An experience with virtual mock interviews...

How can virtual mock interviews for software testers be conducted for a relatively better outcome? I would like to consider the following before expressing my experiential views and sharing a proposal.

‘No matter how strange it may look, most people are actually trying to be helpful.’        

‘When we consider what others value, we can more clearly see the rationality behind many ‘irrational’ choices.’?        

The above words are from a wise man, Mr. Gerald M. Weinberg .?

My reactions to the state of the software testing-related mock interviews, especially those published on YouTube by some of the testers and influencers, took a sympathetic and empathetic turn on coloring my lenses with the wise words of Jerry.?

Before I move on, a little context: I often take mock interviews as part of my 1o1 mentoring practice and as a volunteer for The Test Tribe . Regarding preferences, I do some data analysis and research work in that process, including exploring mock interviews published on YouTube. I look at mock interviews in Product, Programming, System Design, and Testing.

I randomly sampled 20+ mock interview sessions published on YouTube in this quarter. I sampled randomly, yet I chose to mine the data from 3-5 highly subscribed channels and their ~15 mock interviews. Interestingly, most interviews were around,

• Switching from Manual Testing to Automation.
• Getting ready for the next job with a focus on automation

The Candidates’ Experience level, on average, was roughly around 3- 10 years of experience in Manual and Automation testing. The interviewer’s experience was usually 10-15+ years.

So, what’s my observation in software testing-related mock interviews?

I am 90% confident that such interview sessions can help exploit the top five opportunities for both parties to

1. Prepare for real-world interviews.
2. Improve as an interviewer and as an interviewee.?
3. Network and build relationships.
4. Spread a sense of belonging across the community.
5. Build a personal brand and monetize.?

However, the theme of such interviews (edited or not edited) is more or less very similar. I am trying to understand why most of these mock interviews tend to

1. Ask theoretical questions.?The interviewer is asking, and the interviewee is answering. Very few questions come from interviewees.
2. Demand writing test scenarios and test cases focusing on verifying product behaviors.
3. Visualize test planning and strategy more from a documentation lens instead of as an essential and integral part of the testing process itself.
4. Picking testing problems that give me the impression that?Either candidate’s profile was not scanned, and mutual needs needed to be understood better!?
5. The interview objective is narrowed down (but not communicated to the audience) to POC problem statements.

My primary finding is not seeing what if, what else, what if not, what you think kind of questions!        

Blame it on the sample size, data distribution, and quality, but the focus is usually on getting and suggesting the correct answers.

I miss experiencing the exchange of internal views.        

I also feel a need to see a sincere attempt to bring it close to the reality in the sense of

1. Setting up the stage
2. Roleplay
3. Hands-on session

Other things include premature attempts to monetize and sell a product. Again, I don’t understand the rush of selling before connecting and immersing yourself fully in the experience.

Still, I am trying to color my lenses and not be judgmental. The Master’s wisdom shall guide me, and I would refer to his sayings again,

‘No matter how strange it may look, most people are actually trying to be helpful.’

‘When we consider what others value, we can more clearly see the rationality behind many ‘irrational’ choices.’?

How do I prefer trying to be helpful and making a not-so-irrational choice?        

From my understanding, I am of the following opinion:? An interview, even if mock, should demonstrate.

1. Context-driven human conduct
2. Value system
3. Problem-solving and overall testing (feedback) skills?

The interview should focus more on discovering strengths, encouraging thinking, solving problems, having conversations, and asking questions.

It should endeavor to determine what I think I know well, what I can and can’t do that really well, and what areas need improvement!

Such an interview process should aim at data gathering and making informed decisions on someone’s candidacy.

Here is one of my E2E approaches for a virtual F2F mock interview.

Interview Objectives (Carefully scan the profile)

1. What do you need, want or desire? Be clear and leave space for serendipity.
2. What are they looking for? What do they know and can help with? What looks like their strengths?

Setting Expectations

1. Set expectations for what you are looking for. Interview?for a Hands-on (70%) and Theory and concepts (30%)

Ramping-up (Ice Breaking Process)

1. Be on time.
2. Be well prepared and behave like a sane human. Observe yourself and the person. You may have a feeling of slight superiority or in command. Watch that feeling and immediately say No to it. You are here to play on Strengths to solve a problem and mutual growth.?Make the person comfortable. Do it genuinely.
3. Screen share and summarize what you read on her resume. Get into a mutual agreement on what the latest is.
4. Clarify the expectations. Confirm if the strengths are still the strengths or if something has changed? Prioritize and map (in your head) your needs to those. Explicate if required, and that’s good.
5. Ask some typical questions but not necessarily in a traditional way.

I prefer to do it reasonably time-boxed hands-on, starting with questions below that I prepared to start a conversation with an automation engineer with 5+ years of experience in GUI, API, and Performance testing using some popular open-source tools.

Q1. Please tell me what your day-to-day job looks like.

Q2. What are the different use cases and problems to solve using automation in testing?

Q3. Can you help me understand Selenium architecture?

Q4. Please tell me some of your recent achievements in test automation, be they in GUI or API.

Q5. Out of API and GUI functional test automation, what are your key strengths? What do you love to do?

Q6. What is ChatGPT, and have you explored/experienced it yet? If so, what are your thoughts?

All of the above is not static at all! It’s all based on individual profile scanning and making sense of what is written, how it is written, and what it might indicate!

Get Into the Zone

Fact-check and test:

Their strengths by creating (almost realistic) and reading problem statements together.

Three key areas I focus on

• Testing (Ideas, Questions, Requirements)
• Process (Approach)
• Communication

Observe:

• Encourage and offer Alternatives as and when it should be.
• Most importantly, they should be encouraged to ask questions and reduce ambiguity.

Evaluate:

• Don’t lose focus. You know what you need.
• Must haves first and?Nice to have it later.

Feedback:

• What went well?
• What can be improved??
• What went wrong (No. Nothing Wrong as such) Mutual Learnings!

Here is an image of the miniature version of my mind map. If you need the full map, DM me.

In summary, this is how I would like to design an interview experience for a hands-on, growth-focused software tester. What do you think? What can be improved in this design?

Thanks for your time and patience while reading this.

#mockinterview #softwaretesting #experiencedesign