What do the Systems Design rounds look like in a Test Engineering interview?

Scalable systems design round: An explicit systems design round is rare for Test Engineers, however, a random system design question could be asked in one of the domain rounds before delving deeper into its testing aspects. These types of questions generally hold more relevance for developers. For SDETs, interviewers evaluate their understanding of object-oriented and systems design principles. Questions asked can range from creating an automation framework for a feature to creating one for a product, depending on the seniority of the position. These questions will be based on the usual systems design concepts, but with testing framework as the objective.

What do the coding rounds look like in a Test Engineering interview?

There are two rounds in which coding skills are tested in a Test Engineering interview: Screening Round: Telephonic Coding Round to shortlist students for further rounds Onsite Round: There will be 1-2 onsite coding rounds based on DS and algorithms

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Mock interviews with Silicon Valley engineers

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Our highly experienced instructors are active hiring managers and employees at FAANG+ companies and know exactly what it takes to ace tech and managerial interviews.

Fazal Allanabanda

Senior Test Lead

15+ years experience

A typical week at Interview Kickstart

This is how we structure and organize your interview prep with our high-quality, content-rich course. Our learners devote 10 to 12 hours per week to this course.

Thu

Get Foundational content

Get high-quality videos and course material for next week’s topic

Covers introduction to fundamentals, interview-relevant topics, and case studies

Assignment review session

Discussion-centric session where the instructor analysis your assignment's solution and gives feedback

Discussions over interview-oriented questions and key concepts involved

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Attend 4-hour sessions covering Test Engineering concepts via case studies and interview questions

Each class discusses questions, derived from actual interview questions, with the help of design frameworks and code walkthroughs

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Test Engineering Course Details and Curriculum

Data Structures and Algorithms

Sorting

Introduction to Sorting
Basics of Asymptotic Analysis and Worst Case & Average Case Analysis
Different Sorting Algorithms and their comparison
Algorithm paradigms like Divide & Conquer, Decrease & Conquer, Transform & Conquer
Presorting
Extensions of Merge Sort, Quick Sort, Heap Sort
Common sorting-related coding interview problems

Recursion

Recursion as a Lazy Manager’s Strategy
Recursive Mathematical Functions
Combinatorial Enumeration
Backtracking
Exhaustive Enumeration & General Template
Common recursion- and backtracking-related coding interview problems

Trees

Dictionaries & Sets, Hash Tables
Modeling data as Binary Trees and Binary Search Tree and performing different operations over them
Tree Traversals and Constructions
BFS Coding Patterns
DFS Coding Patterns
Tree Construction from its traversals
Common trees-related coding interview problems

Graphs

Overview of Graphs
Problem definition of the 7 Bridges of Konigsberg and its connection with Graph theory
What is a graph, and when do you model a problem as a Graph?
How to store a Graph in memory (Adjacency Lists, Adjacency Matrices, Adjacency Maps)
Graphs traversal: BFS and DFS, BFS Tree, DFS stack-based implementation
A general template to solve any problems modeled as Graphs
Graphs in Interviews
Common graphs-related coding interview problems

Dynamic Programming

Dynamic Programming Introduction
Modeling problems as recursive mathematical functions
Detecting overlapping subproblems
Top-down Memorization
Bottom-up Tabulation
Optimizing Bottom-up Tabulation
Common DP-related coding interview problems

Test Engineering Masterclass

Quality Engineering Foundations

Basics of Test Engineering and deep dive into advanced concepts
How to test the feature of password fields: Objective, case explanation, need for testing and testing processes involved
Amazon case study: The journey of building and end-to-end testing
of a technical product: SDLC of the product, stakeholders’ involvement during various levels of SDLC
How to classify tests into testing quadrants and testing pyramids and identify metrics for these tests
Shopping Cart: Functional testing of features like Add to Cart, Update Quantities, Remove Item, Checkout, etc.
Troubleshooting defects and bugs in a web application and identifying their impact on the overall functionality of the application
How would you test checking out of the shopping cart:
Validate shopping cart interface with inventory & catalogue ({:gap {:kind :userinput}} can select only items in stock for checkout)
Validate shopping cart interface with payment (successful payments result in order creation, failed payments return the user back to the cart)
Validate shopping cart interface with order management (order created after checkout + payment, order items match what was in the shopping cart, shipment address matches customer delivery address)
If we wish to add a new feature to the cart, “save for later,” how can we prove whether this feature would be worth creating or not?
“Hack” together a rudimentary implementation
Expose the feature to a subset of the user base
Observe the response to the new feature (retention, sales)

