CAREER & HIRING ADVICE

A Quick Overview

A few years back automatic testing was just a mere buzzword and now you can make a full-fledged career out of it. Quite impressive, isn’t it? Well, the software industry is developing at a breathtaking pace, every day a new concept is emerging, and a new struggle to deliver innovative, robust and highly scalable solutions and whatnot!

So professionals willing to become successful automation testers really need to buck up to ace their game. Well, the following post can aid you in making a lucrative career especially for modern-age professionals.

As the name implies, here you will go through some of the most crucial interview questions you need to be well aware of before applying for relevant automation testing jobs.

As for your understanding, automation testing is pretty crucial these days especially if you want to survive in the software development realm simply. By doing so you can make sure the overall quality and reliability of the app is well taken care of. There was a time when software testing was a mere afterthought, however, that’s not the case anymore. Today it has become one of the most crucial aspects of conducting a successful software development process.

So automation testing is a dynamic testing technique used to execute monotonous, tiresome, test cases with the assistance of relevant testing tools. Now earlier manual testing was pretty much important but the only drawback was it included absolute human intervention which means the scope of errors is pretty high and now in automation the tests are conducted by computing devices with much less human intervention, scope of errors are pretty low.

You can call this post your very own interview practice guide which mostly covers all the basic as well as advanced interview questions, especially regarding automation testing. So without any further ado, let’s begin!

Automation Testing Interview Questions for Freshers

1.    When is a good time to conduct automated tests? Is there any?

Of course yes! You cannot just conduct automated tests every time you feel like it. There are certain situations or conditions when it is worth conducting automated tests such as:

• Is it feasible to repeat tests?
• Can the Test’s features be changed every moment, of course not!
• Human testing is consuming lots and lots of time and energy
• The test necessitates complex computations
• There is no possibility that due to previous functionality things aren’t working in sync.

2.    When one shouldn’t be conducting automation tests?

Again there are times or scenarios or situations where you need to absolutely avoid automated testing such as:

• Is the software or functionality under test changing?
• When you need to conduct exploratory testing then you need to completely avoid automated testing.
• Do you think that all the automated tests here are programmed or configured, if so then it has to be considered for keeping tabs on UI flaws.

3.    Define the Test Environment.

The test environment is said when a computer and server is able to test software. The tester is said to successfully install the team’s newly developed softwares and not just that it has to be accomplished with all of its core dependencies as a result it is possible to stimulate a well-productive environment. In other words, this is how it is feasible to test programs in real-world situations.

4.    Can you define browser automation?

This is basically a procedure considered especially when a web application opens mechanically in the browser and certain operations are carried out pretty automatically this is what browser automation is all about.

5.    What is cross-browser testing?

Well, cross-browser testing is said to be one of the leading kinds especially when it comes to automated browsing testing. Here the tester determines whether the developed app will function appropriately on a wide range of browsers featuring Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and a lot more.

6.    Can You define best practices in test automation?

Of course, there are numerous best practices to consider when it comes to automation testing such as:

• Choosing the specific tasks to automate
• Assign proper test scenarios according to knowledge and expertise
• Do not fall into the trap of uncertainty
• Choose relevant tools and frameworks
• Maintain adequate test records

7.    Do you know what the test automation pyramid is?

Well, it was coined by Martin Fowler back in 2012 and is mainly considered as a method of figuring out how to employ different types of testing automation and that too in the most effective manner. Test Pyramid is said to feature lots of user interface (UI) unit tests and pretty less comprehensive UI tests.

Automation Testing Interview Questions for Intermediate

Now we will proceed further with relevant questions for intermediate candidates.

8.    Different aspects of the test automation framework

Well, yes there are mainly six major test automation frameworks available:

• System to be tested – All the subsystems must be tested
• Testing platform – The testing platform must be capable of carrying out such a process with ease.
• Test case library – Mainly used to compile all the libraries of reusable test steps also called building blocks of automated test scripts.
• Automated testing practice –With the help of different tools and libraries, how to successfully automate tests.  
• Testing Tools – test automation tools, traffic generation tools, and traffic monitoring tools, support tools and more.
• Test administrator – Here it is possible to manage the test case libraries, test platforms, and test tools and not just that here you can even manage the inventory of templates, provide tutorials, etc.

In many cases, a software development outsourcing company may adopt these frameworks to streamline their testing processes and ensure quality delivery.

