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Top FAANG+ companies ask difficult software testing interview questions to select potential candidates for their companies. You must prepare the most anticipated software testing technical interview questions and answers ahead of time.
You must understand that software testing does not improve software quality; rather, it serves as a quality indicator. As a software tester, you will interact with the developers who created the software.
You will need to communicate the actions taken to correct the problems discovered during testing. As a result, your responses to software testing interview questions should emphasize your communication, problem-solving, and teamwork abilities. Continue reading to find a comprehensive list of important software testing interview questions and answers.
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Here's what we'll cover:
- Software Testing Interview Questions and Answers
- Senior Software Testing Interview Questions and Answers
- Sample Software Test Engineer Interview Questions for Practice
- FAQs on Software Testing Interview Questions
Software Testing Interview Questions and Answers
Interviewers from top FAANG+ companies can use a combination of the following basic software testing interview questions. You should be well-versed in various types of testing, when to use each, and the advantages and disadvantages of each. Interviewers might also ask you to draw comparisons between the following types of testing.
Q1. What is a testbed?
A testbed is a digital platform that you use for testing an application. It incorporates an operating system, network configuration, hardware, database, software application under test, and all other software-related issues.
Q2. What is unit testing?
It involves testing a single unit of code in an isolated manner. You can take a method, a class, or a module as the unit of code. This testing focuses on the building blocks of code so that you can combine them later to produce fully functioning software.
Q3. What is integration testing?
It is also called I&T, String testing, or Thread testing. Integration testing is through which several software modules are grouped (logically integrated), and each group is tested. It checks the data communication between different software modules. It uses white and black box testing techniques.
Q4. What are the different approaches for integrating testing?
- Big-bang testing - The big bang integration testing approach integrates together with the separate components and tests them at once. It is convenient for small and manageable systems. Fault localization is a challenging task in this testing.
- Incremental testing approach - In this approach, two or more modules are integrated by considering a logical relationship between them. More modules are added in the loop once a set of modules is tested, and the process is repeated until all the modules are assembled and tested. There are two approaches for this type of testing- bottom-up and top-down.
Q5. Mention some of the most popular integration testing tools.
Some popular integration testing tools are as follows:
- Mockito
- DBUnit
- Greenmail
- REST-Assured
- JUnit 5
- H2 Database
Q6. State differences between system and unit testing.
This is one of the important software testing interview questions. The following table enumerates the key differences between the two.
System Testing
Unit Testing
It involves treating each module as a distinct target for testing. The tested modules are then integrated.
It tests a single unit at a time.
It focuses on system validation.
It follows functional verification.
It is a low-level test in comparison to unit testing.
It is a high-level test.
Take a look at some QA Automation Interview Questions on Testing, Coding, and Architecture.
Q7. What is acceptance testing?
Acceptance testing ensures the software meets the client’s requirements. It is the last step before the software goes for production.
Q8. What is smoke testing?
Smoke testing is a quick procedure to ensure that the software works at the most basic level and does not crash when you start it.
Q9. What is security testing?
Security testing involves attempting to breach a software's security checks. It attempts to gain access to confidential data and is crucial for web-based applications or applications involving money.
Q10. What is performance testing?
Performance testing checks whether the software performs according to the user’s expectations. It tests the response time and throughput under specific environments and loads.
Q11. What is protocol testing?
It checks communication protocols in various domains such as:
- VoIP
- Switching
- Wireless
- Routing
- Switching
Q12. What is black box testing?
A testing technique based only on requirements and specifications and does not require knowledge of structures, interval paths, implementation of the software. It tests the functionality of the Application Under Test (AUT).
Check the Top 30 Java Interview Questions for Testers here.
Q13. What is white box testing?
The white box testing technique consists of internal paths, code structures, and implementation of the software being tested.
Q14. What is gray box testing?
A testing strategy is utilized for debugging software when you have limited information about the internal details of the program.
