This is a guest article by “N. Sandhya Rani”.
As Software testers, we keep performing testing activities in various phases of a project. When it comes to testing our own skills, we may not end up choosing an appropriate approach. I am talking about how the interview rounds go and how to face them. The whole article is a very general discussion about the challenges that a tester has to face in an interview.
Let’s start with preparing a CV for software testing job profile.
How to prepare a good CV?
By the term ‘Good’ I mean a CV that describes best about your skills, your expertise, your strengths etc. It’s better not to use a same CV for different types of job profiles. Making slight changes will help to get a call. For e.g. you can highlight the skill set that you posses for the required job like any automation tool or experience in other related automation tools. You can also add about the basic knowledge of any technologies that you posses. This may be an added advantage.
Preparation before the job interview:
Before attending the interview, check the job profile in detail. Understand if the requirement is purely in manual testing, Automation testing or on both. Check if your job profile experience match with what is expected.
The interviewer will mostly stick to questions around the given job profile and what you have mentioned in your CV. Make sure you can answer questions confidently which are based on your CV. It depends on how the discussion goes between the candidate and the interviewer, which leads to discussion in other areas.
Appear confidently at the time of interview:
In most cases, the interview starts with a brief up about the candidate. One can answer to this question by following a sequence like starting with your Name, what qualifications do you posses, how you started your career as a software tester etc. Some interviewers do not like to hear about personal details like family. So do not proceed with these details unless the interviewer asks for it.
While answering any question tell what you know. Do not try to explain about ideal cases. Interviewers are interested in practical approach, rather than ideal cases. Tell the interviewer how you will go about solving the problems or about your way of tackling things. Do not talk anything negative about any person especially about developers/programmers. If you do so, then it shows that you are not mature enough. Now a days in most of the interviews, scenarios are cited rather than direct question and answer. If the scenario is new to you, take few seconds to think on it and then answer. Do not hurry up things.
The way you present in interviews is very important. Right attitude is very important too. Many managers can judge it easily, if you have really worked on projects or it’s just a fake experience. The confidence level with which you answer makes a strong impression. For any question if you are not sure about the correct answer, just make an attempt. Do not just give up. You can also talk about things that you explored in free time or with your interest. This shows that you take initiative and are a continuous learner as well.
As many of us must have experienced that the interviewers keep asking about the processes that you have followed or are familiar with. One does not need to worry if they have never followed any processes. Following the processes is up to the company and a tester cannot do much regarding that. But of course one can follow some processes for his/her own task (I mean the modules that you own or are in charge of etc). This will not only help to manage things but also inspires other to follow some processes. Any process, which has proven some good results, can be followed. So, instead of blaming others for not following any processes, one can take an initiative to do it. Do not forget that Initiative is one of the qualities that a tester should possess.
One more important point: It’s not necessary that the person who is taking your interview is a person from QA background. A person from developing background can also take software testing job interviews. What I mean to say is the person need not have actually worked on the QA processes. In such case it becomes very important to answer the questions very carefully. It may sound illogical when a person from non-QA background interviews a tester but remember it will be a very good experience as you will get to know how testing is perceived by others.
Over to You:
What’s your experience about software testing interviews? If you want to share some do’s and don’ts please make comments below so that other testers can get benefit from your experience. And finally ‘all the best’ for your testing career!
49 comments ↓
nice tips.
make sure in any interview you are not faking your experience.
Very nice Tips Sandhya…Thank you.
Nice! I am just a fresher having 5 days experience…
But, i am professional SEO.
it’s very nice articale,
Very nice tips, All testers has to follow these tips before going for an interview …
Fantastic!! Thank you Sandhya.
Thanks Sanhya for the avove valuable information . Adding to above mentioned points , before appearing for any interview , we should know all the details about company , testing process .
Awesome tips Sandhya. I’m not looking for change of company now
But this helps a lot when we plan.
Really useful tips………..if u could append to that some body language tips too, i think that would really fill the bowl…….:-)
Hi Sandhya,
Thanks for the valuable information. But these days, most of the interviews conducted by bigger organizations aim at testing the memorization of the candidate. Mostly stuffs like “What is difference between Regression Testing and Retesting”. I understand to know these terms are good, but how much of a sense does it make when you are testing.
It what value that you add to the project that is important.
@ Rajesh Iyer
hi Rajesh,
Thanks for bringing this point. Its an important one!