Performance Testing

Brainstorming interview questions: Basics of performance testing, common problems faced, bottlenecks, common mistakes, etc.
Understanding user expectations and identifying user pain points while engaging with an application and performing appropriate performance tests to ensure a smooth user experience
Example problem: How can we ensure that Amazon is working smoothly during a sales event?
How will you conduct end-to-end Performance Testing for the transaction system for an e-commerce application during a sale?
Performance Testing Workflow: Requirements, tool, test plan and design, use-cases and test-cases, test execution using Little’s Law, test analysis and report
How can we create a Performance Test Strategy template for the above-mentioned example?
Objectives, architectural diagram, scope, metrics, entry and exit criteria, risks
How to use profile output to build better evidence stories for test failures
Process, benefits, profilers functioning, steps for developing performance profile, and performance profiling applications
Demonstration: Undergoing performance testing for microservices using Jmeter
Server-side performance tests, client-side performance tests (scope, types, scenarios), web-page performance, architecture (basics, monolithic architecture vs. microservices architecture)
What are some of the common interview questions around all of these topics and how to approach them while answering them?

API Testing

Fundamentals of API testing and important API testing concepts for interviews
How would you conduct API Testing on some recently developed APIs in a new setup/project?
How would you go about doing end-to-end testing for streaming APIs?
Basics of REST and its design principles
Idempotency in REST
What happens when we search for “Interview Kickstart” on Google?
API and web services
REST web services
Client-Server architecture
Demonstration of HTTP methods on ReqRes
Basics, Methods, Requests and Responses, Headers, Parameters
Parler case study: Understanding Authentication, Authorization and their types
What are the steps and best practices for API Testing?
Demonstration of “GET” API call using Postman
What factors must be considered while designing a test framework and what should be the scope of this API test framework?

Automation Testing

Automation Testing Foundations: Basics, benefits, risks
Scope of test automation: Is it possible to perform 100% automation?
Identifying essential automation testing topics/questions for interviews
Using Google Chrome as an example, identify elements where automation can be brought in. What are some of the areas where automation shall be avoided and why?
What is the need for cross-browser testing and in what situations would you want to perform it?
How can we automate the “Compose email” feature in Gmail?
Demonstrate the processes, tools needed for this automation, and the automation framework
Identify the different components in this framework and the advantages of using this framework
How would you automate a basic login in an application?
Designing and implementing a framework from scratch to automate the testing of a Registration Page
CI/CD: Basics, role, challenges, edge cases:
How can we do Test Automation in a CI/CD pipeline – demonstration using GitHub
How to perform automation testing using Selenium: Selenium basics, intent, setup, etc.

Test Automation Design Patterns

Design patterns: Basics, need, essential elements, types, advantages, etc.
Important design pattern concepts for interviews
How to build fast, efficient, and scalable test automation frameworks for multiple features at the same time?
While designing an automation framework for testing the login page, how will you simplify the structure of objects and classes, ensuring that the framework is fast, scalable, and efficient?
Web browser automation testing: Scope, use case, design and specifications, libraries used, and demo
How to add logging functionality without making a lot of changes to test automation solution using Webdriver
How to isolate complex and repetitive construction code in an object and how it benefits Testing
How will you design an automation framework for an application where you have to test multiple payment methods?

Cloud Testing

Basics of Cloud Testing and its importance
Different types of cloud service models
If we were to build a service for a government agency, what kind of cloud would we use and why?
How can we use the different types of cloud service models to approach this problem and identify the best among them?
How can we make sure that a website has a similar load time across the globe?
Introduction to the CAP theorem
Importance of logging, monitoring, and alerting in Cloud Testing
How will you ensure that an application deployed on the cloud is running smoothly?
How to identify and debug cloud system issues?
How to approach testing in cloud?
Understanding Cloud Testing Strategy: Components, tools, solutions, test data, etc.
What is Hybrid Integration Testing: Cloud migration and its common business needs