Q15. What is regression testing?
Regression testing confirms whether the recent code change has negatively impacted the existing features. In software, regression implies that a feature that worked earlier suddenly stops working after a developer adds a new code or functionality to the software.
Q16. What is confirmation testing?
Confirmation testing or re-testing is when the new fixed version of a software is submitted that previously failed the test due to some defect. The defect gets reported, and confirmation testing checks for the same.
Q17. Differentiate between functional testing and non-functional testing.
Functional and non-functional testing and their types form an important part of the software testing interview questions.
Functional Testing
Non-Functional Testing
It tests the behavior and overall functionality of the software.
It checks the software’s quality as per the client’s expectations.
It is conducted before the non-functional testing.
It is only done after the functional testing is completed.
Behavior-oriented
Performance-oriented
It uses manual ways for testing.
It requires automation tools.
Here is a list of the Top 30 Test Engineer Interview Questions to practice for your tech interview.
Q18. What is alpha testing?
You perform alpha testing before you ship the software to the customers. It is part of the user acceptance testing that identifies bugs before the customers access the software.
Q19. What is beta testing?
The software users perform beta testing in a real production environment once you ship the software to the after alpha testing. Beta testing forms one of the final components of user acceptance testing and is helpful to get feedback from users using your software in real environments.
Q20. What is a latent defect?
A latent defect is a bug that has been in the software system for a long time but remains hidden or dormant. It is an existing low-priority defect that you can find with effective inspections.
Q21. What is manual testing?
You manually verify the functionality of the software in manual testing. As a software tester, you will have a comprehensive list of all the test cases that you must test, along with the test data. You will have to go through each case, one by one in a natural user environment, subject to similar external conditions.
Q22. What is cross-browser testing? What tools would you use?
A web application runs in various browsers such as Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Edge, Safari, and more. Although all the browsers work primarily the same in implementing the web standards, there are subtle differences. In cross-browser testing, you check whether your website or app works as intended when accessed through different Browser-OS combinations.
The best cross-browser testing tools are:
- Testim
- Browsershots
- Browsera
- Perfecto
- Experitest
Q23. What is static software testing? Name a few tools for static testing.
Static testing allows you to test the software without actually executing it. It allows you to walk through the code, code reviews, peer-reviews using sophisticated tools such as Eslint and StyleCop.
Q24. What is dynamic software testing?
Contrary to static testing, dynamic testing checks the software during execution. You run the software in a test environment and go through all the steps involved. You enter the inputs and verify the actual output with the expected result.
Q25. What is API testing?
API testing checks the working of the APIs that the software is using. As a software tester, you will have to write code that makes an API request to the server that provides the API, the required inputs, collects the output from the response, and matches the actual output with the expected output.
Check out the most commonly asked Amazon QA Engineer Interview Questions.
Senior Software Testing Interview Questions and Answers
Q1. How is Quality Control (QC) different from Quality Assurance (QA)?
QA ensures quality in the shipped software and thoroughly tests the software before releasing it to the end-users. You perform QA activities while the product is being developed and focus on improving the software development process.
QC ensures whether the developed products meet the required standards or not by testing and reviewing their functional and non-functional requirements. You perform QC activities after the product development as it examines the quality of the end products and the final outcome.
Q2. When would you prefer automated testing over manual testing?
This is one of the most important software testing interview questions. You can choose automated testing over manual testing in the following conditions:
- You have to run test cases repeatedly for a long duration of time.
- You have to perform regression testing, performance testing, or load testing.
- You want to record the testing process.
- When you have less time to complete the testing phase
- When you have to execute tests in a standard runtime environment
- Manual testing becomes very time-consuming and redundant when there are multiple and quick deployments for the product.
Q3. How is validation different from verification?
It is the interviewers' favorite software testing interview question, and you must be clear in your answer.
Verification
Validation
It checks whether the software meets the specification or not.
It checks whether the specification captures the customer’s needs or not.