Not all testers get to work on different types of testing. While questioning a candidate, the interviewer checks if the person is familiar with the basic testing types and/or its purpose etc. Even if the person has really not worked on different types of testing, he/she is expected to know them. This shows that the person puts an effort towards improving knowledge and exploring.
I agree that its the value that you add to the project is important. But this is from our point of view. From the interviewer point of view its all about what you know and how you answer to their question.
sandya , lots of thanks for the valuable tips . now i got clear cut idea about approach of some interviews(obviously testing) . but my thing is like i worked with both devlopment and testing(manual) includes both test cases writting ,execution and defect rising. but now i planning to apply for testing requirement of big concerns. funda is that they require someone with tool experienced resources, infact i am fast learner and i can do cope up with the needs. so now if they questioned about tool related one’s . how should i tackle that (remember i dont have any hands on with any tools) ?
@ Vignesan
Before attending an interview, just check the testing tool which has been mentioned in the job description. If time permits you can also just walk through the tool to get a fair idea of what it is and how exactly it works. Generally interviewer will ask the advantages /disadvantages of the tools. Comparison with other similar tools is also a good area for questions. Check all the major features that a tool has.
As you have mentioned that you were into development prior, I believe it won’t be difficult for you to understand the working of any tool.
You can use a tool on some project just to get exposure. Getting familiar with a tool enhances your confidence level.
Great tips indeed. Infact, it could have been better by adding few real time scenario or incidents. I often came across questions like
How will you cope up with your team member who does not perform his job properly or lacking with schedules?
Suppose a member of your team or cubicle member working on different projects and need help. What will be your reactions or solutions towards that?
Candidate should take care of his body language and eye contacts. He shoud explain the answers in points and will have the ability to convince his stand when intervier try to confuse.
Great tips .Lots of Thanks. Infact, it could have been better by adding few real time scenario or incidents.
@ Kishore
a) How will you cope up with your team member who does not perform his job properly or lacking with schedules?
For such questions the best way to answer is by “imaging that you are the member who has the above problems. ” The answer will include all those things which will boost your productivity. For e.g. some might have some personal problems or inferior/superior feeling etc. One can talk to such persons and find some solution. We can provide more resources or flexibility to that person to carry his work efficiently. Some people are very poor at time management. Such issue can be overcome by letting the person to focus on one task at a time or ask to practically measure the schedule for a task etc.
All the above are just efforts to help the person cope from the problems.
b) Suppose a member of your team or cubicle member working on different projects and need help. What will be your reactions or solutions towards that?
I don’t see any problem here. In fact such things happen frequently. As an individual one should help others in whatever possible way. One thing to remember is your schedule should not affect due to this. It depends on how you manage. I would definitely help such people and manage by task as well. Remember you too may ask for someone’s help and except others to help you out.
@Srinivas.Asinti
Hope the following will be useful.
i) The test execution schedule is reduced to say 1/3 or 1/4 and there cannot be any changes to it. How will you change your test approach or how will you test the app etc
Ans: Prioritize the test cases, prioritize the modules. Identify the important and complex modules. Instead of executing test cases, one may go for test scenarios. Prepare a list of such things and start. Defects/Issues may be reported by emails instead of following the template, which is time consuming.
ii) One of the team member is leaving the project (due to any reason), how will be plan for the Knowledge Transfer (KT) to other member in the team?
Ans: Preparing a list for KT is very important. This list can be used for future reference as well. Circulate the list of other team members, so that it is reviewed and then finalized. Prepare some rough estimation like how many hours will be needed etc. Collect all the data, documents etc prepared by the person, who is leaving (To avoid such things, it is always good to maintain a common repository for data, docs, reports etc). Team meeting or discussion will be more useful. Try to involve all concerned persons in the meeting or discussions.
iii) What is your plan to reduce risk? (Risk can be like person quitting from project or reducing resources, reduced schedules, introduction of more modules into existing schedule, client-billing is stopped etc)
Ans: Some risk can be avoided by reducing the dependency for any task. All the team members should be aware of all the activities within the team. Emails should be sent to all the team members so that everyone is in sync. QA team has to always plan for reduced schedules as this is the common case in many projects. Theoretically giving a solution is different from doing it practically. Many factors are to be considered while making changes to the schedules. When schedules are to be changed, then QA has to rework or revisit all the priorities, modules, test cases etc and update them accordingly. The last point regarding Client-billing is a bit difficult to answer. It depends on how the management takes the call. As testers or as a part of the QA team, we should not bias our work based on the payment being received. We should always aim at delivering quality work.
iv) You have to work with a team member with whom your rapport is not good. How will you manage it?
