Parvessh Agarwal
Founder & CEO
An entrepreneur at heart. He links business analysis, strategy, clear goals and ROI to practical technology.
LinkedIn →Hire API & integration developers
whose connections recover when a system fails.
PixelCrayons is your point of contact for hiring an API and integration developer. We scope the role and write the proposal. Our sister company ValueCoders then finds and supplies the specialist, or a small team. They treat every outside connection as something that will fail one day, and plan for it from the start. That means queued events, safe retries (a retried event applies only once), and alerts that fire before your customer notices. Each specialist is vetted on real integrations before they touch yours. They work inside your team's tech stack and code review, and you scale monthly without a hiring cycle. You interview the specialist who would build the integration before anything is signed.
Interview before signing · One contact throughout · Scale monthly
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 an API and integration developer. Our sister company ValueCoders delivers the specialist. They connect your CRM, payment, ERP and marketing platforms. Their integrations retry safely, respect rate limits and log every outside call. You interview the specialist first. PixelCrayons stays your account contact for escalation, billing and status.
- Vetted on real integrationsEvery specialist we propose has built live syncs before yours, vetted against ValueCoders' delivery standards.
- One point of contact for everythingPixelCrayons handles scope, escalation, billing and status. ValueCoders, named openly, delivers the specialist.
- Working inside your codebaseYour code repositories, code review, stand-ups and tickets, under your rules, not a black box.
Our work
See what we've built
and the results it brought.
Real projects for real clients, with results we can show.
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
API integration skills
built for handover to your team.
This is not a script that calls three endpoints and calls it done. An API integration developer plans for what happens next. A receiving system goes down, a token expires, or a data format changes without warning.
Building integrations
- Designing and using REST and GraphQL APIs
- Webhook setup: event queues, delivery checks and a holding area for failed events
- OAuth2, API keys and token refresh
- Handling rate limits with back-off and retries
- Safe repeats: a replayed request never charges or ships twice
Platforms connected
- CRM integrations: Salesforce, HubSpot and similar platforms
- Payment gateway integrations that cover reconciliation, not just checkout
- ERP and stock syncs, so stock, orders and fulfilment agree in every system
- Marketing and email platform integrations: Klaviyo, Mailchimp and similar
- Shipping and logistics API connections
Monitoring, notes and teamwork
- Monitoring and alerts for failed or slow syncs
- Integration maps and step-by-step fix guides (runbooks) written for handover, not just for themselves
- Working inside your engineering team's tech stack, habits and code review
- Building in test accounts first, with credentials in your password vault from day one
- Version control and pull request habits that fit how your team already works
In practice
What an integration developer
does once the sync is live.
Most of the job happens after the first successful call, and that is where you should judge them.
A typical week after launch
New connections are only part of it. In a typical week they read the failure log from the last few days. They work out why one order reached the ERP twice. They update a handler because a vendor added a field to its webhook data. They renew a token before it expires over a weekend. They also read the vendor change notes your team never opens. Acting on a retirement notice now is cheaper than after the endpoint goes quiet. Good integration work looks boring from the outside. That is the point of it.
Interview signals that matter
Ask them about the last integration that failed once live, and what they changed afterwards. Strong candidates answer with specifics. One is an event that arrived out of order. Others are a retry that charged twice, or an alert that fired too late. Then give them a scenario. Your CRM goes down for an hour and comes back. What happens to the events sent in between? You want queues, repeat-safe keys and a replay plan in the answer. Ask how they would find out it happened, too: from an alert, not a customer email. Candidates who only talk about libraries they like are describing the smooth path.
Access to sort before they start
Set up test (sandbox) accounts for every platform involved. Never paste live login details into a chat. Provide a secrets vault, or at least a shared password manager folder they can join. List admin contacts at each vendor, because some API limits can only be raised by asking. Share the existing integration code, however messy. Include any scripts someone runs by hand when a sync breaks. Most importantly, decide which system owns each piece of data. Say the CRM and the ERP both think they own the customer address. Then no engineering will stop them overwriting each other.
Where the role ends
An integration developer connects systems. They do not decide how your business processes should work. If sales and finance disagree on when an order counts as closed, settle that first. Otherwise the integration will faithfully automate the argument. They are also the wrong hire for a platform you have not chosen yet. Choosing vendors is a product or operations decision. And if you only need one data import, a scoped project costs less than an ongoing engagement. Bring them in when connections need building, watching and maintaining over time.
How it works
How hiring works,
with one contact throughout.
Start
Brief and a call
We sign an NDA, and you describe the platforms, your tech stack and the gap to PixelCrayons.
Once the brief is complete
Proposal and interview
We confirm when your proposal will arrive and name the ValueCoders specialist whose track record fits. You interview them on retries, rate limits and failures.
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
The work starts
They get code access and review your current integrations. They join your stand-ups and code review, and start on your integration code.
Every month
Scale up or down
Add a second specialist when the integration backlog grows, and step down when it doesn't. The same PixelCrayons account team handles it.
You make requests, give approvals and see the weekly review in your Prism workspace. Each decision is written down with the result it was meant to bring. See how Prism runs the work →
Get a Proposal
Meet the people who will do the work before you sign
Why through us
Why hire through us:
the developer and the account support behind them.
