QA Interview – A different Approach !!

Software testing is such a diversified field that it has very warmly welcomed people from various backgrounds and different professions. And that’s the beauty of testing. The people who have learned the basics of testing and followed the process have excelled in this field.

We need to understand that Software Testing is an Art and you need to be in love with your art. Also, there is a very well-known misconception that people who don’t excel in any other field or are very new to IT field can very well catch up in the testing field.

It is absolutely fine if you have tried on another field and you didn’t do well and you found testing to be an exciting field where you can perform well but when you directly jump into this field with the mindset as (anyone can do), that demotivates the community and the people around it

And that’s the real challenge which is being observed around in the IT industry. Since the doors are open to All, so do the approach.

Having said that we are here not to discuss the common technical questions which are being discussed while interviewing a QA candidate but we will be focusing on discussion based on certain Analytical Parameters which is one of the most important factors apart from technical ability.

An Interviewer should always Judge a candidate based on the approach he/she has on the current work he/she is doing.

Here are a few glimpses of questions and discussions that help an interviewer in analyzing the candidate to be the best fit for the Project

1. What is so good about the current work you are doing?

While working on a project be it on any role, the positive attitude and willingness are the most important factors, so the discussion around current work/profile helps in identifying the positivity among the candidate.

2. What is the most important thing that you love in you Project?

This shows the passion and zeal of the candidate towards his work and how involved he/she is in the Project. Anyone can find an issue but identifying the root causes and helping the developer shows the level of involvement

3. What do you want to change, if given a chance, in your current organization/Process?

The candidate must have the ability to learn the domain and the Project and also knowing the hiccups around the Process while being part of it. The discussion around this helps us in understanding the capability of a person

4. What are your achievements in the project (even if he/she is faking, you know where to catch up)?

While working on a project, we come across lot of defect and project management tools and every project has its own learning which could be easily explained in the form of achievements

5. What is more important for QA, only to find a bug or to get it fixed?

We cannot be on a same role now a days specially in this agile world and being a QA does not mean to point out mistakes but to rectify them and make sure they don’t happen it again. The discussion on the above topic helps in realizing if the candidate is just a tester or test engineer

6. What is that thing, which irritates you while testing in your project?

We are never happy with certain things while in the project life cycle be it documentation, lengthy meetings extending beyond office hours, environmental issues but at the end deadline always points to QA and such discussions helps in identifying the working style of a candidate

7. Do you think anyone can do testing in IT world? ( This is the tricky one to be handled if a person is from non-IT background growing in the same field)

Those who think testing is an easy job will answer only Yes but a person with the right approach and learning mindset would associate effort and process orientation to be a must for any one to be in the testing world

8. As an Interviewer you should keep an eye on the attitude of the candidate (though he may be a master in his field and technically sound and fluent) but if he is over confident and repulsive, not a good fit at least in my team

9. As an interviewer always mention/provide genuine feedback and scope of improvement in the feedback form which will help you later in finalizing the candidate

10. And last one, be nice to the candidate as they have come from different background and are at different stage of life with some hope in their eyes

Though an interviewer may have a bad day/hectic schedule, never bring the curse to the interview table, Your Kindness is the foremost factor in an interview. As a candidate can only be comfortable and confident if the interviewer is keeping the said approach

The above suggested points are from my own experience and there may be a lot to add to this. For me every interview is a new learning episode for both interviewer and Interviewee. So keep learning !!

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