Top 10 things that every software tester should know before attending any testing interview

Generally people who are interested to build their career in software testing field, while attending any interview they just read the basic testing questions by spending overnight time for reading and they feel they are fully prepared to attend any interview. Interviewing many people I came across common issue, many people do not know other than the basic testing questions.  If it’s about experience we do not bother much about basic questions but little more about person’s experience, however if you are a fresher and planned for interview then only basic testing questions preparation is not much enough as the trends are changing now. Here are few tips that could help you to increase your selection chances if you keep these points in mind before attending any testing interview.

Basic Testing Preparation:  For graduate hires, yes we expect that interviewee should have strong knowledge about software testing basics. We don’t expect much but we look for how understanding power they have and how fast they can learn in the future. Apart from this we expect that their knowledge is just a definition or really they understand the meaning what they say in front of interviewer. My suggestion is keep basic testing knowledge preparation but try to relate that basic knowledge with some real time example. Relating with real time example will show your confidence and also it will be easy for interviewer to understand that you know the meaning what you say and not just the definition.

Test Approach: Be prepare with some examples that how you could take the test approach for any testing request. Interviewer could ask you to give some examples that you could do the best test approach. For example they can ask you to write the test approach for login form. So you have to give the best approach that what could be most important in the login page that you should test first. While taking interview I have seen most of the people don’t know even what test approach is. If you are experienced person, I think answering of this question will be very easy for you and I am sure during your work, definitely you would have come with best approaches of testing. So please give the example and keep in mind the example you give is understandable and not confusing.

Real time experience in testing: We never expect much from fresher. But my suggestion is for fresher that you try to do some real time testing. For example its not necessary that you should have any project and tested before, however you could pick any website and perform some testing whenever you have time. When Interviewer asks this question you should be in condition to say yes. You can say as “yes I have tested few website and came across few bugs or suggestions”. You can give the example. This will show your interest that you are really interested in testing. Lest talk about the experienced people, you should show your real time experience in very simple way and make sure interviewer is completely understanding what you say. Never try to confuse.

Latest technology knowledge: Very important as these days software testing trends are changing as every day new technologies are launching in the market. If you are not aware about the latest technology available in the market, you are really doing a big mistake and its very difficult to grow faster in software testing career. Make sure before attending interview you are at least went through the latest technology in the market. For example- What are latest browser versions, what are latest operating systems, what are devices available in the market etc. At least you should have few knowledge about mobile testing as well. This will add the value for you.

Testing certification: Not always necessary, but if you have done any testing certification it’s a plus point for you and will add the weightage in your resume. If you have strong knowledge about testing, certification is not necessary. However some companies look for this and may be without certification they don’t allow to attend interview even. I would suggest certification is good for your knowledge and plus point in the interview.

Why do you think you are perfect for testing: General question that is asked by interviewer to almost every interviewee. Little bit tricky question and you should answer this in gentle way. You are interested and so you are here for interview. Give few examples that show your interest in testing and also you can perform testing in innovative way. Give some tools knowledge if you have. Talk on the way that realize you are really interested in testing.

Why testing, why not development: Another question that might cold ask. So testing and development are totally based on interest so you can say in simple way you like to work in testing field. Development gives the product but testing makes the product perfect and error free. You can say you are less interested in development but you like to view the product or software with different testing perspective. Apart from these you can say, might be development will limit the boundary of your knowledge but testing will keep you always updated with technology and overall view of software. You can think on business level point of view and test the application to take the higher level business decisions.

Test cases and test scenarios: You should be very well prepared about test cases and test scenarios before attending testing interview. This question will definitely be asked. You should have remember all the important points about how to write the test cases and test scenarios, difference in test scenario and test script, give example. Do the best practices to write test cases for any feature (i.e. login page).

Basic programming knowledge: If you know basic programming like java script, java, C, C++, VB script, html, SQL etc. it’s a plus point for you. If you are not confident, be tricky because if you would say confidently that you know scripting or programming, it might could ask you to write short scripting or programming. Some companies keep this as priority but many companies don’t. So nothing wrong to know at least basic programming or scripting language.

Review your resume: Most of the questions generally be asked from the resume because resume is the mirror of you that shows your ability to work. Before attending any interview please make sure you have gone through your resume several times and also make sure you are able to answer all the questions asked based on the information mentioned in the resume. So prepare well for interview according to the resume.

These information are totally based on my experience and hope these information will help you to crack the testing interview.