🎯 QA Interview Questions & Answers

Q1: Can you tell me about yourself?

Ans: In my QA career, I have been working on various system platforms and operating systems like Windows 95, Windows 2000, Windows XP and UNIX. I have tested applications developed in Java, C++, and Visual Basic and so on. I have tested Web-based applications as well as client server applications.

As a QA person, I have written Test Plans, Test Cases, attended walkthrough meetings with the Business Analysts, Project Managers, Business Managers and QA Leads. I have attended requirement review meetings and provided feedback to the Business Analysts. I have worked in different databases like Oracle and DB2, wrote SQL queries to retrieve data from the database.

As far as different types of testing is concerned, I have performed Sanity Testing, Functional Testing, Backend Testing, Black Box Testing, Integration Testing, Regression Testing and UAT (User Acceptance Testing) Testing. I have participated in Load Testing and Stress Testing.

I have written defects as they are found using Quality Center. Once the defects were fixed, retested them and if they passed, closed them. If the defects were not fixed, then reopened them. I have also attended the defect assessment meetings as necessary. In the meantime, a continuous interaction with developers was necessary.

This is pretty much what I have been doing as a QA person.

Q2: What did you do in your last project?

Ans: In my last project, the application was a web-based application developed in Java platform. As a QA Person, I wrote Test Plans from the requirement documents and Use Cases. I performed Smoke Testing, Functional Testing, Backend Testing, Black Box Testing, Integration Testing, Regression Testing and UAT (User Acceptance Testing). I have participated in Load Testing and Stress Testing.

I attended several walkthrough meetings for requirement reviews and provided feedback to the Business Analysts. Mostly, I was in the backend testing, which required writing SQL queries directly to the database. Besides these, I wrote defects using Quality Center. Once the defects were fixed, retested them and if they passed, closed them. If the defects were not fixed, then reopened them.

Q3: Have you written Test Plan? What is a Test Plan? What does it include?

Ans: Yes.

What is a Test Plan? A Test Plan is a document that describes the scope, approach, resources, and schedule of intended testing activities. It identifies test items, the features to be tested, the testing tasks and who will do each task (roles and responsibilities) and any risks and its solutions.

What does it include? A Test Plan includes Heading, Revision History, Table of Contents, Introduction, Scope, Approach, Overview, different types of testing that will be carried out, what software and hardware will be required, issues, risks, assumptions and sign off section.

Q4: Have you written Test Cases? What is a Test Case? What does it include?

Ans: Yes.

What is a Test Case? A Test Case is a document that describes step-by-step process how to test the application. A Test Case includes Test Case ID, Steps Description, Expected Output, Actual Output, Pass/Fail, and Remarks.

Did you use any tools to write Test Cases? Yes. I have used TestDirector (now called QualityCenter) and Rational TestManager to write Test Cases. However, in most of the companies, I used Excel sheet.

How many Test Cases did you write in your last project? (Answer varies per project)

What document did you refer to write the Test Cases? Requirement document. (NOTE: It can also be Use Cases, or Design Document. It depends company to company.)

Q5: Did you have a situation where you did not have any documents and you had to write the Test Cases?

Ans: Yes. I have been to that kind of scenarios several times. There were companies where they had no documents at all. In that case, I had to discuss the application scenario and functionalities with the Business Analysts or developer. On the basis of that discussion, I prepared a document in consultation with Business Analysts and Developers and then started writing Plans and Test Cases.

Q6: Have you worked with Use Cases before?

Ans: Yes. I have written Test Cases using Use Cases.

Can you tell me what a Use Case is? A use case is a document that describes the user action and system response for a particular functionality.

Q7: What is Business Requirement Document (BRD)?

Ans: It is a document that describes the details of the application functionalities which is required by the user. This document is written by the Business Analysts.

Q8: What is Business Design Document?

Ans: It is the document that describes the application functionalities of the user in detail. This document has the further details of the Business Requirement Document. This is a very crucial step in Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). Sometimes the Business Requirement Document and Business Design Document can be lumped together to make only one Business Requirement Document.

Q9: What is a Module?

Ans: A Module is a software component that has a specific task. It can be a link, which can go inside to its component detail.

Q10: What is walk-through meeting?

Ans: A walk-through meeting is an informal review where the author presents the document to peers to gather feedback and identify issues.

Q11: What is a Use Case and what does it include?

Ans: A Use Case is a document that describes the user action and system response for a particular functionality. It includes cover page, Revision History, Table of Contents, Flow of Events (normal flow and alternative flow), Exceptions, Special Requirements, Pre-conditions and Post-conditions.

Q12: What is Build?

Ans: When each of the different modules of software is prepared, the Configuration Management Team (CMT) puts them in a single folder and it is called the Build.

Q13: What does the Build Deployment mean?

Ans: When the Build so prepared by the CMT (Configuration Management Team), it is deployed (put) to different Test Environments, it is called the Build Deployment.

Q14: What is Test Strategy?