Hire API developer talent through PixelCrayons. We scope the role and manage your account, and ValueCoders supplies the developer. You get one contact and a well-matched specialist. It is always clear who answers for the work.
Vetted on real integrations
Every specialist we propose has built live syncs before yours. They are vetted against ValueCoders' own delivery standards. An interview shows how someone talks about safe retries. A sync that survived a real token expiry shows whether they built for it.
One point of contact for everything
PixelCrayons scopes the integration role and writes the proposal. As your one account team, we then handle escalation, billing and status. ValueCoders' specialist builds the syncs. ValueCoders is named as the delivery team on this page and throughout the work, never hidden behind our name.
Working inside your codebase
Your code repositories, your code review, your stand-ups, your tickets. Dedicated means writing code alongside your engineers, under your rules. You never get integrations as a black box you can't maintain once the work ends.
Notes your team can use
Integration maps, fix guides and login handover are written as the work happens. They are not pieced together at the end. If the specialist leaves, your team gets a system it can run, not a mystery with a login page.
Side by side
Hiring on your own,
compared with hiring through us.
An in-house hire is worth it once integration work is a permanent, full-time job, not a recurring backlog. We'll tell you plainly if that is where you are. Most teams need less than that.
| Hiring it yourself | Through PixelCrayons | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to a working specialist | A full recruiting cycle of sourcing, interviews and notice periods, then time to learn your integrations | A proposal, then an interview before anything is signed |
| Vetting | A CV and a technical interview; you find out if the retries work once a real webhook fails | A track record on real integrations, checked against ValueCoders' own standards |
| Management work | All yours: recruiting, then checking what every integration does when it fails | PixelCrayons' account team handles day-to-day contact and escalation; you choose which platforms connect next, not the admin |
| Scaling | A new hiring cycle each way: months to hire, severance to let go | Resize monthly: add a specialist or step down with a conversation |
| Risk when it doesn't work | A poor hire slows you down until it's noticed, then a difficult exit | If the fit is wrong, we propose someone else; leaving takes a handover call with integration maps, not a negotiation |
Who is accountable
The people responsible
for your work.
Saundaraya Gupta
Technical Manager
Brings technical work, client updates and project management together, so work moves smoothly from brief to launch.
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 we vet
How we vet an integration developer
and what to ask them.
ValueCoders vets against its own delivery standards before anyone is proposed. Your interview tests the part a demo never shows. What does the sync do when something on the other end goes wrong?
| What to test | The scenario | Red flag |
|---|---|---|
| Recovery after an outage | Your CRM goes down for an hour and comes back. Ask what happens to the events sent in between. | No queues, repeat-safe keys or replay plan in the answer. |
| Knowing it happened | Ask how they would find out about that outage. | A customer email. You want an alert that fires before anyone complains. |
| Failures in live systems | Ask about the last integration that failed once live, and what they changed afterwards. | Only the libraries they like. Strong answers name an event that arrived out of order, a retry that charged twice, or a late alert. |
| Honesty on a new platform | Name a platform in your stack they have not used. | Claiming they know it. The right answer is to say so, start in its test account and price the learning time honestly. |
| Data ownership | Ask what they need from you when your CRM and your ERP both hold the customer address. | Coding around the conflict instead of asking you to decide which system owns each piece of data. |
This role carries no trial. If your integrations fail in ways nobody has written down, expect the first fortnight to go on mapping what is already there. New work begins after that.
Questions
Frequently
asked.
ValueCoders, our sister company, employs them. PixelCrayons scopes the integration role, writes the one proposal and is your contact throughout. But the developer you interview and work with is on ValueCoders' team. We say so openly, here and for as long as the work runs, and never present them as ours.
We typically reply within four business hours. Once we have a complete brief, we confirm when your proposal will arrive. You interview the ValueCoders specialist before anything is signed. If your current integrations fail in ways nobody has written down, the first fortnight goes on mapping what's already there.
It starts with an NDA, then access to your code and platform test accounts. They review your current integrations and write up what they found. Then you agree the first month's priorities. They join your code review and stand-ups from week one. So changes happen inside your process, not alongside it.
We cover the platforms most engineering teams need connected. That means CRMs, ERPs and accounting tools, payment gateways, shipping providers and marketing tools. We use official APIs wherever one exists. If a platform is new to the specialist, they say so. They start in its test account and price the learning time honestly, rather than pretending to know it.
One person is enough for most setups: a single integration developer covers most tech stacks alone. A platform specialist or extra monitoring cover joins when the backlog needs it. The monthly resize works both ways. We'd rather propose one integration developer and add later than sell you a team too early.
Tell us early, and we swap in a different integration developer. That is a normal part of the engagement. The new developer gets the notes the first one kept: integration maps, fix guides and decisions. So a switch costs days, not a restart. If you need a scoped project rather than a person, we'll point you there.
Interview your integration developer
before you sign anything.
Tell PixelCrayons about the platforms and the gap. We scope the role and stay your point of contact throughout. Our sister company ValueCoders delivers the specialist under one written proposal. You meet the actual specialist before anything is signed. If you really need a project rather than a person, we'll say so on the first call.
Reply within four business hours (typical) · Interview before signing · Scale monthly
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