QA Interview Questions and Answers

Here are some of the questions I would ask if interviewing a Quality Assurance Engineer.

The questions will emphasize more on the quality processes and the strategy and these questions will not be asked for Testing.

The QA engineers are mostly people who have spent some time in the testing industry because when you create roadmaps and strategy, it’s always beneficial to have some industry exposure.

Let’s start!!

1. What is the difference between the QA and software testing?

Ans:

The role of QA (Quality Assurance) is to monitor the quality of the “process” used to produce the software. While the software testing is the process of ensuring the functionality of the final product meets the user’s requirement.

2. What is Testware?

Ans:

Test ware is test artifacts like test cases, test data, test plans needed to design and execute a test.

3. What is the difference between build and release?

Ans:

• Build: It is a number given to Install able software that is given to the testing team by the development team.
• Release: It is a number given to Install able software that is handed over to the customer by the tester or developer.

4. What are the automation challenges that SQA(Software Quality Assurance) team faces while testing?

Ans:

• Mastering the automation tool
• Re usability of Automation script
• Adaptability of test case for automation
• Automating complex test cases.

5. What is bug leakage and bug release?

Ans:

Bug release is when software or an application is handed over to the testing team knowing that the defect is present in a release. During this the priority and severity of bugs is low, as bugs can be removed before the final handover. Bug leakage is something, when the bug is discovered by the end users or customer, and not detected by the testing team while testing the software.

6. What is data driven testing?

Ans:

Data driven testing is an automation testing framework, which tests the different input values on the AUT. These values are read directly from the data files. The data files may include csv files, excel files, data pools and many more.

7. Explain the steps for the Bug Cycle?

Ans:

• Once the bug is identified by the tester, it is assigned to the development manager in open status
• If the bug is a valid defect the development team will fix it.
• If it is not a valid defect, the defect will be ignored and marked as rejected
• The next step will be to check whether it is in scope. If the bug is not the part of the current release then the defects are postponed
• If the defect or bug is raised earlier then the tester will assign a DUPLICATE status
• When bug is assigned to developer to fix, it will be given an IN-PROGRESS status
• Once the defect is repaired, the status will change to FIXED at the end the tester will give CLOSED status if it passes the final test.

8. What does the test strategy include?

Ans:

The test strategy includes an introduction, resource, scope and schedule for test activities, test tools, test priorities, test planning and the types of tests that have to be performed.

9. Mention the different types of software testing?

Ans:

• Unit testing
• Integration testing and regression testing
• Shakeout testing
• Smoke testing
• Functional testing
• Performance testing
• White box and Black box testing
• Alpha and Beta testing
• Load testing and stress testing
• System testing

10. What is branch testing and what is boundary testing?

Ans:

The testing of all the branches of the code, which is tested once, is known as branch testing. While the testing, that is focused on the limit conditions of the software is known as boundary testing.

11. What are the contents of test plans and test cases?

Ans:

• Testing objectives
• Testing scope
• Testing the frame
• The environment
• Reason for testing
• The criteria for entrance and exit
• Deliverable
• Risk factors

12. What is Agile testing and what is the importance of Agile testing?

Ans:

Agile testing is software testing, is testing using Agile Methodology. The importance of this testing is that, unlike normal testing processes, this testing does not wait for the development team to complete the coding first and then do testing. The coding and testing both go simultaneously. It requires continuous customer interaction.

13. What is Test case?

Ans:

Test case is a specific condition to check against the Application Under Test. It has information on test steps, prerequisites, test environment, and outputs.

14. What is the strategy for Automation Test Plan?

Ans:

• The strategy for Automation Test Plan
• Preparation of Automation Test Plan
• Recording the scenario
• Error handler incorporation
• Script enhancement by inserting check points and looping constructs
• Debugging the script and fixing the issues
• Rerunning the script
• Reporting the result

15. What is a quality audit?

Ans:

The systematic and independent examination for determining the effectiveness of quality control procedures is known as the quality audit.

16. What are the tools used by a tester while testing?

Ans:

• Selenium
• Firebug
• OpenSTA
• WinSCP
• YSlow for FireBug
• Web Developer toolbar for firebox

Above are just sample tools. The tools a Tester may vary with his/her project.