Ans: A Test Strategy is a document that describes the test efforts, test configuration, testing tools to be employed, test environments, exit criteria and entry criteria for testing, what different types of testing will be carried out (for example, smoke test, regression, load test, functional test and so on) types of testing to be carried out and system requirement. The Test Manager or Lead writes it. (Remember, the Tester does NOT write Test Strategy. A Tester writes Test Plans and Test Cases)

Q15: Are Test Plan and Test Strategy same type of documents?

Ans: No, they are different documents. A Test Plan is a document that collects and organizes test cases by functional areas and/or types of testing in a form that can be presented to the other teams and/or customer whereas the Test Strategy is the documented approach to testing. The tester prepares test Plan whereas the Manager or lead prepares the Test Strategy.

Q16: What does Test Strategy include?

Ans: It includes introduction, Test Objectives, Test Process, Test Methodology, Test Scope, Release Criteria for Testing (exit criteria), Test Lab configuration, resource and schedule for test activities, acceptance criteria, test environment, test tools, test priorities, test planning, executing a test pass and types of test to be performed.

Q17: What are different types of software testing and define them?

Ans: Different types of testing are:

1. Unit testing — A test to check the code whether it is properly working or not as per the requirement.
2. Shakeout testing — Carried out to check the networking facility, database connectivity and the integration of modules. The Configuration Management team normally does this test.
3. Smoke testing (Ad-hoc testing) — Done when the build is just prepared (fresh build) and deployed in the test environments. This is basically an ad hoc test to check roughly to make sure the major functionalities are not broken.
4. Functional testing — A test to check whether each and every function of that application is working as per the requirement. It is a major test where 80% of the tests are done.
5. Integration testing — A test to check whether all the modules are combined together or not and working successfully as specified in the requirement document.
6. Regression testing — When a new functionality is added to the software, we need to make sure that the added new functionality does not break the other parts of the application.
7. System testing — When testers complete testing in the test environment, the application has to be tested in the real environment with real data.
8. Load testing — A test to check the user’s response time for number of users using any one scenario of the same application at the same time.
9. Stress testing — The application is tested against heavy load such as complex numerical values, large number of inputs, large number of queries etc.
10. Performance testing — A test to check the user’s response time for number of users using multiple scenarios of the same application at the same time.
11. User acceptance testing — The software is handed over to the user to find out if the software meets the user expectations.
12. Black box testing — A test where a tester performs testing without looking into the code.
13. White box testing — A test where a tester looks into the code and performs the testing.
14. Alpha testing — Users are invited at the development center where they use the application and developers note every particular input or action.
15. Beta testing — The software is distributed as a beta version to the users and users test the application at their sites.

Q18: What is the difference between Load Testing and Performance Testing?

Ans: Basically Load, Stress and Performance Testing are the same. However, Load testing is the test to check the users’ response time of number of users of any one scenario of the application whereas Performance Testing is the test to check the user response time for multiple scenario of the same application.

Q19: What was the process of QA testing in your company where you worked for the last time?

Ans: The QA testing process that was followed in my last company where I worked was as follows:

First of all the Business Requirement Document was prepared as per the client’s requirement (with the muck-up). Then on the basis of the requirement document, QA Team wrote Test Plans, Test Cases and Test Strategies. The developers started coding their modules (started programming). Once the developers finished coding, the Configuration Management Team compiled the code together and prepared a build. This Build is now deployed to different testing environments where different types of testing were performed. Once the defects were found, the testers would log the defect using the tools available (like TestDirector, ClearQuest and so on). Once the defects are logged, then those defects would be discussed in the defect status meeting and would take further actions (meaning, closing, reopening, retesting of defects etc).

Q20: What is Change Control?

Ans: It is a document that describes the additional functionalities that are added after the Business Requirement Document is signed off. It can be updated in the old business requirement document or it can be a separate document. (Also called Change Request, Modification Request).

Q21: Have you written Change Control?

Ans: Yes. There was a situation where in one page of an application in my previous project, when the user clicked “Contact” link, it would pop up a different window (new separate window). But it was NOT the way it was described in the requirement document. In the requirement document, when the user clicks “Contact” link, then it should navigate to another page (Not a separate new window). So, it was NOT CONSISTENT with the other functionalities on the other pages. Therefore, it was a consistency issue. I reported this as a bug. But the Project Manager asked me to write it as a Change Control (because it requires more budget to fix this issue) so that he can address this issue at a later time.

Q22: What is Backend Testing?

Ans: It is a test to check whether the data displayed in the GUI front-end matches with the particular data in the backend.

Q23: Have you done any Backend Testing and/or if you did, how did you do it in your last project?

Ans: Yes. I have done backend testing. When I was working in my last project, this was my scenario of backend testing:

I was working on Reports. It was the scenario of testing one application used in the bank, where a customer comes to a bank’s front desk, the bank teller is requested to open a Checking Account. The associate then asks for the personal information about the customer, which are the primary data, such as: First Name, Last Name, Date of Birth, Address and Social Security Number.

The associate then puts these primary data of that particular customer into the computer, which then afterwards batch-processed (normally happens in the middle of the night). Now, after the batch process, the information of that customer goes into the central database in the XML format. The data now from the database goes to ETL (Extract-Transform-Load). ETL now processes the job to create a file (output file) to produce the report.

