Nail Your Next Test Engineering Interview

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

Online Processing Systems

• The client-server model of Online processing
• Top-down steps for system design interview
• Depth and breadth analysis
• Cryptographic hash function
• Network Protocols, Web Server, Hash Index
• Scaling
• Performance Metrics of a Scalable System
• SLOs and SLAs
• Proxy: Reverse and Forward
• Load balancing
• CAP Theorem
• Content Distribution Networks
• Cache
• Sharding
• Consistent Hashing
• Storage
• Case Studies: URL Shortener, Instagram, Uber, Twitter, Messaging/Chat Services

Batch Processing Systems

• Inverted Index
• External Sort Merge
• K-way External Sort-Merge
• Distributed File System
• Map-reduce Framework
• Distributed Sorting
• Case Studies: Search Engine, Graph Processor, Typeahead Suggestions, Recommendation Systems

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
  

Interview Strategy and Success

Behavioral Interview Prep

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