Career Coaching

ML Model Lifecycle and MLOps

Behavioral Interview Prep

Offers and Negotiation

Support Period

9 mock interviews

Take classes you missed/retake classes/tests

1:1 technical/career coaching

Interview strategy and salary negotiation support

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Kickstart Your Career With Comprehensive Test Engineer Training

If you are looking to progress your career into test engineering, then you have come to the right place. In today’s competitive job market, it is essential to stand out at every stage of the hiring process. And that’s where we come in. With our test engineer course, you will learn everything that you need to know to translate your skills effectively. Read More

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Are you ready to get started? Take the first step by enrolling in our free webinar to learn more about the course and pricing. Hone your skills and ensure that you reach your next milestone with our help. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

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A Free Guide to Kickstart Your Back-End Engineering Career at FAANG+

From the interview process and career path to interview questions and salary details — learn everything you need to know about Test Engineering careers at top tech companies.

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Interview Strategy and Success

Interview Questions

Career Path

Salary and Levels at FAANG

Frequently Asked Questions

Test Engineering Interview Process Outline

The interview process at FAANG+ and other Tier-1 companies for Test Engineering interviews varies for each company. However, the general structure for the software testing interview process is as follows:

Initial screening: Generally includes a coding round and a discussion of your past projects. These rounds also test your understanding and communication skills.
On-site (3-4 rounds): 1-2 general coding rounds, 1 domain round, and a behavioral round. More details about the interview rounds

What to Expect at Test Engineering Interviews?

Initial technical screening

Expect a coding round and a discussion of your past projects. The coding questions are typically at an easy/medium level on Leetcode.

After going through this round, you should receive a follow-up email from the recruiter that will include an online technical assessment.

On-site (3-4 rounds)

1-2 general coding rounds: Generally includes two coding rounds, where the questions usually involve Arrays, Linked Lists, Sorting and Searching, Recursion, Trees, and Graphs. The difficulty level is generally easy/medium, but you should be ready for an occasional tough problem.
1 domain round: This round revolves around the Test Engineering fundamentals. You may be asked to write test cases for a program or create a test plan for an application. It can also have questions on Test Engineering fundamentals like Automation Frameworks, API testing, performance testing, Agile testing, etc.
Behavioral round: Tests cultural fit and your collaboration, leadership, and communication skills.

Test Engineering Interview Questions

Interview questions are quite different for different types of Test Engineers, but they aim at the same goal: to ensure that the software application runs consistently and reliably with the least possible bugs. Take a look at these interview questions to gauge your software testing interview preparation.

Senior Test Engineer Interview Questions on Coding

Want to assess how ready you are for your Test Engineering interview? Take a jab at these software testing interview questions on tech coding asked in tech Interviews:

For a given array of size N containing distinct integer numbers, write a code to sort the array in the wave fashion.

From a given array containing integer values, write a code to find the maximum subarray of non-negative numbers.

For a given String S, write a code to find the minimum number of elements or characters that need to be inserted to convert it into a palindrome.

For a given String S, write a program to find the length of the longest Substring with distinct values.

For a given String S, write a code to remove successive duplicate characters recursively.

For two strings, A and B, write a program to figure out if B can be obtained by rotating A in at least two places.

Write a code to reverse a Linked List from position X to position Y.

For a given Linked List, write a code to return the node value where the cycle in question begins.

For a given binary tree T, write a code to print the bottom view of the tree from left to right.

You’re given the root of a binary tree T. Write a program to find out if it is a Binary Search Tree or not.

For more, check out our software testing interview questions page.

Domain-specific Test Engineering Interview Questions

As a Test Engineer, the importance of mastering your domain can’t be overstated. See if you can answer these domain-specific Test Engineering interview questions:

How do Test Pyramid strategies help in Automation Testing?

When is a build staging environment ready? What tests are covered in the staging environment?

How can we make exponential testing more structured?

How do you build a Test Plan for a Database?

What is the difference between and significance of verification and validation?

What is the importance of Smoke/Sanity Testing in the build process?

How would you incorporate end-2-end requirements/product features in test planning?

Navigating through Test Case management tools, how would you ensure traceable test results history?

What is the importance of the Requirement Traceability Matrix? Implement “compose email” functionality in a mail application.

What are some essential factors to consider while creating a test strategy for the Payment method for an E-commerce website?

For more, check out our Test Engineering interview questions page.

