Software quality testing interview question

Have you ever resolved software production issues before? What kinds of testing automation tools have you used? What kinds of verification techniques have you used? These questions cover the basics of quality assurance testing responsibilities:. What is the difference between build and release?

What is the difference between severity and priority? These in-depth questions can help an interviewer understand your comprehensive knowledge about software testing, programming and quality assurance:. Can you explain the various tasks of a software quality assurance engineer? What might you include in a quality assurance testing document? What is the difference between verification and validation?

Can you explain the importance of Agile testing? Can you explain the different types of software testing? What quality assurance methods do you use and why? What is the difference between load testing, volume testing and stress testing? What is the difference between boundary testing and branch testing?

What's the difference between functional testing and nonfunctional testing? What is the difference between positive and negative testing? What are five common solutions for software development problems? Related: 12 Tough Interview Questions and Answers. Planning for your interview is important, but preparing answers ahead of time is vital when discussing a technical job like a quality assurance engineer.

Considering your answers to these potential questions in advance can help set yourself apart from other applicants. Here are some common interview questions and sample answers related to software quality assurance:. Every company will have minor differences in the tasks they expect from their QA engineers. However, being able to list at least a few of the possible quality assurance tasks and duties you might have, can show the interviewer that you understand the job.

Studying the job description can help you relate the listed tasks to your answer. Example: "Based on the job description, I understand the major tasks include configuring and integrating the software as well as testing the programs.

Once you ship the software to the customers after alpha testing, the software's actual users perform the beta testing in a real production environment. It is one of the final components of user acceptance testing. Beta testing is helpful to get feedback from real people using your software in real environments. With the first approach, the tourist follows a predetermined plan and executes it. Though they may visit famous spots, they might miss out on hidden, more exciting places in the city.

With the second approach, the tourist wanders around the city and might encounter strange and exotic places that the itinerary would have missed. A tester is similar to a tourist when they are testing software. They can follow a strict set of test cases and test the software according to them, with the provided inputs and outputs, or they can explore the software.

When a tester doesn't use the test scripts or a predefined test plan and randomly tests the software, it is called exploratory testing. As the name suggests, the tester is exploring the software as an end-user would. It's a form of black-box testing. In exploratory testing, the tester interacts with the software in whatever manner they want and follows the software's instructions to navigate various paths and functionality.

They don't have a strict plan at hand. Exploratory testing primarily focuses on behavioral testing. It is effective for getting familiar with new software features. It also provides a high-level overview of the system that helps evaluate and quickly learn the software. Though it seems random, exploratory testing can be powerful in an experienced and skilled tester's hands. As it's performed without any preconceived notions of what software should and shouldn't do, it allows greater flexibility to the tester to discover hidden paths and problems along those paths.

End to End testing is the process of testing a software system from start to finish. The tester tests the software just like an end-user would. For example, to test a desktop software, the tester would install the software as the user would, open it, use the application as intended, and verify the behavior. Same for a web application. There is an important difference between end-to-end testing vs. In end-to-end testing, the software is tested along with all its dependencies and integrations, such as databases, networks, file systems, and other external services.

Static testing is a technique in which you test the software without actually executing it. It involves doing code walkthroughs, code reviews, peer-reviews, or using sophisticated tools such as eslint, StyleCop to perform static analysis of the source code.

Static testing is typically performed during software development. The tester runs the software in a test environment and goes through all the steps involved, entering the inputs and verifying the actual output with the expected result. The tester writes code that makes an API request to the server that provides the API, provides the required inputs, collects the output from the response, and matches the actual output with the expected output.

It does not involve the look and feel, accessibility, or usability of the software. API testing can be automated to make it repeatable and reproducible each time they run. Code coverage is one of the important testing metrics. It indicates the ratio of the codebase under unit tests to the entire codebase. It just means that the unit tests cover all the code.

Latent defect, as the name suggests, is a type of defect or bug which has been in the software system for a long time but is discovered now. A latent defect is an existing defect that can be found effectively with inspections. It usually remains hidden or dormant and is a low-priority defect. Validation: It is defined as a process that involves dynamic testing of software products by running it. This process validates whether we are building the right software that meets that customer requirement or not.

It involves various activities like system testing, integration testing, user acceptance testing, and unit testing. Verification: It is defined as a process that involves analyzing the documents. This process verifies whether the software conforms to specifications or not. Its ultimate goal is to ensure the quality of software products, design, architecture, etc. Testbed is generally referred to as a digital platform that is used for testing an application.

