Beyond Technical Debt: DevFive Builds IT Services for Everyone

“It all began when I confronted a contradiction: why did the braille sign in a university hallway have to say only ‘Professor’s Office’ instead of giving the professor’s name?” Oh Jung-min, CEO of DevFive Co., Ltd., recalled an episode from his university days as he explained what prompted him to start the company. “Although braille signs were legally required, a student with a visual impairment could stand in front of a door and still have no way to tell whether it was the professor’s office they were looking for,” he said. He pointed out that “while braille hardware printers were replaced with the latest models year after year, the essential software that converts text into braille remained stuck in an outdated system from 15 years ago.” Perhaps this was the result of years of neglect by an IT industry that had set the issue aside over concerns about commercial viability.

Seeing this neglect as “a debt software engineers must shoulder,” Oh chose without hesitation to start a company in 2021. His sense of obligation—that if no one else would solve the problem, engineers should repay the debt themselves—led to the development of Braillify Studio, a web editor that lets users edit print text and braille together on one screen in real time. He also released Braillify, a high-precision Korean-to-braille translation algorithm based on National Institute of Korean Language standards, as free, unrestricted open source, taking the lead in breaking down barriers to equal access to information. It was a determined effort by a young engineer intent on making a positive impact through technology rather than chasing immediate profits.

But DevFive cannot be defined solely as a developer of solutions for the public good. With strong full-stack capabilities spanning planning, UI/UX design, frontend and backend development, and cloud operations, the company has demonstrated top-tier development expertise by completing a series of enterprise projects for key institutions that demand high levels of security and integrity. We spoke with DevFive CEO Oh Jung-min about how the company is demonstrating both an engineer’s commitment to sharing open-source digital inclusion technology for underserved people and the ability to execute as a comprehensive IT partner that skillfully handles complex business logic.

DevFive CEO Jungmin Oh. Photo: Newseconomy.

What defines DevFive Co., Ltd.?

DevFive is a comprehensive IT company that uses its AI and web and mobile application development capabilities to turn clients’ business ideas into high-performance services. We aim to be a full-stack partner responsible for every stage of a digital product, from planning, UI/UX design, and frontend and backend development to post-launch operations and maintenance. Our primary identity is not that of a contractor that simply writes and delivers code, but of a partner that designs for scalability, security, performance, and user experience (UX) from the outset to create results clients can trust over the long term.

At the same time, DevFive develops its own solutions to narrow gaps in access to information through technology. We are continuing to improve Braillify Studio, a web-based editor for producing books with both print text and braille that lets users edit the two on one screen and check the printed layout in real time. We have also released the Korean-to-braille translation engine Braillify and the lightweight interface library DevUp UI as open source for the wider community. DevFive’s distinctive direction is to develop two strengths in tandem: powerful development capabilities that drive enterprise clients’ growth and engineering expertise that addresses structural problems in society.

What are your main technologies at present?

DevFive does not merely claim to possess the technology; it demonstrates its quality through objective benchmark figures. Its in-house Braillify Studio, currently under development, is a professional editor that lets users edit print text and braille side by side in a web browser and review the printed layout in real time. In the past, braille-related technologies were often kept closed or their algorithms concealed because of competing interests. DevFive, by contrast, is working to build technical trust by disclosing its accuracy scores transparently.

To maximize the software’s perceived performance, DevFive also developed the open-source UI library DevUp UI, which ranked first for lightweight software bundle size in a global framework benchmark. Compared with libraries from global Big Tech companies, it has the smallest post-build file size and runs the fastest. DevFive believes that proving technical capability with numbers and sharing it with the ecosystem is the most important principle an engineer should uphold.

From enterprise systems integration to AI consulting, what gives DevFive a competitive edge as a comprehensive IT company?

At DevFive’s core is a comprehensive IT service that handles the entire process of planning, UI/UX, architecture design, development and long-term operation for web and mobile applications. It provides modern technology stacks—including React Native, Next.js, TypeScript and Rust—optimized for each project’s goals. Beyond implementing the visual interface, it plans for search engine optimization (SEO), loading speed and ease of maintenance from the outset. Drawing on this rigorous structural design capability, DevFive has successfully carried out projects for key institutions and companies where security and stability are paramount.

DevFive aims to be a comprehensive IT company because solving clients’ underlying bottlenecks requires a balanced command of the entire technology process. Being a small company does not mean settling for a single specialized function; DevFive wants to be a partner that takes full responsibility, from initial planning to traffic management after launch.

What does DevFive want its company to stand for?

DevFive hopes to be remembered not simply as a profitable company, but as ‘a dependable technology company that, as engineers, delivers a high standard of work in every area.’ Its foremost responsibility is to provide clients with digital assets built for robust scalability and performance, without compromising quality or trust for short-term profit.

Personally, an important goal is to completely clear the technical debt that has long been neglected in information accessibility for people with visual impairments. I want to encourage more developers and institutions to take an interest in this field and prevent a break in technological progress. I currently serve on the Ministry of Science and ICT’s 2030 Policy Advisory Group and am also contributing to policy proposals that address unmet needs in the field through institutional measures. I ask for your warm support as DevFive works to build a healthy ecosystem in which technology makes a real difference in the lives of those who have been left behind and all members of society can share equally in the benefits of digital technology.