17. Explain stress testing, load testing and volume testing?

Ans:

• Load Testing: Testing an application under heavy but expected load is known as Load Testing. Here, the load refers to the large volume of users, messages, requests, data, etc.
• Stress Testing: When the load placed on the system is raised or accelerated beyond the normal range then it is known as Stress Testing.
• Volume Testing: The process of checking the system, whether the system can handle the required amounts of data, user requests, etc. is known as Volume Testing.

18. What are the five common solutions for software developments problems?

Ans:

• Setting up the requirements criteria, the requirements of a software should be complete, clear and agreed by all
• The next thing is the realistic schedule like time for planning , designing, testing, fixing bugs and re-testing
• Adequate testing, start the testing immediately after one or more modules development.
• Use rapid prototype during design phase so that it can be easy for customers to find what to expect
• Use of group communication tools

19. What is a ‘USE’ case and what does it include?

Ans:

The document that describes the user action and system response, for a particular functionality is known as USE case. It includes revision history, table of contents, flow of events, cover page, special requirements, pre-conditions and post-conditions.

CRUD stands for Create, Read, Update and Delete. CRUD testing can be done using SQL statements.

20. Have you used any Automation tools?

Ans:

The answer to this question is very much exclusive to the individual. Reply to all the tools and strategies of automation that you have used in your project.

21. In case you have any doubts regarding your project, how do you approach it?

Ans:

In case of any doubts, first, try to get it cleared by reading the available artifacts/application help. In case of doubts that persist, ask an immediate supervisor or the senior member of your team.

Business Analysts can also be a good choice to ask doubts. We can also convey our queries with the development team in case of any other doubts. The last option would be to follow up with the manager and finally to the stakeholders.

22. What is the difference between Load and Stress testing?

Ans:

Stress Testing is a technique which validates the behavior of the system when it executes under stress. To explain, we reduce the resources and check the behavior of the system. We first understand the upper limit of the system and gradually reduce the resources and check the system behavior.

In Load testing, we validate the system behavior under the expected load. The load can be of concurrent users or resources accessing the system at the same time.

23. What are the different verification techniques you know?

Ans:

Verification techniques are static. There are 3 verification techniques.

These are explained as follows:

• Review : This is a method by which the code/test cases are examined by the individual other than the author who has produced it. It is one of the easy and best ways to ensure coverage and quality.
• Inspection : This is a technical and disciplined way to examine and correct the defects in the test artifact or code. Because it is disciplined, it has various roles.
• Moderator: Facilitates the entire inspection meeting.
• Recorder: Records the minutes of the meeting, defects occurred, and other points discussed.
• Reader: Read out the document/code. The leader also leads to the entire inspection meeting.
• Producer: The author. They are ultimately responsible to update their document/code as per the comments.
• Reviewer: All the team members can be considered as a reviewer. This role can also be played by some group of experts if the project demands.
• Walk through : This is a process in which the author of the document/code reads the content and gets the feedback. This is mostly a kind of FYI (For Your Information) session rather than seeking corrections.

24. What is meant by Verification and Validation?

Ans:

Validation is the process of evaluating the final product to check whether the software meets the business needs. The test execution which we do in our day to day life is the validation activity which includes smoke testing, functional testing, regression testing, systems testing, etc.

Verification is a process of evaluating the intermediary work products of a software development lifecycle to check if we are in the correct track of creating the final product.

25. Have you ever managed writing the test cases without having any documents?

Ans:

Yes, there are cases when we have a situation where we have to write test cases without having any concrete documents.

In that case, the best way is to:

• Collaborate with the BA and development team.
• Dig into mails which have some information.
• Dig into older test cases/regression suite
• If the feature is new, try to read the wiki pages or help of the application to have an idea
• Sit with the developer and try to understand the changes being made.
• Based on your understanding, identify the test condition and send it to BA or stakeholders to review them.

26. What are the different artifacts you refer to when you write the test cases?

Ans:

The main artifacts used are:

• Functional requirement specification
• Requirement understanding document
• Use Cases
• Wireframes
• User Stories
• Acceptance criteria
• Many a time UAT test cases

27. What is Negative testing? How is it different from Positive testing?

Ans:

Negative testing is a technique that validates that the system behaves gracefully in case of any invalid inputs. For example, in case the user enters any invalid data in a text box, the system should display a proper message instead of the technical message which the user does not understand.