A type of static testing.
A type of dynamic testing.
It does not require you to execute the code.
It requires code execution.
Q4. What do you understand about the pesticide paradox?
Pesticide paradox is a phenomenon where the software becomes immune to its tests when you subject it to several tests. You must find new strategies, techniques, and test cases to identify bugs and resolve them to overcome the pesticide paradox.
Q5. What do you mean by configuration testing?
Configuration testing is a technique used to evaluate a software’s configurational requirements. It finds the optimal configuration of the system under which the application performs at its best. Configuration testing helps identify and resolve any compatibility issues.
Q6. What are important testing metrics?
It is one of the crucial software testing interview questions. The metrics are as follows:
- The total number of bugs fixed.
- The total defects found and the order of their severity.
- Total number of problems caused by source code error vs. configuration or external environmental factors
- Bugfix rate over time
- The total number of outstanding bugs prior to a release.
- Failures reported by the users vs. those found by the testers.
Q7. What parameters are useful for checking the quality of test execution?
The parameters for checking the quality of test execution include:
- Defect reject ratio is the ratio of total rejection to total production.
- Defect leakage ratio is the ratio of the total possibility of rejection occurrence to the total production.
Recommended Reading: What Does a Test Engineer Do? Learn about the role, skills, and responsibilities of a test engineer.
Sample Software Test Engineer Interview Questions for Practice
Here are some additional software testing interview questions. You must also practice some scenario-based software testing interview questions and answers for experienced software tester positions.
- What are SDLC and STLC?
- What is a test case?
- What is a test script?
- What is epic?
- What is a change request?
- Explain baseline testing.
- Why is localization testing important?
- What is a bug in manual testing?
- What is decision testing?
- What is branch testing?
- What is control flow testing?
- What is statement testing?
- What is data flow testing?
- What is error guessing?
- What are the disadvantages of manual testing?
- What is code redundancy?
- What is LCSAJ?
- What is an enhancement request?
- Differentiate test stub and test driver.
- What is equivalent testing?
- What is concurrency testing?
- Explain Test-Driven Development (TDD)?
- What is boundary testing?
- What is monkey testing?
- What is the treatability matrix?
- What is the requirement phase?
- Why do you need synchronization in QTP?
- How would you identify web elements in Selenium?
- What is the meaning of XPath in Selenium?
- What steps will you take to modify test cases in Selenium IDE?
- Explain the use of JUnit in the Selenium testing tool?
- How would you add meta-data in the JUnit Selenium?
- Why would you use decision table testing?
- How would you test an application with videos?
- How is smoke different from sanity testing?
- How is Pilot different from beta testing?
- When should you stop testing?
- When would you prepare the RTM- Requirement Traceability Matrix?
- When would you use Rapid Application Development or RAD?
- What methods will you use in code coverage and why?
- How would you test the Amazon login page?
- How would you approach the software if you are getting bugs in every build?
- What will you do as a software tester when the time given is lesser than the required time for testing?
- How would you approach a situation if the function is working in the testing environment but not working in production?
This completes our list of software testing interview questions that will help you ace your tech interview prep. You can also check the Test Engineer Salary for different levels and roles.
FAQs on Software Testing Interview Questions
Q1. What topics do software testing interview questions cover in coding interviews?
Software testing interview questions are mostly asked on testing test cases, programming theory, testing tools, distributed systems design, automation frameworks, coding, and problem-solving.
Q2. Are software testing interview questions hard?
The extensive list of software testing techniques and tools makes preparing software testing interview questions difficult. To adequately prepare for your interview, you should review a large number of software testing interview questions and answers. With proper preparation, you should have no trouble answering the software testing interview questions.
Q3. Do interviewers ask scenario-based software testing interview questions to freshers?
Interviewers usually ask scenario-based software testing interview questions to experienced software testers. If you are a fresher, you should focus more on fundamental software testing topics.
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