Inside TestFort: A Conversation with Igor Kovalenko, QA Lead and Mentor

Welcome to this exclusive interview with Igor Kovalenko, Engineering Quality Leader at TestFort.

With more than 10 years of experience in software testing and quality assurance, Igor has been helping enterprises and scale-ups accelerate product delivery through AI-driven testing and modern QA strategies.

Igor believes quality goes beyond bug detection — it’s about building trust, transforming processes, and ensuring lasting impact for businesses.

Thanks so much, Igor, for taking the time to chat with us and share your journey!

To start, Igor, could you tell us a bit about your background — your early life, education, and how your journey in quality assurance began? What inspired you to focus on enterprise-scale QA and explore the potential of AI-driven testing?

I was born and raised in Ukraine and studied computer science at the European University in Kyiv. I began my career in banking and progressed to become a senior manager, responsible for developing the branch network.

In 2017, I moved into software testing. Back then, testing was often treated as a late-stage bug hunt. I saw it differently: if you call yourself a quality engineer, you take responsibility for more than defects — you design reliable processes that let products scale. That mindset drew me into enterprise-scale QA, where quality is directly tied to business outcomes.

Since then, I’ve worked with clients in fintech, healthcare, and large-scale SaaS. Today, my focus is on AI-driven testing. I am a strong advocate of a system where AI handles repetitive work, allowing testers to focus on edge cases and business logic.

TestFort is part of QArea Group, which has been in the market for over 20 years. From your perspective, how does TestFort benefit from being under the QArea umbrella?

Being under the QArea umbrella gives TestFort access to a much broader pool of expertise. We can collaborate with strong development and DevOps specialists, share knowledge across teams, and maintain higher maturity in processes.

QArea works with demanding enterprise clients, so the standards for delivery, compliance, and security are strict. That raises the bar for TestFort too. Inside the group, there’s even a bit of friendly competition on who improves processes faster or adds more certifications. The result is that our clients get teams that are always sharpening their expertise.

From the client side, it must feel less like two separate companies and more like a group where development and quality expertise reinforce each other.

Do you see TestFort and QArea as complementary brands or distinct directions for clients, and could you share some examples where QArea’s development expertise and TestFort’s QA specialization have worked together to create impact for clients?

Both. QArea has its own testers, but mostly for smaller or standard development projects. TestFort comes into play when QA becomes a critical success factor, such as with large-scale systems, complex architectures, performance testing, or advanced automation.

For example, many clients start with QArea for development. As the project grows, they realize QA needs to mature beyond a couple of manual testers. That’s where TestFort steps in: we bring in automation engineers, domain experts, and frameworks aligned with TMMi maturity levels.

In some projects, we also introduce AI-assisted testing tools to accelerate execution, analyze patterns in defects, generate smarter test data, and free human experts to focus on critical risks.

Together, QArea and TestFort create full-cycle coverage. Clients don’t have to manage multiple vendors, and it speeds everything up.

From your perspective, what advantages do clients gain from working with a QA partner that’s backed by a larger software group, rather than with an independent QA vendor?

The main advantage is maturity. As part of QArea, TestFort’s QA experts are not isolated — they are part of a group with established CMMI Level 3 processes, shared learning programs, and strong cross-functional collaboration.

Clients benefit from that: they get QA engineers who not only know testing tools but also understand how QA aligns with development, DevOps, and business processes.

And they get access to a diverse pool of narrow specialists, which is hard to find in independent QA vendors.

Let’s move into your personal expertise. Igor, with your long experience in FinTech, what makes QA in this field especially challenging? How do you balance compliance, security, and speed — and do new regulations like PSD2 or open banking change the way you approach QA?

Fintech is one of the most demanding fields for QA. Every release must balance three things: compliance, security, and speed. Regulations like PSD2 and open banking have already raised the bar, and now we also see the EU Accessibility Act, DORA, and the EU AI Act adding new layers of control.

There are more regulations than ever. That means our QA has to cover everything from encryption and secure integrations to usability under load. For example, a login process must be both compliant and fast — no customer will wait over 20 seconds for “security checks.”

The challenge is to maintain speed without compromising speed and accessibility, and that requires both domain knowledge and technical precision.

You often emphasize AI and modern practices in QA. How do you see AI and automation changing the way we test in the next few years — especially when it comes to big shifts like cloud migration or moving away from legacy systems?

AI is no longer a side tool in QA — it’s becoming part of the core workflow. We already apply it not just to automate tests, but to validate AI-driven systems themselves: checking datasets, measuring bias, and monitoring model behavior.

Two more shifts are coming soon. First, QA will move even closer to the start of development. Instead of waiting for features to be coded, quality checks will influence design and architecture decisions from day one.

Second, AI will take over a lot of the groundwork — generating test data at scale, catching hidden edge cases, and continuously watching production systems for anomalies.

That changes the role of QA engineers. It’s less about running manual scripts and more about building intelligent guardrails for complex systems.

Alongside technology, leadership is a major part of your role. Leading remote teams isn’t easy. How do you keep them aligned and motivated, while also mentoring juniors and ensuring enterprise-level results?

I believe clarity and trust are the foundation. With distributed teams, over-control doesn’t work. Instead, I focus on clear goals, open communication, and personal growth.

That’s also why I always spare time for mentoring — juniors need guidance and visible progress to stay motivated, while seniors need smart autonomy and recognition.

I run regular syncs to align on priorities, but I also give space for problem-solving. Motivation comes when people see that their work has a real impact on enterprise clients. That sense of ownership is stronger than any formal control.

How do you personally define and measure “impact” in QA — is it faster releases, fewer bugs, higher client satisfaction, or something else?

Impact is when quality becomes almost invisible. Releases go out as planned, clients don’t see bugs in production, and users simply trust the product. We measure it with numbers — fewer production incidents, faster cycles, higher coverage, lower cost of fixing defects.

But impact is also the feeling behind those numbers. It’s when a product manager doesn’t need to second-guess a release, when a client can focus on growing their business instead of firefighting, when a team feels confident in what they ship. That peace of mind is just as valuable as any metric.

Where do you see TestFort/QArea’s QA services heading in the next 5 years?

I don’t make big strategy statements — that’s the role of general management. From my perspective, I clearly see QA moving earlier into development and more tightly integrated into product design.

AI will play a bigger role in both testing processes and in the products we test. I also expect more regional competition — clients will push for more value at lower cost. The companies that can combine innovation with efficiency will win.

On a lighter note, if you could automate one thing in your personal life the way you do in testing, what would it be?

Probably planning my week. In QA, we manage priorities, risks, and dependencies all the time. Doing the same in personal life — balancing work, family, and hobbies — could use some automation too.

Finally, Igor, if you could leave QA professionals and tech leaders with one guiding principle to make a lasting impact, what would it be?

Never forget that quality is about trust. Tools, metrics, and automation matter, but at the end of the day, businesses work with us because they trust their product will perform as promised. Keep that focus, and everything else falls into place.

Thanks, Igor. It’s been great hearing your story and gaining insight into the impact you’re making in quality assurance and leadership at TestFort!

TestFort is one of the leading companies on TechBehemoths. If you like this interview and think that Igor and his team can help your business, don't hesitate to contact them via TechBehemoths or discover the agency on social media: LinkedIn.