How to pass an interview for an AQA Engineer’s position

?? Basic recommendations:

• As AQA is impossible without knowledge of a specific programming language, be sure to know its basics. Any relevant online course on Coursera or Udemy will give you the necessary fundamentals. The certificate you’ll receive will take many questions off the table.??
• Automated testing is not just about writing a specific code (I would say it’s quite a simple one). It’s crucial to know basic QA theory according to ISTQB requirements. Be ready to show off your knowledge.
• If you state something in your CV, be ready to back it up during the interview. Each of your statements should be supported by a good example and a clear explanation of what you can do. Don’t list all the technologies from your previous projects, mention only those you personally used. For example, if we see that a candidate mentions AWS in their CV, we will definitely ask exactly which products, and how they were used for testing purposes. So, add to your CV only those skills you are confident in.?
• Brush up on your English. We usually choose one of the topics,? UI or API automation testing, for example, and switch to English for further discussion.?
• It’s essential to know how to look for the necessary information. One can never know everything, but the skill to google fast and word a search request properly will always solve your problems.???
• One of the most important recommendations is to have your own Sandbox at Github or Gitlab. It’s worth spending a few days summarizing your experience and backing it up with examples. It will be extremely beneficial not only for yourself, but also the company you are applying to.?
• It will be a huge benefit (especially for higher levels) to practice your coding and train algorithm skills at https://www.codewars.com/, or on a similar platform. Some customers may decide to check your knowledge of algorithms, and practicing it wouldn’t go amiss.

?? Recommendations for Middle AQA Engineers:

In addition to the above mentioned topics, we will question a candidate about version control, the ability to work with Git, and some simple commands. We will also ask questions about API testing and ordinary integration testing. A candidate should know REST architecture and understand how to test it. We will certainly ask? which basic positive and negative tests there are for each type of request.?

Be ready to answer some questions on the processing of data that are returned or sent, and how to organize the process depending on the language type. For instance, a candidate should understand what JSON Schema is, how to compare and verify it, which instruments exist for these purposes, how to process JSON requests, and what to do with them.??

At this level we usually check the knowledge of UI testing, we ask how a minimal structure for parallel runs is organized for different browsers. A candidate should be able to configure such instruments as Jenkins and Bamboo, and have experience with Docker containers.??

We expect that a specialist at this level should know about performance testing. It’s always a huge advantage. If a candidate used at least one tool to organize performance testing, he/she will easily create similar things using other tools. The most important thing is to understand what bottlenecks can occur, how to report them, and how to discuss them with a client.??

If a candidate mentions any experience with frameworks, we’ll be sure to ask some subtle questions to assess their depth of understanding on this topic. Don’t refer to your team’s expertise, speak only about your personal background and skills.?

?? Recommendations for Senior AQA Engineers:

Usually, a candidate with 5 years of experience can do lots of stuff.? We’ll ask broader questions on how to organize UI tests, component tests, end-to-end tests, and functional tests. We require an understanding of the tests' ratio and the ability to structure them properly. It’s good to know basic programming patterns and be able to set up the infrastructure.

A candidate should have a basic understanding of how to build CI/CD pipelines with such popular systems as Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions. It’s cool if you can show off a small pet-project with an example of such a configuration.?

The ability to organize testing processes using service mocking is worth having too.

We always ask how exactly tests are written, and how to prepare preconditions for tests. It’s not enough for a Senior to write, for instance, generic end-to-end tests. But if he can structure them properly, highlight, prioritize, and distinguish functional tests from end-to-end ones, it does confirm a decent level.?

A person who strives for ideal processes and can organize integration testing, will be able to explain the essence of contract testing and demonstrate a SandBox with examples of their work. The last point is a “must have” for such a level.

A Senior should know how to work with containers, how to create and launch them, and how to work with databases. If you mentioned experience with SQL we may ask you to write a relatively complicated request.??

We can provide a case study and ask a candidate to come up with solutions. For example:

“We have an old framework organized in a certain way, but there is an opportunity to change the framework. We have the following conditions (list them), better-structured requirements, and a Business Analyst on the project. How would you organize the automation process, taking into account the changes?”??

Here we can already discuss infrastructure solutions: how to organize the quality gates and definitions of what’s done at every level.

On top of that, a good Senior doesn’t only possess in-depth knowledge, but is enthusiastic about learning something new.??

?? Recommendations for Lead AQA Engineers:

In addition to all the topics covered above, a Lead AQA Engineer should be ready to describe his ideal flow: stages, quality gates, and which tests should be launched at each stage. A specialist at this level should have his own opinion and vision.

It’s important to understand existing testing approaches: TDD, BDD, keyword-driven, data-driven, etc., and be able to choose the most appropriate one for a given project. We usually ask how a candidate would organize mutual work with the manual QA team on the project as well as with the development team.

As a rule, we ask Leads where they get the information, and which channels, books, and/or blogs they read or watch. It always makes an excellent impression if a person has some personal projects, especially open-source ones.?

We hope this detailed overview will help you to pass your AQA interview with flying colors and take up the position you are striving for! So, get your GitHub SandBox ready and apply! ??