The Story Behind the Work

Gil Austin founded Coretechs in 1986 in the Washington DC metro area with a single guiding principle: build software that solves real problems, and stand behind it. The first years were custom database systems and business software for local companies — work that demanded reliability over flash.

In 1988, Travisa came on board — a visa and passport services company that needed systems nobody else could build. They're still a client today, 37 years later.

Federal agencies in the DC metro area started taking notice. Coretechs built its first government systems — secure document tracking, internal workflow automation, and case management tools for agencies that needed accountability baked into the code.

The government work set a standard carried into every project after it: systems had to be auditable, maintainable, and built to last — not built to impress.

As the internet became a business tool, existing clients needed to connect their systems to the web. Coretechs moved with them — building early web applications, client portals, and database-driven sites before most agencies understood what those were.

The offshore trend was emerging. Coretechs made an early decision: stay US-based, stay close to clients, and compete on quality rather than hourly rate.

Post dot-com crash, businesses needed real software — not just websites. Mid-size companies had outgrown off-the-shelf CRMs and ERPs, but couldn't afford enterprise licensing. Coretechs filled that gap with fully custom systems built around how each business actually worked.

Team growth came through long-term client growth — not aggressive hiring. More projects from existing clients who trusted the work.

Project-by-project work gave way to multi-year retainer relationships. Clients who'd seen Coretechs deliver once wanted the same team embedded in their operations permanently — developers who knew the system history, not new contractors reading old documentation.

The average developer tenure at Coretechs began pulling well ahead of industry averages. People who joined stayed. That continuity became a product feature.

The smartphone changed what clients needed from software. Coretechs added native iOS and Android development — field apps for government agencies, mobile companions to existing systems, and consumer-facing applications for companies expanding their digital footprint.

Real device testing. Real App Store experience. Not outsourced to a separate mobile shop — built by the same team that knew the backend.

Legacy systems needed to communicate with modern platforms. Coretechs led cloud migrations for clients who couldn't afford downtime — careful lift-and-shift operations that kept production running throughout the transition.

REST APIs connecting 10-year-old infrastructure to new SaaS tools. Middleware that bridged what clients had with what they needed. Unglamorous and exactly right.

When the pandemic forced remote work on every team, Coretechs clients barely noticed. The team had been running documentation-driven, async-capable processes for years — not because of COVID, but because it was the right way to work.

Delivery continued on schedule. No offshore contingency plans were needed, because the team was already built for distributed work without sacrificing accountability.

As AI tools matured into production-ready capabilities, Coretechs integrated them deliberately — not as a talking point, but as a force multiplier for the existing team. Automated QA pipelines, AI-assisted code review, intelligent workflow automation for client systems.

The team got faster without getting bigger. The same careful, deliberate approach that defined 1986 defined 2023.

The tools changed. The stack changed. The industry went through dot-com, mobile, cloud, offshore, and AI — each wave bringing new vendors who promised to replace the last. Coretechs absorbed each shift and kept delivering.

A US-based team that answers when you call, knows your system by name, and has been doing this long enough to have learned from every type of mistake — so you don't have to.