Interview Questions

This is a library of questions that I typically ask during an interview process.

Intro Questions

Why are you interested in this company?
What things are you looking for in your next opportunity?
What part of the job excites you most? The least?
What do you know about this company?
Can you explain in your own words what this company does?
Whats the reason you are leaving your current/previous company?
What are the most important things you expect from the company you work for?

Position Relevant Experience

Describe the QA process(es) you’ve used in the past: What worked well? What didn’t? Did it evolve over time?
How do you approach testing a new feature? How do you determine if something is a problem? How are defects handled?
What kind of testing related tools do you use on a regular basis? (any tool that aids the testing process)
Describe in detail, the kinds of tests you’ve been performing recently. Be as specific as possible.
Tell me about a recent defect that YOU found. [Ask follow up ?’s around how they found it, what happened, etc.]
Tell me about some of the challenges you’ve faced while developing test automation.

Test Automation Specific Questions

How many automated UI tests did your last project have?
How long does it take to run these tests?
How often does your team run them?
How do you run them?

Technical Skills

Construct a SQL SELECT statement out of a table with customer_name, account_name, account_balance (the current balance of each customer)
Explain what happens when someone uses a web browser to go to https://www.google.com (offer a whiteboard if available).
Draw or Explain the architecture of the system that you’ve most recently tested. (Examples: language it was written in, database type, monolith/microservices, synchronous/asynchronous)
Describe how you would go about testing a web form for SQL Injection vulnerabilities.
Explain the difference between client side and server side validation in web applications. Why might this be important?
Explain the page object design pattern for test automation and describe why it might be useful.
Pick something technical on their résumé and ask them to explain how it works in detail. Encourage the use of the whiteboard if possible. It doesn’t matter if you are familiar with the subject. Try to get a feel for how well they know it and how well they can explain it.
Describe (or sketch) the architecture of the current product you are testing.
Test Scenario: (What’s your favorite Social Media Platform?) You work for X company as a tester, and you’re working on a team that is putting in a security related fix with the ‘Post functionality’. The developer states that the platform is ready for testing. How would you validate everything is working? What is your testing approach? Give as many examples or scenarios that you can think to test.

Collaborative/Handle Disagreements

Tell me about a time when you strongly disagreed with a teammate. How did you handle it? How did it go?
Tell me about a time where you disagreed with your boss or team lead. How did you handle that? What happened?
When did you most recently collaborate with a software engineer? What was that like?
When did you most recently collaborate with another tester/QA? What was that like?
Have you ever had to get your team to change something, but weren’t in charge? How did you go about that?

Autonomous/Initiative

Tell me about initiatives you have taken to improve procedures at work? Were you successful? Would you do anything different now?
When deciding how to organize your work, how do you assess what tasks need to be given priority?
What steps do you take when there is an immediate decision to be made, but without having all the data available?

Communication Skills

How often do you communicate with other teams?
Tell me about a time you diffused a situation with another team and what was the outcome?
Do you have to juggle demands from different teams?
How do you deal with difficult personalities?
Can you tell me a time when you gave direction to others in which you were not the manager? How did they react?
Do you think people on your team respect you? Why?

Willingness to Learn

What is the last thing you learned on your own?
Have you learned anything on your own in the past that you’re especially proud of?
What is your preferred way to learn new concepts?
Can you give an example of something you learned quickly at your last job?
Explain a recent mistake. What did you learn from it and in what areas can you utilize that knowledge in the future?

Problem Solving/Critical Thinking

When presented with a problem, what process do you use to find a solution? (we are looking for processes, do you look for facts and data versus intuition, etc.)
Give an example of a problem you faced on a job and describe how you solved it.
Tell me about a task that really tested your analytical abilities. (Listen for reason and logic to resolve a problem)
Tell me about an assignment you worked on in which you had a mass amount of data to analyze. (See if they walk you through how they did it. They should explain how they compiled facts/figures and derived relevant facts/info from it)

Passion/Care why they build software (Software Engineering)

What are your favorite industry sites or blogs?
How did you get started with computers? Software? [find out what excites them/motivates them about software]
What was your last project/current project? [seek the architectural overview; see if they talk about the value to the end-user/customer or not]
Tell me about side or open-source projects are you working on/you have worked on?
When was the last time that you volunteered to expand your knowledge at work, as opposed to being directed to do so?

Ownership - Takes responsibility personally

Share examples of projects that you have owned and that have been successful. What was the outcome?
How would you describe your contributions to your current company? What projects have you owned outside of your daily responsibilities?

Teamwork - Ability to work together towards a common goal

Tell me about the structure of the team you’re on and how you work together.
What do you do to convince a reluctant developer to listen to your advice?
Would you prefer to work on something by yourself or with a team? Why?

Integrity - Treats people with fairness, honesty & respect

Tell me about a time when you were put in an uncomfortable situation at work.
Give me a specific example of a time when you had to conform to a policy with which you did not agree.
How would you handle a situation in which a teammate was not performing to an appropriate standard?

Innovation - Introduces new ideas & makes valuable changes

How do you stay current on the changes in technology?
Give me an example where you found a new solution to an old problem.
Describe the most innovative way you have solved a problem.
Tell me about a time when you identified a need and developed a solution. What was the result? What did you learn?

Drive - Continually press toward a goal

What motivates you the most?
What are two or three examples of tasks that you do not particularly enjoy doing? Tell me how you remain motivated to complete those tasks.
How do you measure your own success?
What areas of your professional skill-set are you working to improve right now?

Execution - Relentless focus & taking effective action to attain desired result

When is the last time you went above and beyond for a project?
Describe the most challenging project that you have worked on. What made it the most challenging?
Tell me about a time when you failed to complete a project on time.

Questions For Them

Do you have any questions for me?

Salary Expectations: (TEAM LEAD ASKS THIS)

What is your long term career path?
What are your salary expectations?

Homework Interview Questions

Of all the defects found, did any identify highest priority/severity and why?
Do you think you have found all the issues on the site?
Is this product ready to go to production?
How do you approach the developer of this product?
What needs to be fixed before we go to production?
What is the most important thing you learned from this project?
Did you test on any other devices?
Did you learn anything new?
What was the most fun thing as a part of the homework?
What was the most challenging thing as a part of the homework?

For more inspiration go here Tech Interview Handbook