Insights from Yuriy Golikov on building a developer community

In this interview, Yuriy Golikov shares his journey from a web developer to creating a supportive developer community. With a background in software development, Yuriy discusses how he brought together like-minded professionals to form a thriving network. He offers insights into the challenges and rewards of building this community and its impact on his career and the tech industry.

Yuriy, tell us a little about your professional path and how you came to create DevBrother.

My path in the technological field began with receiving a master’s degree in computer science. After graduation, I worked as a web developer for several companies, such as DDI Development and Ritarsoft, and took on freelance projects.  These experiences provided me with valuable insights into various aspects of software development.

While freelancing, I organized a coworking space for software engineers to surround myself with like-minded individuals with similar values and work interests. This led to the creation of the Software Engineering community in Ukraine – CoWorkingClub (now TalenBankAI), where I began to grow my network of software engineers.

As my network expanded, people approached me with their software engineering needs. Given my background in the field, it was a natural progression to launch the DevBrother Company. I saw a significant need for high-quality software development services.

Today, my network has grown to over 30,000 developers, and DevBrother now has a team of 100 developers. We are officially established in Poland, the USA, and Ukraine and provide various development services.

Tell us about DevBrother. What makes your company unique?

Here are the things that make DevBrother unique, in my opinion:

1. Organic Growth: DevBrother has grown organically from a developer community, forming a core tech team and a database of over 30,000 developers.
2. Unique Service Model: This foundation allows DevBrother to offer a unique combination of outsourcing and outstaffing services.
3. Industry Expertise: DevBrother stands at the intersection of deep expertise in industries like Healthcare, Blockchain, and AI.
4. Values-Driven Impact: DevBrother significantly impacts lives across different countries by offering not just highly qualified tech expertise but also a values-driven approach. We foster a supportive environment where each team member’s personal and professional growth is prioritized. Our long-term relationships are built on trust, emotional intelligence, and a commitment to both technical and business excellence. This culture extends to our clients, creating a partnership based on safety, positive emotions, and reliability. Our growth, from 50 to 100 team members in just one year, reflects this strong foundation.
5. Positive Social Impact: We are dedicated to projects that have a positive social impact, contributing our expertise to initiatives we believe in.

You are also known as a startup advisor and angel investor. How do you help new companies?

I always aim to support startups in their early development stages. My role is to help teams build projects, attract technical talent, and provide strategic consulting. I pay special attention to healthcare and blockchain projects, as these fields have excellent innovation potential.

Also, with some companies not funded enough, we are working as dev partners, having shares in their companies. This way, we support interesting early-stage projects, in fact, by incubating them. We have many qualified resources interested in participating in those projects.

I provide advisory and investment help for some companies, as they have strong backgrounds in their area but need an experienced and skilled dev partner.

What are your main achievements and projects at DevBrother?

Among our most significant achievements is successfully implementing over 50 startups and technical products. We are proud that our company has become a reliable partner for many customers in various industries, providing them with high-quality solutions and support.

Many DevBrother clients started as small companies, but having my team around could grow several times over the years. Due to the signed NDA, I can’t share most of the names, but industry leaders such as PurplePass, Animoca Brands, CryptoBriefing, and many more.

Tell us about your developer community and the TalentBankAI.com platform.

I lead a dynamic developer community of 30,000 people. Our TalentBankAI.com platform facilitates direct interaction between companies and qualified freelancers. We create conditions for seamless cooperation and innovative solutions, which help businesses quickly find the right talent.

What is your vision for the future of technology and the IT industry?

Technology will continue to change our world incredibly. I see excellent prospects in healthcare,  blockchain and especially AI. These industries have great potential for improving people’s quality of life and increasing the efficiency of business processes.

What is most important to you in your work, and why do you continue to develop DevBrother?

DevBrother makes a significant impact on the lives of people in different countries. We bring not only highly qualified tech engineering help but also DevBrother. First, we have the values and corporate culture internally and provide these values to the world. We care about every person on the team and listen to them to develop their personal and professional level; we are a family that trusts and builds our relationships over the years, helping each other on projects and sometimes with different individual situations. We care about the projects that we do long term by being not only executives but also people who provide professional advice during all development processes, sometimes connected to the business side (not the tech side).

The same values we are cultivating in our collaboration with clients. All these bring a feeling of safety to ask questions and positive emotions from the partnership, trust, and reliability over the years.

Emotional intelligence, self-awareness,  self-management, and building strong long-term relationships are basic things we cultivate in DevBrother on all levels.

As a result, DevBrother growth is significant. During only one last year, we have grown from 50 to 100 people in the team, from several stable clients to tens of them.

I believe in the power of a team and the importance of creating an inspiring work environment. This motivates me to continue developing DevBrother and implementing new ideas and technologies.

What are you doing in your free time? What are your hobbies?

In my free time, I enjoy traveling and sports. These activities help me regain strength and find inspiration for new projects. I am also always happy to expand my professional circle of communication and look for new opportunities for cooperation.

I am also a singer, have videos on YouTube (Юрий Голиков) and music on SoundCloud and iTunes. I have been making music since I was 10, and it has been an essential part of my life. Being a musician also has an additional positive impact on DevBrother, as being a musician makes you feel more self-aware and develops your emotional intelligence. It is very important when running and developing companies nowadays.