The file is now displayed in the GUI Front End report with the help of Business Object (or Crystal Reports). In the GUI Front End report, let us say, if for January, the deposit of that person was displayed as $900.00. Then my job was to validate whether this $900 is correct or not. I validated this data by writing SQL queries directly to the database. The data pulled from my SQL query should match to the data in the GUI front end. In other words, my SQL query should also display $900. If it matches, it is well and good. If it doesn’t, then it’s a bug.

How can you be sure that the query you wrote is correct? I write SQL query based on the requirement document. In the requirement document, various conditions are given for the query. Based on those conditions, I write SQL query. Therefore, anything different from the requirement document is definitely a defect.

Q24: From your resume, I see that you have been working in one place for a very short period of time. Can you explain why?

Ans: As a consultant, I am hired for a certain period of time (for project duration only), normally for 6 months to 1 year. Once the project is over, I needed to move to another project. That’s why you see me in the resume jumping frequently here and there.

Q25: What is done on the first day of the work?

Ans: On the first day, the Manager will come to receive at the lobby. He/she will welcome you; tell where you will be sitting. The next thing will be will show you login name and password and they want to make sure that the login name and password works so that you can use your computer. Then the Manager will tell you where the documents are located in the network drive (or shared drive, or ClearCase, or Sharepoint). Once you find the documents, then you will ask them what you will be working on what are the related documents that you should read. You start reading the documents, which lasts normally one week or more.

Q26: What do you do on the job every day?

Ans: Go to work, have a cup of coffee, then check emails. I will check in my calendar whether there is any meeting for the day. If there is anything urgent work that needs to take care of, then I will start with that job. Otherwise, I will start what is left from yesterday on a priority basis.

Q27: What do you do if you have any questions to ask? Who do you ask?

Ans: If you have any questions that you don’t know, you will be asking that to your friend first, if he/she is not able to answer, then ask this question to the Lead (or Manager). Do not ask too many questions (some people get irritated). Therefore, it is important to read read and read. That’s the only way to succeed.

Q28: Have you used automation tools?

Ans: Yes. I have used TestDirector and ClearQuest as defect tracking tools. (Even a Manual Tester uses automation tools like bug tracking tools like TestDirector, ClearQuest, PVC Tracker and so on.)

Q29: When you log a defect using TestDirector (or ClearQuest) what fields do you see?

Ans: When we log a defect, we see Defect ID (it shows later in TestDirector), Summary (where we write short description of the defect), Description (long description of the defect), Detected by (Person who found the defect), Severity, Date, Detected in Version, Priority, Project, Status, Assigned to and so on.

Q30: Are you better working in a team or working alone?

Ans: I am a team player. I get along with team members very well. As far as the working is concerned, I can be equally productive in team or working alone.

Q31: Do you have any situations in the past where you have some arguments with your team members?

Ans: No. I never had that type of situation wherever I have worked. (Even if you had one, it’s a good idea to say “No”. This could be a red flag, which might stop you from getting the job)

Q32: What do you like about a Manager? And what don’t you like?

Ans: The best thing I like about a Manager is that the Manager should be able to coordinate with the other teams so that we can get the updated documents, for example, updated requirements documents right away. A Manager who can efficiently distributes the work to the team, without being biased and easily accessible and protective to his team for the right cause.

As far as “what I don’t like” is concerned, I don’t like a manager who keeps coming to desk 10 times a day to check my work even if it is just a regular work. Once the responsibility is given, the team member should be trusted and let his work done.

Q33: Where do you see yourself in another 5 years?

Ans: I see myself a QA Lead in another 5 years. (You can also say “QA Manager”, but since the QA Manager is taking your interview most of the time, they sometimes feel challenged. Therefore, it might be a good idea to limit you to QA Lead)

Q34: Why are you in QA?

Ans: I am in QA because I like this job.

Q35: Why do you like this job?

Ans: I like this job, because it is process oriented. Meaning that I get an opportunity to work from analyzing the requirement documents to writing test plans, test cases, testing the application, logging defects, retesting, preparing reports and finally testing in production as well. Therefore, I am involved from the very beginning to the end of the software development life cycle (SDLC) process. I like this.

Another reason is I like to find defects. I enjoy logging defects. The more defects I find, the happier I am.

Q36: How do you determine what to test in an application?

Ans: First of all we have the test cases (or test scripts) that are written based on the requirement document. This pretty much covers what functionalities to test. Therefore, looking at the test cases tells us what to test in the application.

Q37: If you have no documentation about the product, how do you test an application?

Ans: Well, this is a situation where I have come across several times. Some of the companies in my previous projects did not have any documents. In this case, I went to the Business Analyst and some times to developers to find out how exactly the functionalities work, how to navigate from one page to another page and so on. After getting a clear vision, I write test cases based on the conversation (which is a step by step procedure to test an application) and get ready for testing.

Q38: What do you do once you find a defect?

