Automation testing is one of the rising trends in the modern application development industry. It helps to massively improve the quality of the application that is currently being developed. This popularity of Automation Testing has led to active recruiting in this segment. However, the Automation Testing Interview questions can be challenging and confusing for the new testers.
Many experts also believe that the market for automation testing will continue to rise in the coming years. The interview process for new automation testers can also be quite complex and challenging. This is because it consists of multiple stages and assessment tests to verify the competency of the testers.
So, with this article, we are going to discuss some other most important automation testing interview questions that will help you stand out from the competition. We will also understand some of the basic procedures that you must be aware of about this interview cycle.
The Procedure for Automation Testing Interview
While interviewing for automation testing, you can expect questions that will assess your understanding of fundamental concepts and practical experience with multiple automation testing tools and frameworks. This procedure will also test your problem-solving abilities and familiarity with industry-based practices.
Let us now take a look at some of the generalized stages present in the interview process:
1. Technical Questions
- The first round begins with technical knowledge to assess the background information of the testers and the developers:
- Questions about automation testing frameworks and tools that you have worked with. Some of the common examples include TestNG, Selenium WebDriver, Cucumber, and JUnit.
- Understanding of multiple popular programming languages that are commonly used for executing automation testing. Some of the major examples include JavaScript, Java, and Python.
- The knowledge of test automation frameworks including data-driven frameworks, keyword-driven frameworks, and page object models.
- There will be also questions about synchronizations, locators, and handling dynamic elements in the automation test scripts.
2. Testing Concepts
- After the initial technical questions, the candidates will be asked conceptual questions to assess their awareness of modern automation testing practices:
- A clear understanding of software testing concepts like test execution, defect tracking, test reporting, and test case designing.
- Knowledge about various types of testing mechanisms that can benefit from automation testing like integration testing, functional testing, regression testing, and end-to-end testing.
- You will also be assessed based on your experience with testing methodologies like Scrum and Agile. There will also be questions based on the impact of these methodologies in modern automation testing.
3. Problem-Solving Scenarios
- After this, the interview process will proceed towards problem-solving scenarios where the candidates will be assessed based on various problems that they will face during the execution of automation testing:
- Problems or given scenarios related to automation testing including handling pop-up windows, implementing data-driven testing, or dealing with frames.
- The candidates also have to demonstrate their ability to troubleshoot and debug automation test scripts to find out the critical bugs and errors that can hamper the functioning of the application.
4. Testing Process and Best Practices
- Now, they will be asked about their approach to implementing automation testing and some other best practices adopted by the candidates:
- A clear understanding of the software development life cycle and where automation testing fits in this entire process.
- The candidate’s familiarity with continuous deployment and continuous integration pipelines and also the ability to integrate automation testing into these processes.
- They will also be asked about their knowledge of version control systems like Git. Moreover, they will be assessed on their ability to implement these systems into modern automation testing projects.
- There will be various awareness-based questions about best practices in automation testing like maintainability, scalability, and reusability of test scripts.
5. Communication and Collaboration
- Communication and collaboration are some of the most important practices that help maintain teamwork while executing automation testing. Some of the most common areas of assessment in this segment include:
- The ability to communicate effectively about technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders in the app-developing company.
- The experience of the candidates collaborating with developers, testers, and other team members to ensure comprehensive test coverage and also the timely delivery of the automation testing efforts.
6. Behavioral Questions
- While interviewing for automation testing there will be various behavioral questions to assess the personality of the candidates:
- Questions assessing your abilities in teamwork, problem-solving skills, adaptability, and capability to work under pressure.
- You will be asked to demonstrate examples of how you have approached challenging automation testing scenarios in your previous testing projects.
- The candidates will also be assessed based on how they prioritize tasks and manage their time effectively in a high-paced application testing environment.
7. Practical Exercises or Coding Challenges
- Finally, the testers will be assessed based on their practical experiences and abilities to handle coding challenges while working with automation testing:
- Some interviews may include hands-on automation tasks or coding exercises to assess your practical skills and abilities to handle modern automation testing tasks.
- You should be prepared to write code, debug scripts, and demonstrate your proficiency in modern automation testing tools during the interview process.