Test Engineering Interview Questions on Behavioral Skills

Let us now look at some behavioral questions asked in Test Engineering interviews:

Tell me something about yourself as a Test Engineer that’s not in your resume.

Why this role and why our company?

How do you handle multitasking?

What qualities does a skilled software tester have?

What motivates you on tough days?

Talk about the most challenging instance of your career as a Test Engineer. How did you handle it?

What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Where do you see yourself in three-five years?

What are you looking for in your next role?

Test Engineering Career path

It’s crucial to know what’s expected of you in a role, not just before you take it up but before you decide how to prepare for it. Let’s look at the career path of a Test Engineer and the responsibilities associated with the role.

Test Engineering Job Roles and Responsibilities

The roles and responsibilities of software testing jobs include:

Understanding the requirements from an acceptance/customer perspective.

Understanding how the product is developed in terms of coding language, databases, etc.

Planning a strategy to automate maximum test scenarios as possible.

Creating and using robust and high–quality test automation solutions for functional, regression, and performance testing.

Developing automation code for the application to control the execution of tests, compare their outcomes, and report functions that would otherwise require manual testing activity.

Building different test scenarios and acceptance tests and ensuring maximum test coverage.

Working with deployment teams and resolving any level issues of the system.

Participating in the design discussions and providing effective feedback in code reviews.

The responsibilities for Software Test Engineers that need 2-4 years of experience or more expand with level and may include:

Roles and Responsibilities of an Experienced Test Engineer

Automating tests and creating test automation requirements to some extent.

Planning end to end test strategy involving – test automation, results, dashboards, alerts, and test environment

Focusing on EngProd (engineering productivity aspect of Test Engineering), not just on creating test automation solutions

Taking testing to the next level, influencing the testing culture, and making testing part of engineering practices (engineering productivity)

Building a test culture so development teams can contribute to better testing.

Strategizing and building long-term testing and EngProd scaling solutions.

Career Roadmap for Test Engineers

In a FAANG+ company, the career progression in software tester jobs looks as follows:

SDET-1: Junior level SDET, expected to write test automation scripts

SDET-2: Experienced SDET, expected to also develop reusable tools and test automation frameworks

Sr/Staff SDET – Senior-level SDET, expected to also

Review code
Participate in design discussions and make suggestions to have appropriate changes in design
Participate in the overall testing strategy of the product
Participate in CI/CD delivery models, create execution pipelines, etc.

Test Architect/Solutions Engineer – designs/architects an overall framework for multiple projects, frames test specifications, and can also act as a delivery manager

Test Engineering Salary at FAANG+ companies at various levels

Let us look at the Software Tester salary at FAANG+ companies and how they change with the levels:

Test Engineering salary at FAANG+ companies

Average compensation by level

Level name

Total Annual Compensation (QA)

Total Annual Compensation (SDET)

Experience Range

Manual Testers/ SDET 1

< 140K

120K - 170K

0 - 4 years

Test Engineer (QAE2)/SDET 2

110K - 170K

140K - 200k

4 - 8 years

Senior Test Engineer/SDET 3

130K - 210K

160K - 240K

Above 8 years

Principal SDET

> 180K

> 200K

Above 8 years

FAQs on Test Engineering Interview Course

What does a Test Engineer do?

A Test Engineer develops or utilizes testing frameworks/tools to run test cases and create test reports. They are involved in the software testing life cycle, where they test the feature/product end-to-end and identify bugs (if any). They support efforts to ensure that the software is bug-free and market-ready and can be released to customers.

What is the difference between QAE and SDET?

An SDET is an engineer who develops the testing frameworks/tools/services that are required for testing. In contrast, a QAE leverages these developed frameworks and tools to run several kinds of test cases and identify bugs.
A QAE tries to automate the identified test cases, and the SDET helps develop tools that achieve that. Also, an SDET is expected to have high technical expertise, which is not the case with a QAE.

What is API testing?

API testing is done either directly on the API or during integration testing. It aims at analyzing an application program interface or API to ensure it is functioning as it should, is secure, and performs efficiently and reliably.

Can a tester become a program manager?

Yes, as a Software Engineering Tester, with ample experience you can become a Program Manager.

What are the different types of testing?

The different types of testing include unit testing, integration testing, component testing, API testing, sanity testing, smoke testing, regression testing, and UI testing.