Ans: Once you find a defect, this is what we need to do:

1. Recreate the Defect: Once you find a defect, we must try to recreate (meaning that we should be able to reproduce it) at least 3 times so that we are sure that it is a defect. Some times, once we find it log it without recreating, may put us in a false situation (because sometimes the application does not behave in the same way).
2. Attach the Screen Shot (supporting document): Once we confirm that it is a defect, and then it is a good idea to attach supporting documents when we log (write) a defect. For example, screen shot, requirement document etc.
3. Log the Defect: Now, the next step is, we need to log it. Depending on the company what kind of tools they are using (for example, some companies use TestDirector to log defects, some companies use Rational ClearQuest, some use PVC Tracker and so on). If the company is small and cannot afford these expensive tools, then they may simply use Excel sheet to log defects. We log the defect.

Q39: What are the basic elements you put in a defect?

Ans: Basic elements we put in a defect are: SEVERITY, PRIORITY, CREATED BY, VERSION NO, HEADER, DESCRIPTION OF THE DEFECT where we write how to recreate a defect, in what module the defect is found, Status, and so on.

Q40: What is the biggest bug you have ever found?

Ans: Well, there are many big defects I have found in various projects. For example, in the last project, on a page, there was a button called “More Information”. Once the user clicked that button, the system would open a new window (pop up).

We could close the new window in 3 ways: By clicking X at the top right corner of the page, By clicking “Close” button on the page, By pressing combination keys (Alt+F4) on the key board. Although the combination key (Alt+F4) was not mentioned in the test case, I just wanted to try how the application reacts when Alt+F4 is pressed. Then I pressed Alt+F4. The result was a disaster — the application crashed (broke). The application disappeared from the computer monitor. Since it was the last day of testing for us, it brought chaos in our Managers, Leads and the whole teams. Finally, the developers disabled Alt+F4 as a temporary solution and the application went into production.

Q41: How do you make sure that it is quality software?

Ans: There is a certain process how the quality of software is guaranteed (ensured). If is defined by the ‘exit criteria’. Exit Criteria gives the measurement, for example, in order to confirm the quality, how many critical defects, high defects, medium defect and low defect are acceptable? These are all defined in the exit criteria. (Normally in practice, for a quality software, there should no critical defects (0 critical), no high defect (0 high), no medium defect (0 medium) and may be 1 low defect)

Q42: As a QA Tester, can you tell me the situation when you felt the most proud of it?

Ans: When I find the defect that normally others don’t find, then I feel very proud. For example, there were situations where I found bugs that crashed the whole system at the end of testing phase. I tried the scenarios where the scenarios were NOT mentioned in the test cases.

Q43: What made you to choose testing career?

Ans: I am a very detailed oriented person and I like process-oriented job. The way QA process works is just the kind of work I like. For example, analyzing requirement documents, attending walk-through meetings, writing test plans, writing test cases, executing the test cases (or running the test cases) testing the application, logging defects, retesting them and so on. I think I really like the process and that’s why I chose this career.

Q44: When should testing start in a project? Why?

Ans: We should start testing as soon as the following things are ready:

• Test Data are ready
• Build (all the developers have coded their code and merged them together)
• Test Environment (servers, network etc) is set up and ready
• When the manager asks us to go ahead and start testing

Q45: Let us say you have a web application to test. How do you go about testing it? What is the process?

Ans: First of all, I will look at the requirement documents (or design document in some companies). The requirement document will tell us what the functionalities in the application (software) are. Once I analyze the requirement documents (one module=one requirement document). After that, I will write test plans for each module (one module =one test plan). Then after the test plan is complete, I will write test cases (One module can have hundreds, even thousands test cases). Once the test cases are ready and the application is ready (or once the build is ready), then I will start testing. Before I start testing, however, I will make sure the test environments, test data and defect logging tools are in place. This is how I will go about testing an application.

Q46: What is a “bug?”

Ans: A bug is an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer code (program) that prevents it from behaving as intended (e.g., producing an incorrect result). When the expected results (accordingly to the requirement documents) don’t match with the actual results (while testing), then it is considered a bug.

Q47: How would you ensure that you have covered 100% testing?

Ans: The testing coverage is defined by exit criteria. For example, if the exit criteria says “The software will be acceptable to the client only if there are no critical defects, no high defects, no medium defects and only two low defects”, then all the critical, high, medium should be zero. Only 2 low defects are acceptable. Thus, 100% coverage is measured by the exit criteria. Also, 100% test cases must be executed in order to cover 100% of testing.

Q48: What problems did you face in the past? How did you solve it?

Ans: I had many problems while testing applications in the past. As far as I remember one of them, this was the scenario:

It was a web-based application. I was working on a module called “Transaction Summary”. There was “Submit” button on that page. After entering data in the all the fields, for example, First Name, Last Name, Social Security Number, Date of Birth and so on, I clicked the Submit button. Once I clicked Submit button, an error page displayed, “Page cannot be found…”. Since it was a critical defect, I immediately informed the Test Lead. There was a chaos in the room. All the developers, Database Administrators and Testers gathered in my cube (room). No body could tell exactly what was wrong with it. Finally, one smart guy checked into the database and found out that one of the files in the database was closed. The status of all the files should be in the open status. Once the status of the closed file was put in the “open” status, the application worked fine.

