Behavioral questions Flashcards
Tell me about a time when you mentored someone.
- At Enel, during my second year, since I was a the most señor qa in our team, I was responsible for onboarding and mentoring new hires. A junior qa has joined our team. As it turned out she did not have any prior knowledge of the qa.
- I needed to help her onboard, so she would be able to run projects independently within 4 weeks.
- I created a comprehensive plan of her onboarding’s I guided her through the process of creating test cases for a critical feature in our software product. Scheduled daily 1:1, to go over any blockers she might have.
I encouraged the junior team member to actively participate in test planning meetings and collaborate with developers.
I also introduced her to industry-standard testing tools.
To measure the effectiveness of my mentoring efforts, I set specific goals for the junior team member, such as improving their test coverage metrics and reducing the number of escaped defects. - As a result of this mentoring relationship, the junior team member gained confidence in her testing abilities and significantly improved her productivity within 2 weeks. improving our testing speed by 30%. She was reaching out to me whenever she needed the support ever since.
Tell me about something you’ve spearheaded/led the charge on at work.
Tell me about project that you did from the beginning to an end.
- Back at Meta, when working on Oculus headset testing, I filed an issue with headset having a black screen after you put it on. It was a pretty major problem, because it would not recover after getting in the state and was a very bad user experience. I was in discussion with the developers on fixing it. But unfortunately there wasn’t enough logs from one device to tackle the problem. The next day, one of the lead engineers reproduced that issue and posted it on our local workplace app for everyone at Meta to see. The issue becomes critical overnight.
- I set myself a task to take leadership in solving this problem.
- I came to my manager and asked him if I can be the one who investigates that issue. Since I was very familiar with the problem. I asked him if I can get myself a team of 2 more people to work on it. We just had 2 new hires joining the team, so I could help them with the onboarding as well. He approved it, and I created a test plan to investigate the problem on a deeper level. My test plan consisted of 2 parts. The first one to search for already filed issue with similar steps and certain keywords. The second part was to execute the set of test cases that I created that were similar to my reproduction steps of the original issue.
- I identified 2 medium and 1 major issue with the headset tracking, that was related to mapping. Engineers resoled the problems and I received a team wide recognition for resolving it.
The headset tracking was improved by 10% and test cases are still executed by regression team
Tell me about a time when you took it upon yourself to give feedback to someone who was holding-back the team.
- During my first year at Enel we were close to complete the test round of the product before the release. The testing needed to be done in parts for each of our cliners and the client needed to configure their part of the software to work with our. Emily. the project manager was suppose to be in contact with each client and schedule the testing. Every time Emily would send a request for a testing at the same day. A lot of times our envirement would be unstable that day or I would be working on other urgent priority issue and we would not be able to complete it on time. Her lack of timely communication.
- I felt responsible for ensuring the smooth progression of tasks within the sprint. My objective was to approach Emily and discuss the urgent scheduling to better understand the challenges and see how we could collaboratively solve them.
- I reached out to Emily and scheduled a 1:1 meeting. I told her that I really appreciate her work with the clients and managing the project. then presented data on how the missed deadlines were affecting the QA process and our sprint goals. I made sure to frame the conversation in a way that focused on the overall team’s success rather than pointing fingers. I also asked he if there were challenges she was facing that might be causing the urgency, showing that I was there to understand and help.
- Emily responded positively to my constructive approach. She admitted that there were communication gaps and last-minute changes from the client’s end that she didn’t relay in advance to our team. Realizing the impact of this on our testing environment and QA process, we collaborated to devise a more proactive communication and scheduling strategy. Emily began to provide at least a two-day notice before any client testing and shared potential client changes ahead of time. This allowed our team to better prepare and prioritize tasks, resulting in improved testing efficiency and timely product releases. Additionally, our collaboration fostered a stronger understanding and trust between the project management and QA teams, streamlining our future workflows, resulting in a 15% more efficient turnaround.
Tell me about a difficult technical challenge you encountered. How did you navigate it?
- During my second year at Enel, I was testing daily version of the mobile app that was supporting the EV chargers. At some point, the app failed to recognize the chargers intermittently, affecting approximately 5% of the total provisionings.
