Happy birthday to us!
20 fun facts about Forte Group's 20th anniversary

This year, Forte Group turns 20 years old! Although this grand event has fallen during the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re not letting that stop the celebration –we’ll just go online to celebrate the milestone birthday instead. For example, you can try on exclusive anniversary-themed masks on Instagram. There are two available masks on our Forte Group Ukraine and Forte Group Belarus pages as well.

Twenty years is a long time. Throughout that time, Forte Group has grown from a small testing team of just eight people to a large consulting company of more than 500 people, with clients all over the world. Today, Forte Group consists of talented developers, meticulous testers, results-driven product owners, ambitious salespeople, creative designers and marketers, dedicated HR managers, inspiring managers, and so many more. We are a team that helps businesses to evolve with the help of technology. Together, we share the value that we’re “driven to succeed.” 

Below, we’ve compiled a list of 20 facts about Forte Group so that you can learn more about the history and culture of our company.

1. Forte Group was founded in 2000, in Chicago, by Steve Kreynin. The first key focus for the company’s activities was automated testing. 

2. In 2009, Forte Group opened two offices simultaneously in Minsk, Belarus and Ternopil, Ukraine. During this period, Forte began to perform as a global software development company. On September 8, we celebrate the birthday of European offices. Around this date every year, the “Forties” from Belarus and Ukraine hold a team summer field event. 

3. Forte Group operates from six offices in four countries. Our headquarters is in Chicago (USA), and we have delivery centers in Minsk (Belarus), Ternopil (Ukraine), Kyiv (Ukraine), Brest (Belarus), and Medellin (Colombia). 

4. In total, Forte has more than 500 employees. Most of our software developers work from the Minsk (190) and Ternopil (158) offices.

5. Forte Group’s culture is based on four pillars: People, Time, Quality, and Dedication. We prefer to be a team rather than a family. This is a principle our employees learn on their first day and carry on throughout their work. 

6. Among the Forties across the globe, 70 percent are male and 30 percent are female. That’s a statistic we’ve improved in recent years, but are still working to achieve a 50-50 ratio. However, our Minsk office is more diverse, with 5 percent more female staff than male staff. 

7. On June 1, 2020, the Minsk team moved to a new spacious office at 3b Dzerzhinsky Avenue. This is the largest and most modern of all the company’s offices, and it accommodates more than 200 people. 

8. JavaScript, .Net and Java are the top three technologies that are always in demand for our projects. We have thorough expertise within the framework of these technologies, and constantly offer internships, courses, and sessions for knowledge sharing. Most of our employees in the Ternopil office are engaged in testing and recruitment, while Kyiv employees work in web and mobile development.

9. We have more than 300 successful projects in our portfolio. We are experts in developing applications, testing complex platforms, and assisting companies in pursuing digital transformation in finance, law, e-commerce, and logistics. Apart from that, we actively work on projects involving the Internet of things (IoT), healthcare, and e-learning domains. 

10. Our brand identity has three corporate colors: blue, light gray, and dark gray. But mostly, we go by the letter F with an accent on top.

11. Forte Group’s first client was the Danish bank ABN AMRO. The project included building a QA Center of Excellence with the bank, which is now considered a standard for any banking system. As part of the project, the team launched several interactive services, which were acquired by The Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) a few years later.

12. The “Question and learn” principle is integral to our organization’s DNA. We have rigorous interview practices to hire the best technology professionals on the market. Our goal is to let our employees grow with us, not only in terms of their technical skills, but also to sharpen their soft skills, team leadership, and security skills. We want our employees to become full-fledged IT experts.

13. Our first logo was slightly different from the logos we use now. Judge for yourself! 🙂

14. Our website design has also evolved over the years. You can compare how our homepage looked when we first started out and how it looks now.

15. Our offices are pet-friendly. Yes, we are always happy to welcome our employees’ pets. By the way, the most popular pets among the Forties in Minsk are corgis. In Ternopil, besides cats and dogs, there are turtles, a chameleon, and even an axolotl.

16. Forte Chicago has monthly lunches in the HQ office where every employee in the US can come and join. It always takes place once a month. The most employees we’ve had has been 45 in one day!

17. Speaking of company traditions, every winter, many Forte employees go to Bukovel to conquer the mountain peaks.

18. The favorite Forte Group merch item in the Minsk office is a green Forte-branded hoodie. Forties can easily be identified in the city thanks to these stylish (and comfortable!) hoodies.

19. There are currently 20 teams in Minsk, working in development, testing, support, and design. 

20. The largest Forte Group team consists of 31 people. They work with a financial corporation that serves its clients across the United States, Europe, Asia, Canada, and Latin America.