Ans: I am sure that most of us may have worked under such situations. Likes and dislikes are part of our life. As a person or more as a QA team member, we should be open-minded. To avoid any miscommunication it is always safe to communicate formally like sending emails. We should avoid getting involved in any blame-game. One should be professional enough to handle such situations. We should take care that the quality is not being hampered because of any personal issues. All the tasks should be divided and responsibilities should be shared. I again want to stress on ‘formal communication’ to avoid any risks.
v) Some changes are done to an existing application, but there is no time for Regression. How will you test such application?
Ans: Even this is a very common case for most of the testers. We have to focus on complexity and criticality of the modules. Retesting helps in such cases. If the traceability matrix is in place, then we can select the test cases that need to be executed. We should be able to quickly identify all the modules which will be affected by the changes. We can reduce the regression scope to fit into the schedule. Low priority test cases can be ignored.
vi) This question is very common I guess. There are no formal specs or documents available. How will you start preparing test cases or scenarios etc?
Ans: This is exploratory testing. We have to explore the application and then test. We need to understand the whole application. This is also a good opportunity to show our skills and capability. Keep documenting things as you explore, this will avoid rework and simultaneously you will end up creating good documentation as well. Discuss with team members about the application. More points are likely to come up in discussions.
hi,
Please some one help me.I have call letter from CTS for testing interview Today(30/10/09).same thing another one call letter from CTS on next month first week. What can i do for this.
Please any one help me .in case i not selected today .Next 6 month i will not able to attend the interview
Please Any Body help me for the following questions
1.Q :- What is the difference between CMM & CMMI please give an
practicle approche.
2 Q :- What is the difference between Client Server & Web Server
please give an practicle approche.
3 Q:- What is the 404 error on the Internet please give an
practicle approche.
4 Q:- How can we do the Web Server Testing please give an
practicle approche.
5 Q:- How can we write the query for the fifth maximum salary.
6 Q:- What is the Agile model please define it with each phase
of SRS, Design, Coding, Testing, Implimentation & Mantenance give the
every phase how it work in the SDLC.
7 Q:- What is the Gamma Testing please give an
practicle approche.
8 Q:- What is the Mutation Testing please give an
practicle approche.
9 Q:- How can you say that Software Testing is a Chalenging Job.
10 Q:- What is the difference between error, bug & defact please give an
practicle approche.
11 Q:- What is the difference between Test Case, Test Design ,Test Senerio & Test Plan please give an
practicle approche.
12 Q:- What is the difference between Spiral Model & Iterative Model in the Software Testing
Define Both Model defferently with each phase of SRS, Design, Coding, Testing,
Implimentation & Mantenance please give an practicle approche.
13 Q:- How can you do the Websites Testing Manually please give an
practicle approche.
14 Q:- How can you do the different types of the browser Testing please give an
practicle approche.
15.Q :- What is the difference between Verification & Validation in the
Software Testing please give the minimum 10 points with practicle approche.
16.Q :- How can we do the Performance Testing in the Web Application please
give an practicle approche.
Please Any Body help me for the following questions
who have the much exp. in the Software Testing.
1.Q :- What is the difference between CMM & CMMI please give an
practicle approche.
2 Q :- What is the difference between Client Server & Web Server
please give an practicle approche.
3 Q:- What is the 404 error on the Internet please give an
practicle approche.
4 Q:- How can we do the Web Server Testing please give an
practicle approche.
5 Q:- How can we write the query for the fifth maximum salary.
6 Q:- What is the Agile model please define it with each phase
of SRS, Design, Coding, Testing, Implimentation & Mantenance give the
every phase how it work in the SDLC.
7 Q:- What is the Gamma Testing please give an
practicle approche.
8 Q:- What is the Mutation Testing please give an
practicle approche.
9 Q:- How can you say that Software Testing is a Chalenging Job.
10 Q:- What is the difference between error, bug & defact please give an
practicle approche.
11 Q:- What is the difference between Test Case, Test Design ,Test Senerio & Test Plan please give an
practicle approche.