- My responsibility was to identify the root cause of this inconsistency and ensure the smooth provisionning, as this had potential reputational risks for the company.
- I began by isolating the problem. I analyzed the patterns by scrutinizing successful and failed provisions, comparing them for differences.
I delved deep into server logs, application logs, and also involved the DevOps team to check for any network-related issues.
I worked closely with the development team to understand any recent code changes that might have impacted the provisionning module.
Considering the possibility of external factors, I liaised with the hardware engineers, discussing the anomalies we observed.
I created a sandbox environment to replicate the issue by simulating transactions, adjusting parameters to mimic real-world scenarios. - Through the simulated testing and log analyses, I identified that the problem arose from a recent build in the hw code, which, under specific conditions, created a race condition. This led to the sporadic failures. We rectified the code and ran rigorous tests to ensure its robustness. The issue was resolved without any further incidents, and the solution also provided the team with a deeper understanding of hw provisionning challenges. The provisioning results improved to 100% success rate.
A race condition is a scenario that occurs in a concurrent system when the outcome of a process depends on the timing or sequence of events. In other words, it’s a situation where the behavior of a system depends on the relative timing of different threads or processes, and the result of the execution can vary based on which thread or process completes its execution first. The recent build in the hardware code may have introduced changes that affected the concurrent execution of tasks within the provisioning process. For instance, if the updated hardware code altered the timing or sequence of events during provisioning, it could have inadvertently introduced concurrency issues
Tell me about your side projects.
- I really wanted to start working on automation projects, but my company wasn’t ready to start on it
- I needed to get more practice to prove to my company that I can do it and we are ready to get into automation
- I’ve completed a Udemy course on automating the FE with selenium and created automation project with amazon website
- I successfully completed automation project with POM, OOP concepts. Showcases it to my manager and got an approval to work on out FE automation for the operator dashboard. tilizing the skills gained from the course, I independently developed an automation, achieving a 30% reduction in manual testing time and ensuring consistent testing coverage across various scenarios.
Tell me about a project that didn’t go according to plan (shifted priorities/deadlines/budget).
- I was managing a project for the development of a B2C mobile app when we encountered a sudden shift in the user interface design.
- My primary goal was to ensure that despite the unexpected changes, we could still meet our deadline and deliver a high-quality product to our customers.
- In response to the shift in priorities, I immediately reached out to the development team and stakeholders to understand the changes thoroughly.
Conducting a quick impact analysis, I identified potential areas of impact on the project timeline and budget.
I promptly modified the test plan to accommodate the new requirements and adjusted testing priorities accordingly.
Performing regression tests rigorously, I ensured that existing functionality remained intact amidst the UI changes.
Throughout the process, I collaborated closely with the team, providing feedback on potential areas of concern and facilitating transparent communication.
I maintained comprehensive documentation of all changes and decisions made, ensuring clarity and accountability within the project. - Thanks to these proactive measures, we were able to avoid disruptions and mitigate risks, ultimately delivering the product to customers on time and within budget.
As a result of our proactive approach and commitment to customer satisfaction, we received positive feedback from users, with a satisfaction rating of 90% on the app’s new interface, highlighting the successful navigation of unforeseen challenges and the seamless delivery of value to our customers.
How do you negotiate scope/requirements across teams?
As a QA engineer, I often find myself at the intersection of various teams - development, product management, design, and sometimes even customer support. Negotiating scope or requirements is crucial to ensuring a high-quality product approach such negotiations:
- I make sure I fully understand the reasons behind a certain requirement or scope. Is it driven by customer feedback, business goals, technical constraints, or something else?
- Wherever possible, I rely on data to back my points. For instance, if I believe a particular feature might introduce significant risk and should be reconsidered, I’d bring data or historical incidents that support my claim.
- Not everything can be a top priority.
- Once a decision has been made, it’s important to have a feedback loop in place. As testing progresses, I provide regular updates on quality metrics and any potential risks.
- Overall, negotiation isn’t about winning or losing but finding a solution that best serves the project and, ultimately, the end-users.”
How do you approach test planning and strategy for a complex project?
- Understanding Requirements
- Risk Analysis:
- Test Scope and Coverage:
- Select Testing Techniques:
- Test Environment and Data
- Test Case Design
- Test Execution and Reporting:
- Iterative Approach:
- Communication and Collaboration:
How do you stay educated on best-practices/industry trends?
