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©2024
XXI season
Competition
Judges
We've rounded up the best of the best judges to support and inspire you this season.
Those are people who have serious achievements in the categories they judge. But that's not the main thing.
Each of them is here to give you the most comprehensive and high-quality analysis of your potential. To help you grow and become more aware of your strengths and weaknesses. Check out the full list. Maybe this season there will be someone you have been dreaming of meeting for a long time.
macOS Judges
San Byn Nguyen
Senior Software Engineer @ MacPaw
Ukraine
Senior Software Engineer at MacPaw with over four years of experience in iOS and macOS development. Specializing in computer vision and graphics, San contributes to the CleanMy®Phone app and is currently pursuing a PhD in Software Engineering at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, researching super-resolution and compression algorithms.
Vitalii Budnik
Acting Head of Desktop & Mobile Engineering @ MacPaw
Turkey
Acting Head of Desktop & Mobile Engineering at MacPaw, with over 20 years of development experience, including 8+ years in iOS and macOS. He is passionate about automation, continuous integration, and enhancing Developer Experience, with a focus on delivering high-quality applications.
Dmytro Kurochka
Software Engineer @ Amazon
USA
Dedicated Software Development Engineer with a decade of experience crafting innovative iOS applications. Proven ability to lead projects from inception to deployment, delivering high-quality solutions that meet user needs and business objectives. Passionate about staying at the forefront of mobile technology and leveraging agile methodologies to drive efficient development processes.
Ivan Tkachenko
Senior Software Engineer @ Google UK
UK
Senior software engineer with a passion for UX and Motion, specialising in app development across Android, iOS, and macOS platforms. Contributed to Google's Android platform Multitasking, Revolut's platform framework, and Yelp's location intelligence team. Led the design and development of PlanetaKino's mobile applications.
Backend Judges
Volodymyr Sveredyuk
CTO @ DEV Challenge
Ukraine
Volodya is the Winner of the DEV Challenge. Now he is also CTO and Lead Backend Judge. Volodya is Head of Product Engineering Managed Services Provider in SPsoft.
Iana Mykhailenko
Director of Engineering @ Turnitin
Ukraine
Judge and mentor of international competitions and hackathons, and moderator of the “How to Become a Great CTO” meetup series. She works as Director Of Engineering at Turnitin – the most famous anti-plagiarism program in the world.
Oleksandr Khnykin
Backend Guild Master @ SKELAR
Ukraine
Backend Guild Master at TENTENS Tech by SKELAR with over 10 years of development experience, including 4+ years in management. Currently leads the backend guild, overseeing 8 development teams and 20+ backend engineers.
Alex Kovalchuk
CTO @ Cargofy
USA
Technology enthusiast who worked at the Space Research Institute, where he was involved in developing cutting-edge technology for space exploration. He also runs a YouTube "Алекс про IT" channel where he shares his experiences, tips, and tricks on technology and exploration.
Marek Miltner
Research Scholar and Teaching Fellow Coordinator @ Stanford University
USA / Czech Republic
Technology leader specializing in AI applications for sustainability. Currently, he is a researcher at Stanford University and Czech Technical University, however, before that, he had 10 years of experience in technical and management roles at startups and industry-leading companies.
Slava Petrochenko
Software Development Manager @ Amazon
UK
Software Development Manager at Amazon in London. With a background in mobile development, he has held key roles at Ring, Star, and Concepter. Slava has a Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and is skilled in leadership, risk management, and stakeholder management. He is passionate about building high-performing teams and driving innovation.
Ruslan Shevchenko
System Architect @ ZAKA
Ukraine
Ph.D. in Computer Science, founder of the UA Scala user group, and co-author of "Methods of Algebraic Programming". He has a background in founding NBI internet provider and GradSoft software company. Currently, he works as a software architect and researcher and actively contributes as a columnist to the Ukrainian developer community.
Dmytro Kosmakov
Senior Software Development Engineer@ Amazon UK
UK
Dmytro Kosmakov is a tech leader with 12+ years of experience in backend systems. Currently optimizing Amazon's transportation network for efficiency and sustainability, he also mentors and judges software competitions. His skills include Java, Kotlin, Spring, and AWS services, with personal interests in running, cooking Thai food, and playing piano.