Q49: Tell me about the worst boss you have ever had.

Ans: I can hardly think of any Manager that was really bad. But when I compare, then I remember of a Test Lead who was just made a lead from the developers team. She used to feel that she has been very proud of her position and used to boss around. Some times, she used to call home and check where I was and what I was doing. Or have I completed my job before leaving and so on. I think, whatever she did, was in the benefit of the company and myself in the long run which would give me more confidence in future.

Q50: What do you like about QA?

Ans: The best thing I like about QA is, I like the job which is more process oriented. For example, we have to work right from reading the requirement documents, providing feedback to the Business Analysts as necessary, writing test plans, test cases, execute the test cases, interaction with different developers, attend walk-through meeting and so on. I am a very detailed oriented person. When I test applications, I try to get into the depth of functionality so that I don’t miss out anything. Finally, I love logging defects.

Q51: What are all the basic elements in a defect report?

Ans: The basic elements in a defect report are: Defect ID, Header, Description, Defect Reported by, Date, Status, Version, Assigned to, Approved by, Module where the defect was found and so on.

Q52: What is the difference between verification and validation?

Ans:

• Verification: Verification is a process to ensure that the software that is made, matches the original design. In other words, it checks whether the software is made according to the criteria and specification described in the requirement document. It is to check whether you built the product right as per design. It is a low level checking. (It is done in walk-through meetings generally).
• Validation: Validation is a process to check whether the product design fits the client’s need. It checks whether you built the right thing. It checks whether it is designed properly.

Q53: How do you know it is sufficient testing?

Ans: Every company has entry and exit criteria. When we test applications, we refer to exit criteria. When we are about to finish testing, then the QA Team (QA Manager) refers to the exit criteria (exit criteria tells the level of defect that you can be comfortable with before it goes to production. For example, there should be ZERO critical defect, ZERO high level defect, ZERO medium defect, 1 Low level defect, all the test cases must be 100% executed etc). Once the exit criteria meet the requirements, then the software is considered to be sufficiently tested.

Q54: How to derive test scenarios and use cases? What are the contents and format?

Ans: Test scenarios are derived from requirement documents. We follow each and every functionality (called business rules) mentioned in the requirement document. One functionality can have multiple business rules. For example, let us say in there is one requirement called “Login”. This “Login” may have various scenarios. For example, one scenario is, enter the right User ID and wrong password. The system should display an error message. Another scenario would be to enter wrong User ID and right Password. The system should display an error message. The third scenario could be to enter the right User Name and right Password. The system should allow the user to get into the system. This is how the test cases are derived from the requirement documents or from the Use Cases.

Q55: What are the types of test cases that you write?

Ans: We write test cases for smoke testing, integration testing, functional testing, regression testing, load testing, stress testing, system testing and so on.

Q56: How to write Integration test cases?

Ans: I have never written separate Test Cases Integration Testing. Since Integration Testing is a test to check whether the all the modules are integrated together or not (meaning that when the developers compile all their module and make a build, all modules should be working when they are combined together and those modules when combined, should work as expected). If they are not integrated (combined) in a nice way, then the application breaks. Basically, when we do the functional testing, the integration testing is automatically done.

Q57: How to write Regression test cases? What are the criteria?

Ans: Regression test cases are also based on the requirement documents. They are written more into detail and with every release (build), the testers need to do regression testing. The criteria for regression testing are; there should be no major defects while we do our smoke test and functional testing.

Q58: Is there a format for a test case? Do you follow any methodology for numbering test cases?

Ans: Yes. It depends upon the company how the company has followed the numbering of test cases. However, normally, it is just a simple numbering in most of the time. But some companies may also relate this numbering to the requirement number. For example, if the requirement for Login is “REQ-LOG-001”, then we can number the test cases like REQ-LOG-001-001 and so on.

Q59: What is Test Harness?

Ans: In software testing, a test harness or automated test framework is a collection of software and test data configured to test a program unit by running it under varying conditions and monitor its behavior and outputs. It has two main parts: the test execution engine and the test script repository.

Q60: How to write User Acceptance Test plan & test cases?

Ans: The way of writing Test Plan and Test Cases is the same in all the test phases. However, specifically for User Acceptance Testing, the testers use data nearly real data (meaning that the data is very much similar to the production data or real data).

Q61: What are the different matrices that you follow?

Ans: There are various reports we normally prepare in QA:

• Test summary Report — It is a report that has list of the total test cases, list of executed test cases, remaining test case to be executed, executed date, pass/fail
• Defect Report — In this report we normally prepare a list of defect in spreadsheet e.g. defect # CQ12345
• Traceability Matrix [also called RTM (Requirement Traceability Matrix)] Report — the document which shows the relationship between the functionalities or the business rules and the test cases. So, with the help of Traceability Matrix we make sure that we includes all the functionalities in our test cases according to the requirement document.

Q62: Explain Bug Life Cycle.