28. What is the difference between Functional and Non-functional testing?

Ans:

Functional testing deals with the functional aspect of the application. This technique tests that the system is behaving as per the requirement and specification. These are directly linked with customer requirements. We validate the test cases against the specified requirement and make the test results as pass or fail accordingly.

29. Suppose you find a bug in production, how would you make sure that the same bug is not introduced again?

Ans:

The best way is to immediately write a test case for the production defect and include it in the regression suite. This way we ensure that the bug does not get introduced again. Also, we can think of alternate test cases or similar kinds of test cases and include them in our planned execution.

30. What is your view on acceptance testing, when it is done and who does it?

Ans:

Acceptance Testing is a software testing checkpoint where a system is tested for acceptability. The purpose of this test is to evaluate the system’s compliance with the business requirements and assess whether it is acceptable for delivery. Formal testing with respect to user needs, requirements, and business processes conducted to determine whether or not a system satisfies the acceptance criteria and to enable the user, customers or other authorized entity to determine whether or not to accept the system.

31. Tell us about the best bug of your test career?

Ans:

Well since there are so many quality bugs I’ve discovered in my testing career that I can’t really remember the best one I found. What always surprises me is that you find so many different kinds of bugs so quickly. It proved that having multiple competencies in the team is a great asset while testing. The latest bug hunt I did was conducted on a product application which was already on the market for some time. Still, we found 21 bugs in 7 minutes! And yes even a crash! That is what amazes me.

32. Do you know about bug leakage and bug release?

Ans:

Bug release is when software or an application is handed over to the testing team knowing that the defect is present in a release. During this, the priority and severity of the bug are low, as it has to be fixed before the final handover.

Bug leakage is something when the bug is discovered by the end users or customer and missed by the testing team to detect while testing the software.

33. How do you define the big life cycle?

Ans:

Bug life cycle comprises numerous statuses of an error during its life cycle. A few examples are open, deferred, solved, reopened, fixed, solved and closed. You may also speak about this process and how you monitor and determine the status with the help of several points.

34. What’s your experience using Continuous Integration as part of the development process?

Ans:

If this applies to your company, it is a great thing to hear that a candidate has worked with Jenkins or Bamboo CI. If he has set up these systems and can give recommendations to you on what worked and did not work in his previous jobs, the candidate has earned himself not only bonus points but a merit badge or two.

35. To what extent should developers do their testing or do you believe testing is the responsibility of the QA team?

Ans:

The answer to this question depends on the business environment you work in. In today’s emerging test scenario, it is also the developer’s responsibility to perform at least some of his code testing. Though it is not expected that he will have the capacity or that his focus should be to run through large test plans or test on a large stack of devices. However, without the responsibility to review and test his code, a sense of ownership will not develop.

36. What are the roles and responsibilities of a software quality assurance engineer?

Ans:

A software quality assurance engineer has to perform the following tasks:

• Understanding of software design
• Knowledge of source code
• Code review
• Version control
• Program testing
• Integration testing
• Release process

37. What are the test stub and test driver? Why are they required?

Ans:

• Stubs are dummy programs that imitate the actual software by giving the same output as that of the real one.
• Drivers are dummy programs that call a software component for testing.
• We need them for testing the inter-related modules, say X and Y.
• If we have developed only module X, then we cannot just test it alone. But if there is any dummy module, i.e., a stub, then we can use it to test module X.
• Next, module Y cannot receive or send data on its own. So in this case, we have to transmit data from one module to another module by some external features. This external feature is known as the driver.

38. What is the strategy for a successful Test automation plan?

Ans:

A successful test automation plan should cover the following aspects:

• Preparation of Automation Test Plan
• Recording the scenario
• Error handler incorporation
• Script enhancement by inserting checkpoints and looping constructs
• Debugging the script and fixing the issues
• Re-running the script
• Reporting the result

39. What are the main elements of a test plan and test cases?

Ans:

• Testing objectives
• Testing scope
• Testing the frame
• The environment
• Reason for testing
• The criteria for entrance and exit
• Deliverable
• Risk factors

40. What is Test strategy?

Ans:

Test strategy helps to define the testing process that would take place in a software development cycle. It consists of testing tasks, and lets managers and developers know about the issues as and when they get discovered.

