Behind the scenes of NerdWallet’s QA overhaul

The challenge

Laying the groundwork for automation and efficiency

NerdWallet was working on a large-scale idea of building a dedicated QA department from the ground up to ensure the quality of their products. They were also looking for a reliable and more efficient infrastructure to support their Test Automation efforts, enabling more accurate and quicker testing of their web and mobile applications. To ensure consistent quality and reliable testing of their products, NerdWallet decided to set up well-defined Quality Assurance and Test Automation processes that could be implemented throughout their organization.

They had two key goals: reducing manual efforts by shifting time from manual testing to higher-level tasks and ensuring the stability of existing functionality throughout the process while meeting internal standards and driving continuous innovation.

The approach

Security-driven test automation

Security is a key requirement in any project implementation. NerdWallet ran strict security protocols and used a separate Wi-Fi network with a whitelist of IP addresses (a common practice in Fintech apps) to meet the security requirements. In addition, they developed Yutil—a JSON-supporting tool that allowed us to accurately simulate the third-party interactions and changes associated with bank accounts, credit scores, and cashback cards without affecting the production level.

To enhance mobile testing, NerdWallet built a private mobile cloud using Solvd’s MCloud solution. The cloud consisted of real devices, including 36 iOS and 38 Android devices dedicated solely to the NerdWallet project. They provided full support for the cloud, including simultaneous support for 14, 15, 16 iOS, and 9-13 Android versions. NerdWallet also developed special scripts that were tested rigorously to ensure stability and optimal functionality.

By applying multithreading and continuous test case updates, they significantly boosted testing capacity—processing 720 deep links per day for Android/iOS, 1,000 unique mobile tests, and 700 DataProvider tests. These efforts allowed NerdWallet to build a reliable and high-quality product.

The outcome

Reshaping the QA culture to increase testing efficiency and product quality

NerdWallet implemented industry-leading tools and information frameworks that ensured access to the best resources available while optimizing costs by providing the right number of dedicated devices with full private cloud support. As a result, NerdWallet successfully transformed its QA culture and adopted new ideas and approaches that led to superior testing efficiency and product quality.

Solvd,Inc. is involved in all QA tasks that we do across the board. Their team brought in tools and information frameworks they had already established in order to manage similar systems. They are the main execution drivers on all of our regression testing and on all of our development projects as well.

Marina Ryzhikova Vice President, Engineering
Operations at NerdWallet