It includes an operating system, hardware, network configuration, database, software application under test, and all other software-related issues. Some of the commonly applied documentation artifacts that are associated with software testing include:. Test case is basically a document that includes a set of test data, preconditions, expected results, and postconditions.

This document is specially developed for a specific test scenario to ensure whether the software product meets the specific requirement or not. In manual testing, test cases are executed manually by a tester without using any of the automated tools. One can easily identify loopholes in the specifications while developing test cases. There are various attributes of test cases that make them more reliable, clear, and concise, avoiding any sort of redundancy.

Some of them are given below:. A test plan is basically a dynamic document monitored and controlled by the testing manager.

The success of a testing project totally depends upon a well-written test plan document that describes software testing scope and activities. It basically serves as a blueprint that outlines the what, when, how, and more of the entire test process.

Test report is basically a document that includes a total summary of testing objectives, activities, and results.

It is very much required to reflect testing results and gives an opportunity to estimate testing results quickly. It helps us to decide whether the product is ready for release or not. It also helps us determine the current status of the project and the quality of the product. A test report must include the following details:. Test deliverables, also known as test artifacts, are basically a list of all of the documents, tools, and other components that are given to the stakeholders of a software project during the SDLC.

Test deliverables are maintained and developed in support of the test. At every phase of SDLC, there are different deliverables as given below:. It generally involves both verification activities and validation activities. In this, different activities are executed in a specific order throughout the software testing process. Error : It is defined as a programming mistake in coding because of which we can't compile or run a program.

Defect : It is defined as the variation or difference between the actual result and the expected result founded by a tester or developer. The defect is basically detected after the product goes into production and is resolved in the development phase only. Bug : It is defined as a fault or mismatch in a software system that is detected during the testing phase.

It has an impact on software functionality and performance. Use case testing is basically defined as a technique that helps developers and testers to identify test cases that exercise the whole system on each transaction basis right from start to finish.

It is a part of black-box testing that is used widely in developing tests or systems for acceptable levels. Test Matrix: It is referred to as a testing tool that is used to capture actual quality, effort, resources, plan, and time required to capture all the phases of software testing. It only covers the testing phase of the life cycle.

Requirement Traceability Matrix RTM : It is referred to as a document, usually present in the form table, that is used to trace and demonstrate the relationship between the requirements and other artifacts of the project right from start to end. In simple words, it maps between test cases and customer requirements. Positive Testing : It is a type of testing process where the software application is validated against the valid data sets as an input.

It is simply used to check whether the application does what it is supposed to do or not. Negative Testing : It is a type of testing process where the software application is validated against invalid data sets as an input.

It is simply used to check whether the system shows an error when it is supposed to do or not. In test case execution, negative testing is considered a very crucial factor. A critical bug is referred to as a bug that affects the majority of the functionality of the given application. It does not disturb or block the testing of other parts of the given application. A bug is only classified as critical when it halts the core operations of the software. UAT, also known as end-user testing, is basically a testing methodology performed by the end-users or clients for the approval of the production release.

It is one of the last stages of the SDLC and is only performed after the software has been tested thoroughly. Its main purpose is to validate end-to-end business flow. It makes sure that the developed software meets all the requirements to float into the market or not.

All the components of the software are generally tested as a whole to make sure that the overall product fulfills the requirements that are specified. So, no. Monkey Testing : Monkey testing, also known as Random Testing, is a type of software testing technique in which data is generated randomly using a tool or some automated mechanism. The system is tested using this randomly generated input, and results are analyzed accordingly.

There are no such rules in this type of testing. Performance Testing : It is a type of non-functional software testing technique that is used to determine the system parameters like speed, scalability, and stability under different workload conditions.

Its main purpose is to eliminate performance bottlenecks, not to find bugs. Some of the key parameters of performance testing include:. Test driver and test stub, both are types of test harness that are used to provide a simulation environment for testing a module or component.

They both are dummy modules specially created for test purposes. Test stubs : Test stubs are used in a top-down testing approach and allow testing of the upper levels of the code when the lower levels of the code are not developed yet. Test drivers : Test drivers are used in a bottom-up testing approach and allow testing of the lower levels of the code when the upper levels of the code are not developed yet.

Endurance testing, also known as Soak testing, is a type of performance testing usually performed to check the performance of the system that is under constant use. Its main purpose is to determine whether a system can sustain a continuous high load or not. Memory utilization is also monitored to identify potential leaks during this testing. Some of the endurance testing tools include:. Localization testing is a type of testing that is performed to ensure whether the software product offers full functionality and usability in a particular locale or not.

