The rate at which software companies develop products has increased exponentially in recent years. This is partly due to the surge in consumer demand for newer, better products and services. As a result, software companies must ensure that their products' quality is up to par with industry standards that quality assurance (QA) engineers maintain. QA is an essential part of the software development process. However, finding the best QA engineer for your company's needs is no easy task. Among other things, interviewers must ask the right interview questions for a QA engineer to evaluate each candidate's technical and problem-solving skills and set the QA engineer's salary.
In this article, we have provided some interview questions for QA engineers that hiring companies can use to determine whether a candidate is a good fit for the job. The questions range from basic to technical and test a candidate's knowledge in various areas, such as software testing principles, debugging and troubleshooting, the development process, and automation.
What Is a QA Engineer?
A QA engineer is a software professional responsible for testing and verifying software products to ensure their quality, performance, and usability before they are released to the public. In other words, QA engineers' primary goal is to confirm that the product meets the company's quality standards and customer expectations. They do this by running tests, debugging code, and checking for compliance with the applicable standards.
What Does a QA Engineer Do?
Before you start the interview process, it's essential to understand what a QA software engineer does and the responsibilities you expect them to carry out. Here are some of the roles and responsibilities of a QA software engineer that you should keep in mind for interviews:
- Developing and implementing test plans, test cases, and scripts
- Executing manual and automated tests
- Analyzing test results, debugging code, and troubleshooting issues
- Working with developers to identify and address any issues that arise
- Documenting defects and tracking them to resolution
- Staying up-to-date with the latest testing technologies and automation tools
- Investigating customer issues and providing technical support when required
QA Engineer Interview Questions and Answers
Now that you have a better understanding of the role, here are some interview questions you can use to evaluate a QA software engineer's technical aptitude and problem-solving skills:
Technical Interview Questions for QA Engineer
These are questions designed to test a candidate's knowledge of software testing principles, debugging and troubleshooting, the development process, and automation.
- What is your experience with software testing principles, such as verification and validation?
Sample Answer: I am proficient in executing manual and automated tests to ensure that software products meet quality standards and customer expectations. I have experience with various tools, such as test automation frameworks, bug-tracking systems, and static analysis tools.
- Explain the difference between unit testing and integration testing.
Sample Answer: Unit testing focuses on individual components or units of code. It verifies that each component works independently from other components. Integration testing, on the other hand, focuses on verifying the interaction between multiple components. It tests how well the components work together as a system.
- What is a cause-effect graph?
Sample Answer: A cause-effect graph is a software engineering diagram that visually displays the cause-and-effect relationships between various components of a system. QA engineers use it to analyze the impact of changes in one component on the other components in the system. For instance, if a developer changes a system's architecture, a QA engineer can use the cause-effect graph to identify the impact of the change on other components.
- What do you understand about bug leakage and release?
Sample Answer: Bug leakage occurs when a bug enters the system but isn’t found during testing. It can happen if the test cases are insufficient or there is a lack of coverage. On the other hand, bug release is the process of releasing software with known bugs that stakeholders have accepted. This usually occurs when the risks associated with the bug are manageable and the cost to fix it is too high.
- Explain smoke testing.
Sample Answer: Smoke testing is a type of software testing used to determine if the basic functionality of a system works as expected. It validates the system after new builds or releases. Smoke testing aims to identify any significant issues before performing more extensive testing. This helps save time and money by avoiding unnecessary tests.
- Which test cases would you write for a remote desktop feature?
Sample Answer: I would write several test cases, such as testing that:
- The connection is correctly established
- The remote desktop is successfully launched
- The feature works across different devices and platforms
- It works with multiple users
I would also test for the connection's security and any latency issues.
Problem-Solving Interview Questions for QA Engineer
This set of interview questions for QA engineers will help interviewers gauge a candidate's problem-solving ability.
- Describe the steps you would take to debug an issue with a software application.
Sample Answer: I would take the following steps to debug an issue with a software application:
- Gather the necessary information, such as the application's code base, logs, and relevant screenshots or error messages.
- Reproduce the issue by running manual and automated tests to identify any discrepancies.
- Isolate the problem by checking for any conflicting code or configurations.
- Analyze the cause of the issue by looking at log files and system resource usage.
- Develop a fix for the problem, such as modifying code or updating configurations.
- Test the fix by running manual and automated tests to make sure it works as expected.
- What strategies do you use to ensure that bug fixes are applied correctly?
Sample Answer: I will typically create test cases to reproduce the bug, run manual tests to verify that I have fixed it, and then use automated tests to check that the fix is applied consistently across different environments. Additionally, I will often review the code changes to see that they align with company standards.
- Which strategies do you use to ensure that you have applied bug fixes correctly?
Sample Answer: I have encountered several challenges while debugging code, including understanding the codebase, identifying the root cause of an issue, and resolving errors. To overcome these challenges, I use a systematic approach to debugging, such as isolating the problem, writing test cases to reproduce it, and being certain that I understand the code before attempting to debug it.
- What is the difference between severity and priority?
Sample Answer: Severity is a measure of how serious the issue is, while priority measures how quickly you need to address it. Severity is often determined by the impact of the issue on the system, while factors such as customer needs and deadlines determine priority.
- How do you decide when to stop testing?
Sample Answer: Deciding when to stop testing can be a tricky task. I use a combination of risk-based analysis and data-driven decisions to determine the appropriate time to stop testing. Risk-based analysis involves assessing the potential risks associated with releasing a product and determining if it needs additional tests to mitigate them. Data-driven decisions involve using data collected from tests to decide if more testing is necessary or if the company can release the product.
Hire QA Engineers With Revelo
Having the right interview questions for QA engineers can make or break your hiring decision. While these interview questions for QA engineers are a great starting point, it's important to tailor them to the specific role and company. This will help you identify the best candidate for the job.
If you're looking for experienced QA engineers to add to your team of developers, Revelo can help. Our platform provides access to a network of skilled software professionals who have been thoroughly vetted and had their credentials verified. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you hire the best QA engineers for your team.