12 Q:- What is the difference between Spiral Model & Iterative Model in the Software Testing
Define Both Model defferently with each phase of SRS, Design, Coding, Testing,
Implimentation & Mantenance please give an practicle approche.
13 Q:- How can you do the Websites Testing Manually please give an
practicle approche.
14 Q:- How can you do the different types of the browser Testing please give an
practicle approche.
15.Q :- What is the difference between Verification & Validation in the
Software Testing please give the minimum 10 points with practicle approche.
16.Q :- How can we do the Performance Testing in the Web Application please
give an practicle approche.
Please any body tell me.
How can we do the performance testing.
Dear site promoter,
Kindly remove the duplicated tests of Mr.Abhishek Kumar from the comments.
Good blog! Another key interview tip I would like to point out is that employers often ask you for examples of test plans, how you would create a test plan and ask you if you have any additional information. Be prepared for these questions! Preparation is always key!
Dear Ms.Sandhya Rani (Article Author),
1. Very clean and neat explanation.
2. Pristine article covering all corners.
3. Instead of just saying a word or sentence, Again the
way you detailed it was very nice.
4. The isolated paragraphs made us better
understanding.
5. Really worth reading this article.
6. Your pleasant responses are very straight forward to
the questions besides examples.
7. Appreciate your time and effort that you spent and
spending for this article.
8. Instead of making the article a lengthy one, The way
you planned made this article “CONCISE”.
9. After reading, I came to know that, Your article
indicated “PRECISENESS” (exactly what is needed).
10. Your article shows your “Art” that must be highly
prized for its beauty or perfection.
I was overwhelmed with gratitude for your help/effort.
Even I saw so many links that you are posting in testingken.com (chetanas.com) related to testing jobs.
Hope you are the one!!!
Thanks,Thanks,Thanks….
Regards,
Govardhan Reddy M,
Software Test Engineer,
“Value has a value only if its value is valued”
Really awsome tips………….
Gr88 job….
Thanx…….
what would be the best way to answer the following questions:
1. what r the challenges you faced in your current project?
2. apart from writing test cases, client calls, defect reporting… what else have you done for your organisation?
any input will be highly appreciated.
Dear sukky (#29),
1. Writing a document (Test Design Document) with
little information about the product/project/process,
In which new features are added.
2. Means that, Just based on the HLD but not based on
the LLD (because some times LLD won’t get authored
by development team due to lack of time or because
of busy with some other development tasks with
high priority).
3. At a sudden, If the test engineer is asked to do
testing in another project which is little relevant to
the current project but not ease to understand easily
that too by providing little period of time to read,
understand, author test plan, execute, run and
report.
4. Often it happens, When one of the vital team
member left the company all of a sudden may be
because of nice opportunity with another employer
or due to some personal reasons.
During such times, Test engineer of the same team
will be asked to carry out those tasks even though
these tasks are new to this test engineer (how ever
minimal documentation will be provided to
understand what is what of that feature BUT WITH
NO SUFFICIENT TIME).
Regards,
Govardhan Reddy M,
Software Test Engineer,
“Law of win says, Lets not do it in my way or your way,
But lets do it in the best way”.
Really helpful a lot…
Thank u
-regards,
Ramesh Kumar|QA Engineer
Initiative is one of the qualities that a tester should possess.
Hi ,
I am planning to set up my career in Software Testing.I have around seven years experience in IT.I am residing in mumbai ,Dadar and would be grateful if you coud let me know the good institues and the courses that i would have to do.Please guide me through this.
hi ,
very very thanks sandha
regards,
arifa
Hi,
Thanks a lot, Sandhya. The article is quite helpful.
I would expect some more articles like this one, having tips to follow while preparing for software testing interviews.
Arijit Dhar
Senior Software Test Engineer
Kolkata
I am waiting to know the answers for Abhishek Kumar’s questions.
I think he just copied from somewhere and pasted it.
Anyhow i don’t know answers for most of the questions he listed.
Because i have only 1 months of experiecne in web application testing. And i have studied software testing as subject in college. But i am not able to recall everything.
Please answer and post it as new article sandhya.
I wanna your student.
[…] Preparing For Software Testing Interview – Simple Tips To Follow Prior And at The Time of Inte… – N. Sandhya Rani (software testing help); […]
Great Article Sandhya. Good efforts to put all this information together.
As a Senior Test Manager and having interviewed many, all I am looking for is if the person being interviewed has the ability to learn and adapt quickly,
Your interest and willingness to learn.