It includes the following information:

• Introduction,
• Resource,
• Scope and schedule for test activities,
• Required Test tools,
• Definition of Test priorities,
• Test planning and the types of tests to run.

41.What do you know about the ISO 9000 and how it can be helpful for a business?

Ans:

It is basically a quality assurance certification and has some of the best guidelines and standards for the adopters and those who consider it. It is actually related to the quality management systems and always makes sure that the customers are getting the desired level of quality. The certification is very useful when it comes to enhancing the domestic, as well as international trade. In addition to this, it is helpful for boosting the overall profit of an organization.  The extreme customer satisfaction, reduction in waste and the better productivity of the employees can also be assured.

42. What might you include in a quality assurance testing document?

Ans:

An interviewer asks this question to understand your experience with using testing documents. If you have worked as a QA engineer before, explain what you included in your testing document. When you have limited experience, it might be beneficial to understand what a general document should include.

43. What is the difference between load testing, volume testing and stress testing?

Ans:

There are many types of software testing, and these three types of testing are the most common among software testers and quality assurance engineers. Your answer will show the interviewer that you have legitimate experience in multiple types of software testing and understand the difference between them all.

44. Have you ever written test cases without documents?

Ans:

Your answer to this question will depend on whether or not you have written test cases without documents. If you have, explain your prior experience in writing test cases. When you lack experience with writing test cases without documents, you can still explain what your process would include.

45. What is the difference between verification and validation?

Ans:

Verification and validation are two critical processes that quality assurance engineers use when testing software quality and performance. Consider providing a brief explanation of the two processes and how they relate to your tasks as a QA engineer.

46. What are the steps of an automation test plan?

Ans:

While the individual automation test plans will differ from company to company, the interviewer wants to understand your knowledge of implementing an automation test and what steps could be included. Your answer shows the interviewer your experience in managing a software automation test.

47. How would you manage a testing issue?

Ans:

This question attempts to uncover how you might handle problems during your testing. The interviewer might like to hear about how you manage issues with the software test itself. Explain to the interviewer what your general steps would include before asking your supervisor.

48. Can you explain the various tasks of a software quality assurance engineer?

Ans:

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.

49. How is monkey testing different from ad hoc testing?

Ans:

Both monkey testing and adhoc testing followed the informal approach, but in monkey testing, we do not need to have deep knowledge of the software. However, to perform adhoc testing, testers should have a deep knowledge of the software.

50. What is ad hoc testing?

Ans:

Adhoc testing is an informal way of testing the software. It does not follow the formal process like requirement documents, test plan, test cases, etc.

Characteristics of ad hoc testing are:

• Adhoc testing is performed after the completion of formal testing on an application.
• The main aim of adhoc testing is to break the application without following any process.
• The testers who are executing the adhoc testing should have a deep knowledge of a product.

51. How to design test cases?

Ans:

There are mainly two techniques to design the test cases:

Black box testing:

• It is a specification-based technique where the testers view the software as a black box with inputs and outputs.
• In black box testing, the testers do not know about how the software is structured inside the box, they know only what the software does but do not know how the software does.
• This type of technique is valid for all the levels of testing where the specification exists.

White box testing:

• White box testing is a testing technique that evaluates the internal logic and structure of the code.
• In order to implement the white box testing, the testers should have the knowledge of coding so that they can deal with the internal code. They look into the internal code and find out which unit is malfunctioning.

52. How do you decide when you have tested enough?

Ans:

This is one of the most crucial questions. As a project manager or project lead, sometimes we might face a situation to call off the testing to release the product early. In those cases, we have to decide whether the testers have tested the product enough or not.

There are many factors involved in real-time projects to decide when to stop testing:

• If we reach Testing deadlines or release deadlines
• By entering the decided pass percentage of test cases.
• In the real-time project, if the risk in the project is under the acceptable limit.
• If all the high priority bugs and blockers have been fixed.
• If we meet the acceptance criteria.

