plan together.

We will then sign a simple agreement outlining the cooperation, which resources will be involved and how long we expect the project to take.

And the work starts! You will have a main contact person in the team – and regular stand-ups to discuss the progress and what needs to be done next. Stand-ups are usually done on video – and daily communication on Slack or other similar tools.  But you or your product manager are also more than welcome to visit Gdansk to meet with the team.

We charge for the hours actually spent on your project. The hourly rate depends on the size of the project and is agreed when we sign the agreement.

Who to contact

Your first point of contact is site manager Filip Szczucki, who is responsible for the SEALs team.

Filip Szczucki

Email: filip.szczucki@schibsted.pl

Phone: +48-721 812 001

You can also contact:

Filip Szczucki is managing the consultancy unit – and can be contacted if you need help.

Project cases

The SEALs team has worked on a wide range of projects for different companies and units in Schibsted.  Here are two examples:

Case 1: Vinguiden

Vinguiden (“The Wine Guide”)  is a Swedish e-commerce site for ordering and learning about wine. It is a part of Schibsted Growth.

The SEALs team is now building a completely new app to help Swedish wine lovers find the perfect wine to go with different menus.  The app uses up to 500 parameters characterizing each wine.

Three full-stack developers are involved in the project, working closely with Marcus Ståhl, the CTO/CMO at Vinguiden in Stockholm.

The project consists of three components:

  • Building a database with a proper metadata structure. All data from the sommeliers are fed into this database.
  • Building a full backend solution in with an API connected to it
  • Building a frontend solution

Some technologies used: Node.js, Typescript, Mongodb, microservices architecture, test-driven development

Development methodology: Scrum – with two-week sprints.

Case 2: Mobile version of Schibsted.com

Schibsted Media Group depended on an external software engineering consultancy in Oslo for the mobile version of its corporate website Schibsted.com.  The cooperation with this consultancy company ended – and the communications team had to find a new partner to replace the proprietary old solution.

So the SEALs stepped in to build a new mobile version. A lot of effort was put into improving the user experience as well as the speed of the site.

Three persons in the SEALs team took part in this project – working closely with PR manager Thomas Ford in the Schibsted ASA communications team to find the best solution.

The new version of the mobile site will be launched shortly.

Meet Rafal, Przemysław, and Karolina – three of the SEALs team members – in this video:

Schibsted projects that SEALs have worked on

Here is a list of Schibsted projects where SEALs have contributed in the development:

  • Aftonbladet: Development work
  • Ekhanei: Android development for classified site in Bangladesh
  • Lajkat: Work on Lajkat.se
  • Let´s Deal in Norway: New product Styletime.no
  • Omni: UX prototyping
  • Schibsted ASA: Development of the product and tech blog Schibsted Bytes
  • Schibsted ASA: Mobile version of schibsted.com
  • Schibsted ASA: Security application
  • Schibsted Centralen: Internal asset management tool as well as UX project for intranet
  • Schibsted Classified Media:  Big Brain, data insight project
  • Schibsted Norge Circulation Innovation: Development of application
  • Schibsted Norge: The service Min Bolig
  • Schibsted Products and Technology/DevRel: Tools for Developer Relations
  • Schibsted Products and Technology/Recruitment: Improvements of job site
  • Schibsted Products and Technology/HR: Expansion of the HR tool Kudos to be used in all Schibsted companies
  • Schibsted Sales:  Dashboard for advertisers
  • Schibsted Tech Polska:  Development of Schibsted.pl and several internal tools, such as Techzone, Utilizr, Delegizr
  • Stavanger Aftenblad: City guide Byas.no
  • Vinguiden: New application for choosing the right wine
  • 20 Minutes: Pre-study about API needs