The pandemic has hindered an educational charity organization’s efforts to produce inperson events, so they hired Alex Cachia to migrate their large-scale events into a digital environment.
The platform Alex Cachia delivered has been a major success, garnering over 25,000 students in 120 organizations. External stakeholders have also been impressed with the product, citing its userfriendliness, innovation, and seamless experience.
Client: John Tranter – COO, EBP Kent
Sector: Education
Location: Ramsgate
“Our events department was hit due to the pandemic, so we couldn’t produce large-scale events where we bring employers and businesses into schools. Since that came to a halt, we wanted to create a virtual fair experience for students to access from the comfort of their homes.”
Overall Score: 5.0
Quality: 5.0
Schedule: 5.0
Cost: 5.0
Would Refer: 5.0
We had a rough blueprint of how we wanted this virtual fair to look, so we gave it to Alex (Freelance Web & Data Developer) and told
her that we wanted full control of the platform.
She took it and used her coding wizardry to create it from scratch, and set up to engage with the employers, acquire their data and information, and upload it to the system. We populated the platform with data for the first six months as she developed it.
We launched the product in the second year of the pandemic, and around 25,000 students accessed the virtual platform. Since then, we’ve created several new areas within the platform such as virtual internships, which we piloted last summer and ran successfully.
Alex used WordPress to create our platform and she gave us the parameters regarding how we could upload information, and how the content had to be delivered. She also helped us understand how we needed to translate the huge amounts of information that we were getting from employers, and turn them into something that would be accepted by the system.
One of the best things that we were able to create was the platform analytics, which is GDPR compliant so we’ve been able to show the schools that the students have been visiting our platform.
In addition, Alex also created a theater area for showcasing interviews with career specialists and industry leaders. It acts as a video resource library that we can keep uploading files to.
We mainly work with Alex.
We work with thousands of employers every year and build several relationships but since we’re a small charity, we’re not awash with funds and I was quoted with some incredible figures to create a virtual platform that’s far beyond what we could afford.
One of the people who work for us is a consultant and knew Alex from their time at the university. They said that Alex was an IT whiz and brokered the collaboration between us two years ago — we haven’t looked back since.
The first meeting I had with Alex had me sold thanks to her passion and enthusiasm and we ultimately chose her based on her competitive pricing.
I made the initial contact with Alex in August 2020 and our collaboration is still ongoing because we have some big projects lined up.
Around 25,000 students have accessed the platform since launching back in December 2020. Moreover, up to 120 organizations have provided support within the exhibition fair, and between 40–50 schools have used the platform — what Alex has created has had a huge reach and has been seen by many people.
We worked with a school last week with around 200 students, and around 92% said that using the platform has been a positive or exceptional experience. Alex couldn’t have created something more simple and innovative to use for non-technical people like us to upload information to.
Alex has delivered most of the tasks that we’ve asked her for in an efficient manner, and she’s able to explain her work in simpler terms that we can understand — uploading content to the website has been almost a cathartic experience because she’s made it so simple.
Alex is professional, punctual, and very easy to work with, and we normally communicate over quick phone calls and emails. We also used Zoom or Google Meet to share screens to go over designs and functionalities.
When you work with Alex, you’re getting a personal touch. She genuinely cares and wants the projects to succeed. She’s also very passionate about what she does and she’s always available to talk.
Constructive criticism is always useful but we’ve been pleased throughout the project. What Alex has created is unbelievable and I’m a very happy customer.
Have that initial meeting with her and really get to know her because Alex is friendly, engaging, and down-to-earth.
The thought of working with someone who develops websites can be a bit off-putting and intimidating when you don’t really have knowledge about it, but that couldn’t be any less the case with Alex. She gets the job done and you’ll be very happy with the results.