53. What is a test plan?

Ans:

The Test Plan document is a document which contains the plan for all the testing activities to deliver a quality product. The test Plan document is derived from many activities such as product description, SRS, or Use Case documents for all future events of the project. The Test Lead usually prepares it, or Test manager and the focus of the document is to describe what to test, how to test when to test, who will do what test.

54. Name the two levels which are common in a quality certification?

Ans:

These can be Repeatable sequences, optimization, as well as the management.

55. Write the differences between Preventive and Reactive approaches?

Ans:

Preventive Approach: It is also known as the Verification process. Preventive is the approach to prevent defects. In this approach, tests are designed in its early stages of Software Development Lifecycle before the software has developed. In this approach, testers try to prevent defects in the early stages; it comes under Quality Analysis.

Reactive Approach: It is also known as Validation Process. This approach is to identify defects. In this approach, tests are designed to execute after the software’s development. In this approach, we try to find out the defects. It comes under Quality Control.

56. What is Monkey testing?

Ans:

Ans:

• Monkey testing is a type of black box testing used to test the application by providing random inputs to check the system behavior such as to check the system, whether it is crashing or not.
• This type of testing is performed automatically whenever the user provides the random inputs to check the system behavior
• There is no need to create test cases to perform monkey testing.
• It can also be automated, i.e., we can write the programs or scripts to generate random inputs to check the system behavior.
• This technique is useful when we are performing stress or load testing.

There are two types of monkeys:

• Smart monkeys
• Dumb monkeys

Smart Monkeys:

• Smart monkeys are those which have a brief idea about the application.
• They know where the pages of an application will redirect to which page.
• They also know that the inputs that they are providing are valid or invalid.
• If they find any error, then they are smart enough to file a bug.
• They also know what the menus and buttons are.

Dumb Monkeys:

• Dumb Monkeys are those which have no idea about the application.
• They do not know about the pages an application will redirect to.
• They provide random inputs, and they do not know about the starting and ending point of the application.
• They do not know much about the application, but still, they find bugs such as environmental failure or hardware failure.
• They also do not know much about the functionality and UI of an application.

57. What is the test ware?

Ans:

Test ware is a term used to describe all the materials used to perform the test. Test ware includes test plans, test cases, test data, and any other items needed to perform and design a test.

58. Describe the dimensions of the risk in QA?

Ans:

The dimensions of the risk are:

• Schedule: Unrealistic Schedules, to develop a huge software in a single day.
• Client: Ambiguous requirements definition, requirements are not clear, changes in requirement.
• Human Resource: Non – availability of sufficient resources with the skill level expected in the project.
• System Resources: Non-availability of acquiring all critical resources, either hardware and software tools or license for software will have an adverse effect.
• Quality: Compound factors like lack of resources along with a tight delivery schedule and frequent changes to the requirement will affect the quality of the product tested.

59. Define the role of QA in Software Development?

Ans:

QA stands for Quality Assurance. The QA team persuades the quality by monitoring the whole development process. QA tracks the outcome and adjusting processes to meet the expectation.

Role of Quality Assurance are:

• The QA team is responsible for monitoring the process to be carried out for development.
• Responsibilities of the QA team are planning, testing, execution process.
• QA Lead creates the time table and agrees on a Quality Assurance plan for the product.
• The QA team communicated the QA process to the team members.
• QA team ensures traceability of test cases to requirements.

60. Define the key challenges faced during software testing?

Ans:

The application should be stable for testing:

• Testing should be under a time constraint.
• Which tests should execute first?
• Testing the complete application.
• Regression Testing
• Lack of skilled testers.
• Changing requirements.
• Lack of resources, training, and tools.

61. What is a traceability matrix?

Ans:

Traceability matrix is a document that maps and traces user requirements with test cases. The main aim of the Requirement Traceability Matrix is to see that all test cases are covered so that no functionality is missed during the software testing.