Online Courses: I subscribed to platforms like Coursera and Udemy, taking courses on newer testing methodologies, tools, and automation strategies.
Industry Journals & Blogs: I made it a habit to read renowned QA blogs and journals. Websites like Ministry of Testing and Software Testing Help were particularly informative.
Networking: I actively participated in local QA and testing Meetup groups. Engaging with peers allowed me to exchange ideas, understand challenges, and learn from their experiences.
Internal Training: Whenever I learned something valuable, I organized internal knowledge-sharing sessions to ensure my team stayed updated.
How do you know that you are testing the right thing? Or how do you know that your testing is going well?
Acceptance criteria, common knowledge of technical products, domain specific knowledge, always consult product people
Tell me about your experience without TPM
What’s your biggest weakness?
- Since I am not a native speaker of the language, I am mostly very soft spoken. And sometimes people take that as vulnerability. But when necessary I can be very assertive and precise.
- Recognizing this as a weakness, my task has been to overcome the misconception that my soft-spoken demeanor equates to a lack of assertiveness or confidence. My goal is to ensure that my communication style accurately reflects my abilities and capabilities.
- I began by conducting a self-assessment of my communication style and how it may be perceived by others.
- I started doing more research on assertive speaking. This involved learning strategies for speaking assertively, expressing my opinions and ideas with conviction, and advocating for myself and others when needed.
- I engaged in regular practice sessions and role-playing exercises to refine my assertiveness skills in simulated scenarios.
- I actively sought feedback from colleagues, mentors, and supervisors on my communication style and areas for improvement.
- As a result, I have been able to effectively advocate for myself and others, contribute more meaningfully to discussions and decision-making processes, and build stronger relationships based on mutual respect and trust.
Tell me about your strength
I love starting new projects, onboarding is much faster because I love organizing everything beforehand
testing a mobile app for B2C, we had very limited time to run a first regression test
prior to starting I did thorough research and gathered all necessary material with project requirements and tools, documented everything in details
developed a structured onboarding plan and milestones for each team member. Setting up accounts, accessing relevant tools and scheduling training as needed
we completed onboarding within one day and were able to complete a regression test within 3 days within designated time. Usually it takes at least a week.
strong communication
at Meta with the glitchi issue, with critical priority
I assessed the situation, gathered necessary information, created a group chat with necessary stake holders, created daily standups and clearly explained the problem
We found the solution to the problem and the bug was fixed successfully, and I was able to take leadership initiative on the project and was praised by my manager
Tell me about a time when you received feedback that was difficult to hear.
- presenting test plan infont of my peers and stakeholders. shy and would not present my work in a full light
manager came up and gave a few tips on structuring key points - My objective was to effectively communicate my findings and the intricacies of my test cases to ensure that everyone understood the scope of my work and its implications.
- I learned a few breaching techniques that would help with anxiety
I understand the stress of the new environment and ability to cope with the stress
I searched for resources online and sought guidance from peers who excelled in public speaking - Over the span of a month, there was a noticeable improvement in my presentation and public speaking skills. I became more confident in showcasing my work, and my ability to communicate complex test findings became an asset to the team. Not only did my presentations become more effective, but I also received positive feedback from both peers and stakeholders on the clarity and depth of my discussions.
Tell me about a time you had to deliver on a tight deadline.
- The release of the app was scheduled for the next day. Our engineering team is located in Italy, and at the time I didn’t have any access to change the decision nor talk to engineering team about issues.
- I had to run a full regression suit for our app in 1 day. That usually takes at least 2-3 days.
- I sorted out highest priority issues, grouped test cases that could be run together. Did the time management for all tasks. Took notes of the bug and filed it all at once at the end, taking necessary logs and images.
- “was able to complete the test run. The app had too many issues, they still released it unfortunately. In a week, they had another build.
I sent an email proposal to the management in Italy with more structured testing.
I proposed to run a full regression suit every time there is a new branch cut. After that, only sanity test would be executed on each new build. And for release candidate we won’t have as many issues, and won’t be under pressure to run a regression suit in a short period of time.”