It is simply used to verify the accuracy and suitability of the content. It is not only about linguistics, but also about traditions, common herd behavior, and other similar factors. It generally deals with the functionality and GUI of the application. Path testing is a type of testing specially used to design test cases. In this type of testing, the control flow graph of a program is specially designed to identify a set of linearly independent paths of execution.

Its main objective is to ensure that each path is covered and executed well. It also reduces or minimizes the occurrence of redundant tests.

Baseline Testing : It is a type of non-functional testing in which a set of tests are run to capture performance information. Using this gathered information, we can make required changes in the application and ultimately improve the performance and capabilities of the application. In general, it refers to a benchmark that usually forms the base of any new creation. During this testing, many errors are discovered and resolved. Benchmark Testing : It is a type of testing that involves both the developers and DBAs Database Administrators to determine current performance information.

Using this information, one can improve the performance of the same by matching it with the benchmarks industry standards.

Its main objective is to compare the present and future software releases with their specific benchmark. Fuzz testing is a software testing technique in which a large amount of random data, called fuzz, is provided as input to the application simply to detect or discover security loopholes and coding errors in the software application.

It is more useful for bigger projects but it only detects a serious fault or defect. It is simply used to check the vulnerability of software and gives more effective results when used with beta testing, black box testing, etc. Data flow testing is a type of structural testing that is used to analyze the flow of data in the program.

In this, a programmer can perform various tests on data values and variables. It helps us in the following ways:. Agile testing is basically a software testing process that uses agile methodologies i. It evaluates the software from the customer's point of view. It does not require any development team to complete coding for starting QA, instead of testing and coding can go hand in hand. Features are tested as they are developed. Some of its advantages include:. Selenium is a web browser automation tool that automates the test suits you need to run on a web browser.

In software, many errors occur near the edges of the range of the data values. Typically, developers miss these boundary cases because they follow a happy path when developing and testing. Boundary value analysis helps to discover the errors caused by extreme values. The tester chooses the test data at and immediately above and below the boundaries of the input domain of the data.

For example, if an input field expects a string of 20 characters long, the tester tests it with strings of lengths 19, 20, and The dictionary definition of regression is the act of going back to a previous place or state.

In software, regression implies that a feature that used to work suddenly stopped working after a developer added a new code or functionality to the software. Regression problems are pervasive in the software industry, as new features are getting added all the time.

Developers don't build these features in isolation, separate from the existing code. Instead, the new code interacts with the legacy code and modifies it in various ways, introducing side effects, whether intended or not. As a result, there is always a chance that introducing new changes may negatively impact a working feature. It's important to keep in mind that even a small change has the potential to cause regression. Regression testing helps ensure that the new code or modifications to the existing code don't break the present behavior.

It allows the tester to verify that the new code plays well with the legacy code. Unit testing is the process of testing a single unit of code in an isolated manner. The unit of code can be a method, a class, or a module. Unit testing aims to focus on the smallest building blocks of code to get confidence to combine them later to produce fully functioning software. A unit test invokes the code and verifies the result with the expected result.

If the expected and actual outcomes match, then the unit test passes. Otherwise, it fails. It is a means of communication between two software components.

An API abstracts the internal workings and complexity of a software program and allows the user of that API to solely focus on the inputs and outputs required to use it. When building software, developers rarely write software from scratch and make use of other third-party libraries.

An API allows two software components to talk to each other by providing an interface that they can understand. Another use of an API is to provide data required by an application. Let's say you are building a weather application that displays the temperature.

Instead of building the technology to collect the temperature yourself, you'd access the API provided by the meteorological institute. Test coverage is a metric that indicates how much of the source code is covered by the tests, allowing the tester to verify the quality of their testing. It helps the tester figure out whether they are testing everything they're supposed to test.

Test coverage can mean different things to different people, depending on the particulars of their testing approaches. The only difference is that the browser automation can test this very quickly and often, whereas the same test would take a human tester a long time. Some essential tools for browser testing include Selenium, protractor. It is a low-risk way of testing variations of a new or existing functionality.

You can choose a part of your users to use feature A. The other group uses feature B. Then user feedback and response are evaluated using statistical testing to decide the final version of the feature. This allows the team to quickly gather feedback and test their initial hypothesis.

Regression Testing : Regression testing, also known as generic testing, revolves around re-running functional and non-functional tests. It is especially done to ensure whether previously developed and tested software still performs the same after a change or not.

It can be performed either manually or using automated tests. Re-testing: Re-testing, also known as planned testing, is used for specific bugs after it has been fixed by the developers. Re-testing is performed to check the scenario under the same environmental conditions after detection has been fixed.