62. Explain the types of documents in Software Quality Assurance?

Ans:

The following are the types of documents in Software Quality Assurance:

• Requirement Document: All the functionalities to be added in the application are documented in terms of Requirements, and the document is known as Requirement document. This Requirement document is made by the collaboration of various people in the project team like developers, testers, Business Analysts, etc.
• Test Metrics: Test Metrics is a quantitative measure that determines the quality and effectiveness of the testing process.
• Test plan: It defines the strategy which will be applied to test an application, the resources that will be used, the test environment in which testing will be performed, and scheduling of test activities will be done.
• Test cases: A test case is a set of steps, and conditions used at the time of testing. This activity is performed to verify whether all the functionalities of software are working properly or not. There can be various types of test cases such as logical, functional, error, negative test cases, physical test cases, UI test cases, etc.
• Traceability matrix: Traceability matrix is a table that traces and maps the user requirements with test cases. The main aim of the Requirement Traceability Matrix is to see that all test cases are covered so that no functionality is missed during the software testing.
• Test scenario: A test scenario is a collection set of test cases which helps the testing team to determine the positive and negative aspects of a project.

63. What if there isn’t enough time for thorough testing? What would you do?

Ans:

In order to understand where to focus testing efforts during a time crunch, the project team must perform risk analysis and speak with stakeholders. Primary considerations include, but are not limited to, understanding important functionality, especially those apparent to the end user, and making sure that the software is capable of meeting its initial specifications.

64. What is an application programming interface?

Ans:

An application programming interface, also known as an API, is a programming language that allows different applications to communicate with one another. Companies often release APIs so that other organizations can build products that are based off of this original software. An example of an API would be Java’s JDBC (Java DataBase Connectivity)

65. What is the sequence to write a test case?

Ans:

A test case should have these four things:

• Test case name
• Description of the test case
• Steps, description of the actions that need to be performed
• Expected Results, describe expected outcomes so as to compare results

66. When do we perform functional testing?

Ans:

Functional testing tests the code from end-to-end, making sure that all parts of the application are working –even the parts that occur during failures. Functional testing should start early. Planning can be initiated during the analysis phase, and functional testing should start well before development is complete. It is common to start running functional tests within the QA department once a Minimum Viable Product is released.

67. What is the difference between requirements and specifications?

Ans:

Requirements are the features, functions, and goals of the proposed software system as defined by the client. For example, a company may want their software to “Store shopping cart data for at least 30 days.” This would be a requirement.

Specifications, on the other hand, explain how these features, functions, and goals are to be met. For example, a specification would be “A user’s session information will be persisted into the operating datastore upon logout or session timeout and maintained for 30 days.”

68. What is a primary key? What is a unique key? How are they different?

Ans:

A primary key is a column in a database where each row has a unique value. Each table has only one primary key. No NULL values are allowed. A unique key is a column or group of columns that together hold unique values.  A table can have more than one unique key.  For example, in a list of American Citizens, the column with social security numbers would be a primary key whereas the first and last name columns combined with phone numbers would be a unique key.

69. What is a use case?

Ans:

A use case helps you know the actions of the user and the answer of the system found in a particular functionality. It encompasses revision, exceptions and cover page.

70. What kind of test do you do on a web based application?

Ans:

Here are the tests we do on the web based application:

• Usability testing
• Load and stress testing
• Security testing
• Functionality testing
• Configuration testing

71. Define cause effect graph in 30 seconds?

Ans:

It describes a relationship between a given outcome and all the aspects that affect the outcome.

72. Name some tools used by a tester?

Ans:

• OpenSTA
• YSlow for FireBug
• WinSCP
• Selenium
• FireBug

73. What are the roles of software quality assurance engineers?

Ans:

The roles of software quality assurance engineer are as follows:

• Software design
• Change management
• Integration software
• Program testing
• Program testing
• Control of source code

74. What is volume testing?

Ans:

A kind of software application identifying whether the system can handle a maximum amount of data or volume is known as volume testing.

75. What does CRUD testing stand for?

Ans:

CRUD means create, read, update and delete.

76. What are the various types of software testing?

Ans:

• Smoke testing
• Functional testing
• Shakeout testing
• Unit testing
• Load testing
• Integration testing

77. What is the difference between quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC)?

Ans:

We have helped hundreds of life sciences companies achieve the highest quality standards, and, as experts in quality management, it’s a question we hear often.

Quality assurance and quality control both play vital and distinct roles in the health of life sciences companies. Understanding those roles can help your organization master each to deliver the best products possible.