Zinovii Zubko
Senior Software Engineer @ Meta UK
UK
Senior Software Engineer at Meta in the UK. His impressive career path includes leading infrastructure efforts at a US cybersecurity firm (Exabeam) and founding spellar.ai, a productivity app for macOS users. He has also achieved recognition in coding competitions, placing second in a prestigious DEV Challenge competition. Driven by a desire to give back, he is passionate about fostering the tech community.
Testing Judges
Oleksii Ostapov
Senior Test Automation Engineer @ NCube Ltd
Ukraine
Head of QA, Automation Engineer, Pythonista with 15+ years of experience in SW testing. Author of manual, test automation and performance testing courses. Co-founder of Ukrainian testing blog – QA Mania and speaker of the DOU QA podcast.
Nataliia Pyslar
Senior Software Development Engineer Test @ doxy.me
Ukraine
Test Automation with .NET experience, popular Ukrainian YouTube tech blogger Popeliuha, author of 5 testing courses, on Udemy as well. Also, she teaches manual and auto-testing from scratch.
Sebastian Małyska
Quality Assurance Engineer @ Smart Coders s.c.
Poland
Specialist in telecommunications and electronics with 20 years of experience in QA, including roles as a tester, QA lead, and manager. Speaker at international conferences and member of event committees. Founder of ŁuczniczQA meetup and former President of the Polish Testing Board. Member of the ISTQB® Executive Committee and IREB® community.
Arnika Hryszko
QA Chapter Lead @ Volvo Group
Poland
Quality evangelist operating at every level of solution development, from the requirements collection and tests with users to the final product delivery. Coach and mentor. An accredited ISTQB Trainer, and President of the Polish Testing Board.
Artem Grygorenko
Founder @ Severe QA Community
Cyprus
Manager with 10+ years of experience in IT. Speaker and author of quality assurance and people management webinars and conferences. Blogger, Podcaster.
Roman Marinsky
Core Quality CoE expert @ Intellias
Ukraine
Advanced Test Automation Engineer, who managed pre-sales of quality services, built from scratch, and lifted test automation. He is the leader of the QA Club Lviv community and, a member of the program committees for Selenium Camp and QAFest.
Iaroslav Dobrosynets
QA Automation Engineer @ illuvium.io
Ukraine
Automation QA Engineer with 9+ years of experience in QA, including roles as Manual QA Engineer, Automation QA engineer, QA Lead and QA Manager. The winner of TestUAStartUps and UAWebChallenge in QA nomination(now Devchallenge). Experienced mentor and lecturer. Crazy owner of two cats and shiba-inu.
Frontend Judges
Roman Savitskyi
Co-founder @ BeerJS Zhytomyr
Ukraine
An experienced IT professional with over 15 years in the industry, Roman leads the Web & Mobile Solutions team at Infopulse. He is actively involved in the Ukrainian JavaScript community, co-founding BeerJS Zhytomyr and contributing to events like OdessaJS and VinnytsaJS. Roman is also a frequent speaker, sharing his expertise on frontend development and JavaScript.
Oleksii Kaliuzhnyi
Head Of Web Development @ Zgraya Digital
Ukraine
Experienced front-end developer with over 15 years in the industry. Specializes in advanced web animations using GreenSock and ThreeJS. Finalist and judge at multiple DEV Challenge competitions, with award-winning work recognized on platforms like awwwards.com.
Serhii Babich
Senior Software Engineer @ DataRobot
Ukraine
Regular judge of DEV Challenge and a frontend developer with 13+ years of experience. He actively shares his knowledge through his YouTube channel "Serhii Babich and the Amazing World of Web Development" and Telegram channel "The Same Babich".
Tetiana Melnyk
Engineering Manager @ Projector Institute
Ukraine
Engineering Manager at Projector Institute with a background in front-end development, from legacy IE6 to modern React. Experienced in both small outsourcing firms and large product companies, now also teaching the "Frontend Beginning" course.
Borys Mohyla
Lead Software Engineer @ EPAM Systems
Ukraine
Regular Frontend Judge at DEV Challenge. Co-organizer and chairman of the VinnytsiaJS program committee – a conference of JavaScript, gathering Front-end developers across Ukraine.
Ihor Tsvietkov
Technical Lead @ Itera
Ukraine
Igor has 10+ years of commercial experience on the web, but he created his first website back in 2004 and has experience as a mentor, teacher, team leader, and tech lead. Currently, he is mainly engaged in front-end development but is interested in online security issues. I am convinced that in the current environment, it is incredibly important.