In short, the testers must be ready to showcase their technical expertise, problem-solving abilities, and practical experience in automation testing. They have to demonstrate it through a combination of theoretical knowledge from real-world experience and practical demonstration.
Must-Know Questions to Beat the Competition in an Automaton Testing Interview
To simplify the interview process for the new automation testers and developers, we have mentioned a few of the most important questions along with there are brief explanations:
1. What is Automation Testing?
Automation testing involves implementing specialized scripts and tools to automate the execution of multiple test cases. It also includes comparing actual outcomes to predicted outcomes and generating detailed test reports stating the current status of the application that is being developed.
2. Explain the Importance of Test Data Management in Automation Testing.
In this question, it is important to discuss strategies for managing test data effectively including data-driven testing, creating reusable tests, datasets, and maintaining data integrity. While answering this question, you should also showcase your understanding of the importance of test data management for smoothly executing modern automated test cases.
3. How Do You Handle Test Data Maintenance in Automation Testing?
Automation test cases are highly reusable, and experts believe that more than 60% of the existing test data can be stored and reused in future application development projects. So, you must share practices like modularized test scripts, using page object models, and version control in test scripts to demonstrate your approach to ensuring test script maintainability.
In this question, you should also highlight the importance of test data maintenance to ensure the scalability of the application and maintain its evolution.
4. What are Some of the Best Practices for Designing Effective Automation Test Scripts?
While answering this question, you must discuss principles like test data independence, clarity, and reusability of the test cases. It is also important to discuss the integration of automation testing with techniques like designing atomic test cases and prioritizing test coverage.
You would also highlight your abilities to create effective and efficient automated test suites that can help verify the functioning of all the elements present in the application.
5. How Do You Integrate Automation Testing with CI/CD Pipelines?
The integration of automation testing with continuous integration and continuous deployment will help the testers conduct the development and testing processes side by side. It also ensures that all the critical bugs and errors can be detected in the early phases before they can turn into serious concerns.
You should also explain concepts like triggering automated tests after each code commit and integrating with build tools like Travis CI or Jenkins. You would also focus on generating test reports that can highlight the importance of these integrations.
6. What Do You Know About the Influence of Cloud Testing in Automation Testing?
While performing automation testing, the developers must verify the functioning of the application on real devices. So, by integrating cloud testing, app testers can execute these test cases on thousands of real devices through remote servers. Modern cloud platforms like LambdaTest allow developers to execute automated test cases through various frameworks like Selenium, Appium, Cypress, and Playwright.
These platforms also have additional features like comprehensive test reports, live test activity logs, and native bug-tracking tools.
7. What are Locators in Selenium? Name a few of them.
In Selenium, locators are used to identify web elements on a web page. Some of the common types of locators include name, ID, tag name, link text, partial link text, CSS selectors, and XPath.
8. What are the advantages of Automation Testing over Manual Testing?
While answering this question, you must ensure that automation testing is highly productive, accurate, and repetitive compared to manual testing. It is also important to highlight that while executing automation testing, the app developing company can save the resources that are required to set up and maintain a human testing team.
9. How do you Handle Dynamic Elements in Test Automation?
While answering this question, you must demonstrate techniques like using CSS selectors, XPath, or dynamic IDs to locate the elements dynamically. This approach will also indicate your problem-solving skills in handling challenging scenarios.
10. What are some of the common Challenges faced in Automation Testing and How Do You Overcome them?
While answering this question, you must mention maintenance, synchronization, and handling dynamic elements. You should also mention the initial investment cost that comes with automation testing that might be unbearable for individual developers and small companies.
While talking about overcoming these challenges, you must mention the use of robust locators, smart waits, and regular code refactoring. This approach will also demonstrate your expertise in overcoming some of the crucial obstacles of automation testing.
The Bottom Line
All the questions that we discussed in this article will cover fundamental concepts in automation testing. They will also serve as a good starting point for preparing for interviews in this field. However, the developers must be aware that certain questions might change based on the company practices or the specific application development project. We strongly advise the candidates to thoroughly research their target company, their testing practices, tools that they are commonly using, and also their target audience. All this data will help candidates prepare themselves and thoroughly portray their abilities as modern automation testers. It is also important for the testers to constantly update themselves about all the new revolutionary trends and practices in the segment of test automation.
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