• What are the risks associated with Automated Testing?

There are numerous risks associated with automated testing such as:

1. Unrealistic expectations – Not having practical solutions is every evident risk associated here. 
2. Vendor issues – There are times when free tools are often made licensed since they are no longer capable of updating different automation tools. 
3. Maintenance of test script – It is important to design maintainable, robust, and modular frameworks once you do so, all the relevant test scripts and data can be reused which automatically reduces the risk associated with maintenance.
4. Underestimating the need for manual testing – Now it is very significant that not all tests can be significantly automated. And since repetitive automated tests, there is             

9. Can we speed up the Auto Test Suite?

Yes, of course, you can in fact there are numerous ways to do so such as:

• Reducing tests via AI – Conducting tests through UI is pretty slow so it is always advisable to convert UI tests to API and unit tests especially whenever it is possible.
• Parallelize your tests – Another interesting way to speed up is to try running tests in a parallel manner.
•  Using a cloud-based testing solution – It is possible to execute tests on real devices in the cloud since cloud-based approaches are more quick and reliable.
• Invest in Continuous Integration – This definitely works wonders when you want to reduce time in regards to developing, testing and deployment procedures.
• Focusing on critical functionality – Last but certainly not the least option is to focus on only automating the most vital functionality yes so you no longer need to automate every single feature of the developed app.

10. Do you think manual testing will become obsolete?

Of course not! Automated testing is not something that one should entirely depend on and it somehow does not make manual testing obsolete. No matter what automated tests successfully assist in avoiding regression issues, and not all tests are supposed to be automated, it is advisable to choose humans for conducting usability testing, and accessibility testing.

• It is possible to test repeatable test cases which can be reproduced deterministically
• It also helps in reducing the overall amount of manual testing required but that doesn’t mean it needs to be eliminated. 

11. Define UI Testing

Another interesting question is what is UI testing, this is a kind of software testing which as the name ensures the UI of a website is user-friendly and is conducted to mainly meet the expected customer requirements.

User Interface Testing successfully evaluates the design of elements such as layouts, colours, font sizes and more and also enables testing overall functionality from different users’ perspectives.

12. Importance of Documentation

Of course, the concept of documentation is very important when it comes to automation testing. When you have a well-written document, you won’t just understand the what but also the why part and this works wonders to ensure all the team members are in sync so documentation plays a pretty pivotal role here.

Automation Testing Interview Questions for Experienced

13. What should be the crux of developing a good test strategy?

Well, one of the core aspects of creating a good test strategy is to conduct relevant brainstorming sessions featuring every important person from the project manager to the business analyst, QA lead and development team members. Ensure everyone is on board with these aspects:

• Is everyone aware of the different goals and objectives of the testing effort
• Top functionalities and features should be tested
• Are there any performance and usability targets
• Have you been discussing sprint timelines?
• Is there any process for capturing and tracking tasks or tickets?
• Who is responsible for assigning, updating, and closing tasks or tickets?
• Is there any specific tool for managing tasks?
• And what will be the test approach – is it manual or automated?
• What types of testing will be performed?
• Have you decided on the specific criteria yet?
• What are the different roles involved in the testing process?
• Have you decided on specific criteria for choosing testing tools?

14. Explain your way to manage testing requirements.

• Have a backup plan
• Make clear communications with stakeholders
• Update test plans accordingly
• Adjust test artifacts
• Continue the test cycles

15. How to measure the success of testing?

Well, there are several test metrics which need to be considered right away, this can surely lead to successful testing such as:

• Test coverage
• Defect Density
• Defect Removal Efficiency (DRE)
• Test Pass Rate
• Test Automation Coverage

Final Words

Automation testing is here to stay and seems to be one of the most promising career options these days, especially in the software development industry.

I guess all the aforementioned information can assist you well in preparing for your upcoming interviews and also by now you must have gained an extra level of confidence to scale new heights for your automation testing career. You can also get a solid hand at automation testing and become an Automation Test Engineer.

Also, you can think of enhancing your skills by including GIT, Selenium, Jenkins, and JMeter within your portfolios. So are you set for the big game? Good luck.

I hope you did find the following post worth the read, if so feel free to share it with your peers and help us in reaching out to more readers like you. Moreover, if you have any concerns or doubts, feel free to reach out to us and we will surely provide as much help as we can. Good luck for the upcoming interview, I am pretty sure you will crack it.