We usually don’t worry if you know what a Mutation Testing is. Even if you do not know, we are looking for people who have the abiltiy to learn.
I usually provide a page of simple requirements in my Project and give a couple of minutes for the candidate to read through it. I request him/her to provide me an approch to test this requirement.
This is what you do everyday as a Tester, understand requirements and write test cases. Create Test Data for the requirement, understand pre conditions for the test, determine test environment.
So All it requires from a tester is to logically arrange events leading to a test, execute the test and exit from it.
So, my suggestion to you freshers would be
1. Try to relate your theory to practical scenraios. You need to have your basics right.
2. If you do not know an answer, be honest. Let the interviewer know why you donot know this answer. You are a fresher, it is not practical for you to know everything.
Please do not beat around the bush, as it gives a really bad impression.
Thanks
Madan
superb thoughts…….thanks sandya
Its good article!!!
I have 1 query,i want to know About ‘product testing’.
or tips for Product Testing Interview.
Dear Ms. Vrushali (# 39),
Good to see that you are in prodcut testing.
First be very clean and clear..
1. How the stuff works?
2. All layers from layer 2 to layer 7 (ISO-model)
3. All layers from layer 2 to layer 5 (TCP/IP model)
4. About your product features.
Stuff here refers to “Networking”.
Data flow from one layer to the next layer.
Next layer may be either upper layer or lower layer.
I mean to say that, “If you come to know, What happens if we request a yahoo page, Right from layer 5/7 to the layer 1 and after leaving our pc, then at the default gateway, then after entering in to public network, then reaching yahoo server, then coming back from yahoo server to our browser?”
This is just one example to make you aware that, At what level we need to think.
All luck.
Regards,
Govardhan Reddy M,
Software Test Engineer.
“Results matter, Efforts won’t”
any one answer me….
1) What is diff b/n unit testing and white box testing(WBT) and it have any related link and WB tester can test the unit testing and voice versa?.
2)how can test acceptance testing without alpha and beta testing(that is end user)
Dear Anandhan (# 41),
White Box Testing = Unit Testing
Unit Testing = Part of white box testing
Only developer does White Box Testing.
Means that developer does unit testing.
No relation nothing. No vice versa nothing.
White Box Testing means that, Code base testing.
Black Box Testing means that, User (end user) base testing. Here code is blocked.
Don’t get confused.
*************************************
Acceptance Testing:
———————
It depends on client. Whether they can do this testing on their own. Or they just rely on us and asks us to do this. Just we are going to select test cases which are related to major functionalities of the application and going to execute. Once we send the report, Client get back to us asking for “go” or “no go”.
Decision is ours. If we say, Yes, Then product/project goes to field. Else, It won’t.
Some times this A.T. also refers as QA A.T.
All luck.
Regards,
Govardhan Reddy M,
Software Test Engineer.
“Results matter, Efforts won’t”
Thank u Reddy…………….
But little confuse.1) For develop the application has one company and Test that application another company either code or function that what we do.
madan and sandhya thanks to both of you , nice job:-) great going.
nice tips and thoughts thank you
Good discussion. Appreciate all thoughts…..
Basic quality of Test Engineer we look for is
Good communication , Logical thinking , Good Listener , Good Learner , Organised and Systematic approach , Honest ..
Either fresher or experienced adhering to this approach would fetch you your dream job. All Technical knowledge is secondary to the above and can be handled easily in due course.
Thanks , Babu.V.L.
Dear Sandhya,
Thanks for your very nice and informative article indeed. Hope to get more and more new articles in future from your side. I would be grateful if you answer my few questions i faced in an interview
1. What is the difference between Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC) ?
2. What is the difference between QA and QC ?
3. What is the difference between process and product ?
4. What is the difference between test case and bug report ?
5. What is traceability matrix ?
6. What is use case and what does it include ?
7. What is Build ?
8. What does Build deployment mean ?
Thanks and regards,
Ashish Sharma
sharma.ashish79@gmail.com
can any body tel me the difference between test script and test cases??
hi Sreevani,
The terms actually differ with different companies . some may test case, test scripts & test steps.
Test Case: Is a testable condition wrt to s/w requirement. It’s a document that describes an input, action and expected result, in order to determine if a feature of an application is working correctly.
Test script: contains the codes to test may be used in automation.
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