Yevhen Andrikanych
Founder @ Freelancer lifestyle
Ukraine
Web developer and freelancer since 2008. Founder of the educational platform "Freelancer for Life." He shares his expertise in web development and freelancing, helping others build successful careers in IT while maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Dedicated to his family and passionate about Ukraine.
Vadym Ilchenko
CTO @ Mate academy
Ukraine
With over 8 years in Tech, Vadim started his career as a frontend developer in 2017. Since 2020, he has been the Lead Engineer and CTO at the EdTech startup Mate academy. He’s also a volunteer at the Social Drone project, where he has built over 142 drones to support the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Maksym Rudnyi
Frontend Engineer @ Proxet
Ukraine
Experienced developer with over 11 years in the field, including 6 years specializing in React. He creates educational courses and runs a YouTube channel where he shares his knowledge of front-end development. Maksym specializes in code quality and project performance optimization and actively supports developer communities.
Product Design Judges
Natalia Filvarova
UX Researcher @ Google
Germany
UX & Product specialist driven by empathy and data, building products from scratch, leading young teams and driving communities. She is an active speaker and lecturer at events and companies such as HelloFresh, dev.pro, University of Oxford, iScientist.
Yuri Ternytsky
Co-Author @ Practical Product Design
Ukraine
Design Leader with 17+ years of experience. Expert in product design, UX, and user research. Certified in UX Management from Nielsen-Norman Group and Professional Scrum with User Experience from Scrum.org. Specializes in driving efficiency and innovation within teams and businesses across various creative industries.
Nik Page
Product Creator @ Nik Page Experience Strategy & Design
Czech Republic
Product Creator & Experience Designer, Innovation Leader, Consultant, and Coach who launched his first tech startup in 1979. He is an active speaker and participated in more than 25 conferences around the world.
Vadym Shcherbakov
Product Design Lead @ Nationwide Building Society
UK
Product Design Lead with 15+ years of experience in data-driven design, product analytics, and design leadership. Currently working in the Digital Innovation team on Conversational Banking and Generative AI.
Wolfgang Bremer
Design Executive, Fortune 500s & Global Startups
Germany
Award-winning designer with 20+ years of experience. Led global design teams for Fortune 500 companies and highly funded startups. Created products used by tens of millions in 190+ countries. Combines design expertise with product knowledge to build outstanding consumer and business solutions, focusing on simplifying people's lives.
Alex Khomutov
Senior Product Designer @ Double
USA
With over 10 years in digital product design, Alex Khomutov has crafted experiences for more than 30 million users worldwide. At Readdle, he worked on award-winning apps like Calendars and Scanner Pro 8. Now based in Los Angeles, he continues his work as a Senior Product Designer at Double.
UI Design Judges
Yulia Zhukovska
Senior UI/UX Designer @ Hillel IT School
Ukraine
A UX/UI Design Expert with extensive experience in creating standout web platforms. Specializes in complex product design for data analysis, focusing on CRM systems and Smart Customer Engagement tools. Delivers end-to-end solutions from problem identification to user testing.
Liza Khlopkova
Сo-Founder & CPO @ seven24.ai
Canada
Co-founder and CPO at seven24.ai, she is one of the top Ukrainian YouTube bloggers in the UX/UI design space (26k subscribers, Liza Pro Design). Featured in Forbes and ain.ua, she has raised around $500,000 across her startups. She loves design more than anything, and all her achievements are due to her decision to start a career as a designer. That's why she loves sharing knowledge and coding people into this profession.
Mike Samovarov
Co-Founder, Design Director @ League Design Agency
Ukraine
Founder and former CEO of League Design Agency, growing the team from 20 to 60 employees. He has worked in Ukrainian and U.S. agencies, judged design competitions, and spoken at major events. Named Best Instructor at Dan-IT, his team has won 60+ awards and has been featured in design books and Slanted magazine.
Olha Uzhykova
Co-Founder & Design Director @ Noomo Agency
USA
Co-founder and Design Director at Noomo Agency, a digital design agency specializing in creating interactive storytelling experiences. Webby and Awwwards judge. Winner of Webby, RedDot, FWA, CSS Design Awards, and Website of the Year on Awwwards.
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