Regression vs Retesting:. It must investigate both functional requirements and non-functional requirements. Generally, it is performed by both testers and developers. Unit Testing: In unit testing, each component of the software is individually tested. Generally, unit testing is performed by developers. Those systems that have a lot of interdependencies between their modules cannot be tested by unit testing.

System vs Unit Testing:. Test Harness : Test harness, also known as the automated test framework, is a collection of software and test data required to unit test software modules during development.

It is mostly used by the developers and helps in the automation and execution of unit test cases. It generally includes two main parts as given below:.

Test Closure : Test closure is basically a document that provides the summary of all the tests that are performed during SDLC. It gives full detailed analysis reports of the bugs that are discovered and removed. It is usually performed prior to the end of the testing process.

Test scenario also called a scenario test, is defined as high-level detailed documentation of test cases or use cases. In this, the tester tests the software application from an end-user perspective.

It usually can serve as the basis for lower-level test cases or use case creation. Test scenario is also known as test condition or test possibility. It gives you an idea of what we need to test. Defect life cycle, also known as a bug life cycle, is a life cycle of various stages through which a defect goes during its whole lifetime.

This life cycle starts as soon as the defect is discovered or reported by the tester and ends when the tester ensures that the defect is resolved and it won't occur again. The defect life cycle includes the steps as shown below:. This type of testing is generally used in a low-risk system. There are four different experienced-based testing techniques as shown below:. Smoke Testing: It is a type of testing performed to ensure that the acute functionalities of the program are working well.

It acts as a confirmation of whether the quality assurance team can further proceed with testing or not. Sanity Testing: It is an unscripted form of testing performed to ensure that the code changes that are made are working well. It is performed by the test team for some basic tests. This testing focuses on one or a few areas of functionality and is usually narrow and deep.

Smoke vs Sanity Testing:. Pesticide paradox is basically a phenomenon where the more one tests the software, the more it becomes immune to its tests. To overcome this, testers should always find new strategies, approaches, and test cases, so that they can identify bugs and resolve them.

Configuration testing is a software testing technique that is used to evaluate the configurational requirements of the software. It discovers the optimal configuration of the system under which the application performs at its best, therefore configuration testing is considered important.

It also helps in identifying and resolving any compatibility issues. Software testing is an important activity that ensures quality, giving the confidence to release the software to customers. This article explained the testing process and its importance in software development. It also covers important concepts on manual testing and will guide you to master the field of manual testing. However, testing is only a single component of a good software development strategy.

A development team should use high coding standards, best practices, and patterns to reduce the bug count. As a long-term strategy, the best way to improve the testing process is to test frequently, measure the results, gather feedback and use it to get better.

The software testing that checks if the new code has broken the existing functionality is known as:. Before you go! Take this "Software Testing Interview Questions" interview guide with you. Download PDF. Enter the name of your college. Computer Science. Information Technology. Mathematics and Computing. Before After Attention to detail is important in a software testing role, so use this question to include an example of your skill in this area.

I can look closely for even the smallest bugs and defects, as I want to ensure that every product I test meets or exceeds the quality standards set forth by the distributor. A question about skipping steps allows you to show your integrity and thoroughness. I am not afraid to push back against someone who wants to speed up the process.

I do not make assumptions or skip test cases to save time. An interviewer will want to know how you work under short turnaround times and pressure, as situations often arise that require fast results.

By outlining a process that I follow for every product, I can prioritize tasks and test cases, turning around results within the time provided. Understanding your motivation sources provides insights into you as a person and a potential employee. I also find that the culture of the company where I work encourages me to continue to deliver my best work and participate as part of a larger team.

Many interviewers ask about career aspirations to make sure your goals align with the organization and what it can offer. My goal is to continue to grow in my career and become a quality control manager or quality assurance director, overseeing the next generation of quality control specialists. Describing your ideal work environment helps the interviewer ensure that the organization can provide you with the right workspace.

If I am surrounded by people in my workspace, I will typically use white noise or background music to help me stay focused without becoming distracted. I am adaptable and can work in nearly any atmosphere. Describing the techniques you know and use provides insights into your previous experience. These are review, inspection and walkthrough. Reviewing allows me to look through the test cases and code, while inspection is the more technical side of the process that allows me to go through the application myself.

The walkthrough is the final step that I use to go through the findings. When an interviewer asks you to define a key term, they want to know that you are familiar with the work required in the position. Describing a type of testing shows your knowledge of various areas in the process. An interviewer may ask about the tools you use to determine what training would be required.

If there are specific automation tools that your organization uses, I am a quick learner and willing to start using these tools. Understanding how you decide on different requirements in the testing process helps the interviewer know what level of skill you have.