Ans: I would describe this as below:

1. A Tester finds a defect and logs it. (But before you log it, you must try to recreate it for 3 or 4 times so that you are 100% sure that it is a bug)
2. The defect is now approved or disapproved by the Test Lead. (If it is disapproved, then the test lead will come to you ask for more details and you have explain to him why it is a bug)
3. After the Test Lead approves the bug, it is now assigned to a development Team Lead (or Development Manager). He/she now assigns that bug to the concerned developer.
4. The developer now looks into the bug and fixes it. Once the fix is ready, there will be another build ready to test. The tester now tests the defect. If the defect is fixed, then the tester closes the defect, if not then the test will reopen it and same cycle starts.

Q63: What will you do if developer does not accept the bug?

Ans: If the developer does not accept the defect, then he will reject it. Once it is rejected, then it comes back to the tester. Now, the tester will ask for clarification with the developer why the defect is rejected. Since everything is based on the requirement documents, both tester and developer will have to look at the requirement document, validate it and then reopen it if necessary or close.

Q64: What are the different tests that can be done for Client Server Application and Web-based Application?

Ans: For both client server and web based applications, the testing is the same except one thing: We test web based applications in different browsers, for example, Internet Explorer (will test in different versions like IE 5.0, IE 6.0, IE 7.0), Firefox, Safari (for Mac) and so on where as for client server, we don’t need to test in the browsers.

Q65: Give me five common problems that occur during software development.

Ans:

1. Poorly written requirements
2. Unrealistic schedules
3. Inadequate testing
4. Adding new features after development is underway
5. Poor communication

Q66: What is the role of documentation in QA?

Ans: Documentation plays a critical role in QA. QA practices should be documented, so that they are repeatable. Specifications, designs, business rules, inspection reports, configurations, code changes, test plans, test cases, bug reports, user manuals should all be documented. Ideally, there should be a system for easily finding and obtaining of documents and determining what document will have a particular piece of information.

Q67: What if the software is so buggy it cannot be tested at all?

Ans: In this situation the best bet is to have test engineers go through the process of reporting whatever bugs or problems initially show up, with the focus being on critical bugs. Since this type of problem can severely affect schedules and indicates deeper problems in the software development process, such as insufficient unit testing, insufficient integration testing, poor design, improper build or release procedures, managers should be notified and provided with some documentation as evidence of the problem.

Q68: How do you know when to stop testing?

Ans: This can be difficult to determine. Many modern software applications are so complex and run in such an interdependent environment, that complete testing can never be done. Common factors in deciding when to stop are:

• Deadlines, e.g. release deadlines, testing deadlines
• Test cases completed with certain percentage passed
• Test budget has been depleted
• Coverage of code, functionality, or requirements reaches a specified point
• Bug rate falls below a certain level
• Beta or alpha testing period ends

Q69: What if there is not enough time for thorough testing?

Ans: Since it’s rarely possible to test every possible aspect of an application, every possible combination of events, every dependency, or everything that could go wrong, risk analysis is appropriate to most software development projects. Use risk analysis to determine where testing should be focused. This requires judgment skills, common sense and experience.

Q70: What can be done if requirements are changing continuously?

Ans: Work with management early on to understand how requirements might change, so that alternate test plans and strategies can be worked out in advance. It is helpful if the application’s initial design allows for some adaptability, so that later changes do not require redoing the application from scratch. Additionally, try to:

• Ensure the code is well commented and well documented; this makes changes easier for the developers.
• Use rapid prototyping whenever possible; this will help customers feel sure of their requirements and minimize changes.
• In the project’s initial schedule, allow for some extra time to commensurate with probable changes.
• Move new requirements to a ‘Phase 2’ version of an application and use the original requirements for the ‘Phase 1’ version.
• Negotiate to allow only easily implemented new requirements into the project; move more difficult, new requirements into future versions of the application.
• Ensure customers and management understand scheduling impacts, inherent risks and costs of significant requirements changes. Then let management or the customers decide if the changes are warranted; after all, that’s their job.
• Balance the effort put into setting up automated testing with the expected effort required to redo them to deal with changes.
• Design some flexibility into automated test scripts
• Focus initial automated testing on application aspects that are most likely to remain unchanged
• Devote appropriate effort to risk analysis of changes, in order to minimize regression-testing needs
• Design some flexibility into test cases; this is not easily done; the best bet is to minimize the detail in the test cases, or set up only higher-level generic-type test plans
• Focus less on detailed test plans and test cases and more on ad-hoc testing with an understanding of the added risk this entails.

Q71: What if the application has functionality that was not in the requirements?

Ans: It may take serious effort to determine if an application has significant unexpected or hidden functionality, which it would indicate deeper problems in the software development process. If the functionality isn’t necessary to the purpose of the application, it should be removed, as it may have unknown impacts or dependencies that were not taken into account by the designer or the customer.

If not removed, design information will be needed to determine added testing needs or regression testing needs. Management should be made aware of any significant added risks as a result of the unexpected functionality. If the functionality only affects areas, such as minor improvements in the user interface, it may not be a significant risk.

Q72: How can software QA processes be implemented without stifling productivity?

Ans: Implement QA processes slowly over time. Use consensus to reach agreement on processes and adjust and experiment as an organization grows and matures. Productivity will be improved instead of stifled. Problem prevention will lessen the need for problem detection. Panics and burnout will decrease and there will be improved focus and less wasted effort.

