Software Testing Interview – Points to remember

The are several factors that influence your behavior during an interview. Even if you have a thorough knowledge of the software testing process, you tend to get mixed up and blabber out irrelevant case studies. Hence, it is important that you sketch out a proper strategy before the interview. 

Job Profile and Resume

It Staffing Services, it staffing agencies and technical staffing agencies will be searching for two things that will be correlated with you  throughout the interview is your resume and the required job profile. So, the first step is to fully understand the requirements and the skills required for a job. Accordingly, you need to  prepare your resume. You can categorize your skill sets in terms of  expertise level. They can be expert, mediocre and basic level. This sets an expectation level for the interviewer. Also, you can now expect questions of the corresponding complexity. Also, know your resume better. You must be able to provide good information about the success claims in your resume.

Testing Concepts:

Manual tester, automation tester or test manager, whatever be the role, a conceptual clarity forms the main base. But only a conceptual knowledge will not carry through. Along with testing concepts technical staffing agencies also look for candidates strong at software engineering concepts   Clarity and instinct of confidently determining which testing s or techniques to apply at which phase of the development phase is more impressive. While in an interview discuss case studies briefly and to the point. It is possible that  you may not have worked on some testing types and techniques. It staffing agencies expect you to acquire  required knowledge whichever job you opt for. However,  increasing the knowledge base is not a task which has to be done only before an interview. It has to be a continuous process. This will keep you updated on the latest developments as well as keep you interview-ready all the time. For software testing freshers, uTest is a very good starting point. 

Before approaching any IT Staffing Services, it staffing agency or technical staffing agencies, practice manual exploratory testing. It is the most useful skill for a software testing career. This skill also helps in starting a career in automation testing. The exact tools to master for testing depends on job to job. So,  you will need to research and find out the tools, gain adequate knowledge on them and finally look out for jobs with the tool set of your choice.

Extended knowledge

Further knowledge in the areas of database/SQL queries, scripting language, networking and system administration will gain you an added advantage in domain specific projects. If a case is presented to you for your opinion on test strategy, first look into the design document, sequence diagram and the data flow diagram instead of the requirement specifications. 

Practical Approach and Body Language

While answering questions, it is necessary to keep a very  practical approach rather than ideal bookish language or definition. An interview is not like a written test. Chattering long, well known definitions are not going to make things better. Interviewers are more interested to know your interpretation of  the theories and your approach in problem solving.  

Dress smartly because if you look good, you feel good. Maintain eye contact throughout the communication. Hear what the interviewer is saying. Listen well and do not waffle. More than 80% of the communication occurs through body language; hence make sure your body language does not send negative vibrations from your end. Smile. 

Conclusion

Most of the time you may not have worked on too many diverse testing projects. But knowing more than your experience can  help in better answering the different questions asked by the interviewer. Having an edge in single dimension does not help in an interview. Knowledge without confidence, attitude without skills or problem solving without innovation does not attract preference. Hence, once you have the required knowledge and skill set, expand your logical aptitude and be confident and positive.

Top Interview Questions and Answers For Software Testing

Software testing is a crucial element of the Software Development Lifecycle. In this write-up we will go through some of the common questions that you may be asked at the time of a software testing interview. Keep in mind that the answers provided here are just for guidance. You have complete liberty to modify and expand the answers if you want.  

What is the procedure to create a test script?

Ans: 1^st Step – Completely understand the Application Under Test (AUT)
 

i)                    Read the requirement doc carefully.

ii)                   If there is no requirement doc, try to get an idea from the point of references like a previous or old version of the app, screen shots or wire-frames.

2^nd Step – After you understand the requirement, make a list of what portions of this app have to be tested. This means, in this step you have to focus on “What to test”. At the end of this step you will come up with a list  of test setups.

3^rd Step – In this step you have to concentrate on “How to test”. Here you have to write down the detailed steps involved in testing a particular feature, test data to enter and the expected outcome.

Once these three steps are completed, you can proceed with testing.  
   

What the types of test techniques and what are they used for?

Ans: Uses of test techniques        
  
a)      To help make out defects

b) To trim down the number of test cases.

Different test technique 
   

• Boundary Value Analysis – used to scrutinize the system behavior while analyzing the boundary value in software testing.

 Equivalence partitioning – used to cut down the numbers of test cases by classifying sets of data that are different and executing only 1 test from each set.

All Pairs Testing or Pair-wise – used to lessen the number of test cases while escalating the exposure of feature combo. 

 State Transition Testing – used to confirm allowed and disallowed states and conversion from one state to another by different input data.

What are the fields to be included in a bug report?

Ans: Fields to be included in a good bug report are:

•    One unique ID
•   Defect description
•   Steps to re-create – how to arrive at the defect, exact test data, defect- detection time, other info that will help re-address the problem.
•  Module/ section of the app
•   Screenshot 
•     Severity
•  Responsible QA – follow up regarding bug fixing.

Define white box testing and black box testing?

Ans: In White Box Testing the tester can check inside the process and authenticate the data prior to the end outcome. Validation steps may be required in white box testing. On the other hand, Black Box Testing examines the functions of an app without peering inside the process. This test method can be used at entry level software testing – unit, system, integration and acceptance. The software testers cannot see inside the process.  They can only see the output

Briefly describe the process involved in mobile app testing?

Ans:  - Verify if the app functions properly with multiple devices and carriers

-          Check the serviceability of the features in a mobile screen

-          Testing on different platforms like iOS and Android

-           Installing, Uninstalling, testing functions, launching the application with or without networks

-          Internet connectivity  - 2G, 3G. WiFi, etc.

What types of testing are important for web testing?

Ans:  Types of testing important for web application testing are: 

a)      PerformanceTesting – It is the process of finding out the speed or efficiency of a computer, network web software program. This process involves quantitative tests performed in a lab, like calculating the response time, etc.

 

    b)      Security Testing – It is a type of non-functional testing that is performed to verify whether the app or product is secured or not. It verifies if the application is susceptible to attacks like  unauthorized access or hacking

 Hoping that this post will benefit software testing professionals who wish to get selected in giant IT companies.