At the same time, attempts should be made to keep processes simple and efficient, minimize paperwork, promote computer-based processes and automated tracking and reporting, minimize time required in meetings and promote training as part of the QA process. However, no one, especially talented technical types, like bureaucracy and in the short run things may slow down a bit. A typical scenario would be that more days of planning and development will be needed, but less time will be required for late-night bug fixing and calming of irate customers.

Q73: What is parallel/audit testing?

Ans: Parallel/audit testing is testing where the user reconciles the output of the new system to the output of the current system to verify the new system performs the operations correctly. Let us say, for example, the currently software is in the mainframe system which calculates the interest rate. The company wants to change this mainframe system to web-based application. While testing the new web based application, we need to verify that the web-based application calculates the same interest rate. This is parallel testing.

Q74: What is system testing?

Ans: System testing is black box testing, performed by the Test Team, and at the start of the system testing the complete system is configured in a controlled environment. The purpose of system testing is to validate an application’s accuracy and completeness in performing the functions as designed. System testing simulates real life scenarios that occur in a “simulated real life” test environment and test all functions of the system that are required in real life. System testing is deemed complete when actual results and expected results are either in line or differences are explainable or acceptable, based on client input.

Q75: What is end-to-end testing?

Ans: Similar to system testing, the macro end of the test scale is testing a complete application in a situation that mimics real world use, such as interacting with a database, using network communication, or interacting with other hardware, application, or system.

Q76: What is security/penetration testing?

Ans: Security/penetration testing is testing how well the system is protected against unauthorized internal or external access, or willful damage. This type of testing usually requires sophisticated testing techniques.

Q77: What is recovery/error testing?

Ans: Recovery/error testing is testing how well a system recovers from crashes, hardware failures, or other catastrophic problems.

Q78: What is compatibility testing?

Ans: Compatibility testing is testing how well software performs in a particular hardware, software, operating system, or network environment.

Q79: What is comparison testing?

Ans: Comparison testing is testing that compares software weaknesses and strengths to those of competitors’ products.

Q80: What is acceptance testing?

Ans: Acceptance testing is black box testing that gives the client/customer/project manager the opportunity to verify the system functionality and usability prior to the system being released to production. The acceptance test is the responsibility of the client/customer or project manager, however, it is conducted with the full support of the project team. The test team also works with the client/customer/project manager to develop the acceptance criteria.

Q81: What is a Test/QA Team Lead?

Ans: The Test/QA Team Lead coordinates the testing activity, communicates testing status to management and manages the test team.

Q82: What is software testing methodology?

Ans: One software testing methodology is used for three step process of:

1. Creating a test strategy
2. Creating a test plan/design
3. Executing tests

This methodology can be used and molded to your organization’s needs.

Q83: What is the general testing process?

Ans: The general testing process is the creation of a test strategy (which sometimes includes the creation of test cases), creation of a test plan/design (which usually includes test cases and test procedures) and the execution of tests.

Q84: How do you create a test strategy?

Ans: The test strategy is a formal description of how a software product will be tested. A test strategy is developed for all levels of testing, as required. The test team analyzes the requirements, writes the test strategy and reviews the plan with the project team. The test plan may include test cases, conditions, the test environment, a list of related tasks, pass/fail criteria and risk assessment.

Q85: How do you create a test plan/design?

Ans: Test scenarios and/or cases are prepared by reviewing functional requirements of the release and preparing logical groups of functions that can be further broken into test procedures. Test procedures define test conditions, data to be used for testing and expected results, including database updates, file outputs, report results.

Generally speaking, test cases and scenarios are designed to represent both typical and unusual situations that may occur in the application. Test engineers define unit test requirements and unit test cases. Test engineers also execute unit test cases. It is the test team that, with assistance of developers and clients, develops test cases and scenarios for integration and system testing.

Q86: How do you execute tests?

Ans: Execution of tests is completed by following the test documents in a methodical manner. As each test procedure is performed, an entry is recorded in a test execution log to note the execution of the procedure and whether or not the test procedure uncovered any defects. Checkpoint meetings are held throughout the execution phase. Checkpoint meetings are held daily, if required, to address and discuss testing issues, status and activities.

The output from the execution of test procedures is known as test results. Test results are evaluated by test engineers to determine whether the expected results have been obtained. All discrepancies/anomalies are logged and discussed with the software team lead, hardware test lead, programmers, software engineers and documented for further investigation and resolution.

Q87: What testing approaches can you tell me about?

Ans: Each of the followings represents a different testing approach:

• Black box testing
• White box testing
• Unit testing
• Incremental testing
• Integration testing
• Functional testing
• System testing
• End-to-end testing
• Sanity testing
• Regression testing
• Acceptance testing
• Load testing
• Performance testing
• Usability testing
• Install/uninstall testing
• Recovery testing
• Security testing
• Compatibility testing
• Exploratory testing, ad-hoc testing
• User acceptance testing
• Comparison testing
• Alpha testing
• Beta testing
• Mutation testing

Q88: How do you divide the application into different sections to create scripts?

Ans: First of all, the application is divided in different parts when a business analyst writes the requirement document (or Use Cases or Design Document), he/she writes EACH requirement document for EACH module. Let us say, if there are 12 different modules in an application that a business analyst has written the requirements for, then a tester would write the test cases for each module, which means in 12 different sections. This is the standard practice.

There might be scenarios where you might have to break down scripts into sub-categories. For example, if a tester is writing a script for Login Page, he/she might write one for positive and negative testing and another sub-set of test cases would be for error message when the wrong information is entered. In short, the test cases are divided according to the modules.

Q89: What is your goal?

Ans: My goal is to be QA Lead (or QA Manager) in near future. (This question is asked to check how ambitious you are as far as your career is concerned, whether you like the job you are doing and so on. Therefore, no matter what, you should stick to your QA job at this point and say that you love this so much and your goal is something similar.)

Q90: What are you expecting from our company?

Ans: My expectation from your company would be I will have more challenges and new things to learn and whatever the skills I have to contribute, hopefully, I will be able to contribute if they are in any way helpful to enhance productivity of the company.

Q91: What did you learn from your previous companies?

Ans: I learned a lot from the previous companies wherever I have worked. I found out the there is always something to learn. Different companies have different ways of working. The environment and technology always differ from one company to another company. I have never found one company’s environment matching with another company. For example, if one company is using documents called requirement documents, then the other company might be using Use Cases and some companies might be using Design Document and so on. Therefore, in my experience, there are always new things to learn in every company and we can always contribute these thing in the next company if they help to be more productive.

Q92: What do you want to be in next 2 years?

Ans: I want to be QA Lead in another two years. (Why QA Lead? Why not something else? Answer: QA is the only thing I love doing it. I love this job and want to progress in this sector. I want to know how to manage QA process, how to handle different jobs and so on. Since the next step is the QA Lead, that would preferably be one I will targeting for.)

Q93: Why do you want to work for this company?

Ans: (This is a tricky question. They want to know what really interests you and you have to be careful when you answer this question. You must admire the line of that company. For example, if you are being interviewed by a pharmaceutical company, then tell them that you are always interested in the medical applications and the better part of your company is that it has exciting products that I am really curious to learn. That’s why I would feel really great if I am given the opportunity to work in your company.)

Q94: Did you get any compliments from your previous employers? What were those situations?

Ans: Yes. I did. There were many occasions where I had compliments. For example, I was testing an application going a little bit off my test cases. After I finished executing my test cases, I always think in a way what a real user would possibly click in various parts of the application. So I was just clicking back and forth and at one specific scenario, the application simply broke and displayed an error message. That scenario was not in the test cases. The manager really appreciated me and thanked for finding this kind of critical defect.

Bonus: What are your strengths?

Ans: I am a very detailed oriented person. I have the sense of urgency. I can prioritize my job according to the deadline. I am very much dedicated towards my job. I am honest. I have the skills and expertise in QA process. These are some of my strengths.

Bonus: What is your weakness?

Ans: I think my weakness is that whenever I am given some responsibilities and there is a deadline for it, I work day and night, 7 days a week. This is probably bad for my family life, but I can’t sleep unless I am done with my assignments.

Bonus: UNIX Commands for QA Testing

Some of the commands used while testing using UNIX are:

Bonus: What is a cookie? How do you clean cookies?

Ans: A small text file of information that certain Web sites attach to a user’s hard drive while the user is browsing the Web site. A Cookie can contain information such as user ID, user preferences, archive shopping cart information, etc.

Why do we need to clean cookies? When we get a new build, we must clean cookies. If we don’t clean cookies, then there is a possibility that we may get the same error which was already fixed by the developer. Because the error is sitting in your computer hard drive and the computer feels easy to get the same information from the hard drive rather than going to the server and pulling new thing for the same thing.

How to clean cookies in IE:

1. Open IE (Internet Explorer)
2. On the menu, click Tools → Internet Options → Click Delete button (It is in General Tab)
3. Click Delete All button. Now the cookies are cleaned in IE.

How to clean cookies in Firefox:

1. Open Firefox Browser
2. Click Tools
3. Click Error Console
4. Click Clear. Now the cookies are cleaned in Firefox.

Bonus: Does a Tester need SQL?

Ans: Yes. For a Tester, SQL is needed. When we do the backend testing, we need to write SQL queries to retrieve the data from the database and compare this data to the one with reports or output. Another scenario is, if something goes wrong in the application, for example, if there is an error, then we might have to write SQL queries to retrieve the data from the database and check what went wrong.

Example: You logged in to the application with User ID=devin99 and password=sn992jj. Now, to retrieve your record, you can write a query something like this:

This query will retrieve your record only so that you can see what happened.

Bonus: How do you do risk assessment?

Ans: The risks by understanding the infrastructure of the application, hard drive and system capabilities etc. Also added “Risk and Mitigation Strategy” column within the test plan. The major risk for the company was system getting crashed upon receiving several hits by the users. Company did not set any metrics at the development phase as to what it can handle. I noted mitigation strategy to deal with each known risk within the test plan.