QA Automation Interview Questions

The method of automating the testing of mobile apps and software programmes is known as QA automation (or automated testing). QA automation tools primarily carry out manual, repetitive testing tasks that had previously been done by a human tester.
However, now that we know what QA automation is, let us understand certain features about it before we move on to the interview questions.

• Dynamic element locators
• Conditional checks
• Control structures
• Easy assertionsi
• Easy modifications without redo
• Reusable steps
• Cross browser support
• Reporting
• Ability to insert code
• Continuous integration

Owing to the numerous features of QA automation, the demand for it is quite high. Therefore, we suggest you read further to master the interview questions to be able to crack it and bag your dream job.
For better understanding,

we have divided these questions into two categories, they are:

• For Freshers
• For Experienced
• FAQ's

Top QA Automation Interview Questions

1. What is regression testing?
   
2. What is the test automation pyramid?
   
3. Continuous integration: What is it?
   
4. What are TDD and BDD?
   
5. What benefits does the Page Object Model offer?
   
6. How are API test results verified?
   
7. What categories of test cases won't you choose to automate?
   
8. How can CAPTCHA testing be automated?
   
9. What test library APIs does the Robot Framework offer?
   
10. Describe Protractor.
    

QA Automation Interview Questions For Beginners:

1. What is regression testing?

Software is never completed. A constant stream of new features, functions, bug fixes, etc. are being added by the developers. There is a chance that all of this new code will break the previously functioning functionality. Regression testing is a testing method where a tester ensures that no functionality from the old features has been broken.

Its objective is to confirm that tested and developed functionality continues to function after new code has been added. Automated regression testing is when a tester uses testing frameworks and tools to carry out the regression testing automatically.

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2. How does regression testing occur?

In automated regression testing, a tester executes the regression test suite following each fresh software release. If the tests are successful, the tester moves on to other kinds of testing. If it doesn't succeed, there's no point in continuing with the tests until the developers fix the flawed regression tests. As a result, they also save the tester time and guarantee software quality prior to release.

3. What is the test automation pyramid?

The test automation pyramid was first proposed by Martin Fowler[1] in 2012. It's a technique to consider how to use various test automation types to get the most benefit possible from them.
The test pyramid's main goal is to have lots of unit tests and a few comprehensive tests for the GUI. Testing the GUI is very fragile. User interfaces are evolving all the time. Many tests are easily broken up by software updates, necessitating the need to update them and adding to the team's workload. Testing the UI takes time and lengthens build times. If you have a license for the GUI testing tool, you can use it on a few machines.

4. What does the test automation pyramid signify?

According to the test pyramid, you should use more automated functional tests than you would with regular UI-automation tests. Additionally, it has a layer of service tests that act as an intermediary layer, offering many of the advantages of end-to-end UI testing without the hassles of navigating UI frameworks.

5. What are some positive practices in QA automation?

• Pick what you want to automate.

Certain tests, including usability, accessibility, exploratory testing, and non-repetitive test cases that change frequently, cannot be automated because it is neither practical nor possible.

• Based on knowledge and experience, assign test cases.

Consider the tester's knowledge and experience as well as the complexity and importance of the feature being tested when dividing test cases.

• Taking Out Uncertainty

The main objective of automated testing is to produce consistent, accurate, and reliable tests that give the tester useful feedback. The ROI on test automation begins to decline if the tests fail as a result of test-related bugs or false positives.

• Selecting appropriate frameworks and tools

There are many tools available to conduct automation testing. By selecting the incorrect tool for the test at hand, time will be wasted and software that might malfunction in production will be released under false assurance.

• Preserving test records in a database of bugs

Regardless of whether a squad uses test automation or not, using a bug dataset is a best practice. Every time a new bug is discovered, whether by a tester or an automation tool, it should be documented in a bug tracking tool along with the precise steps to replicate the bug and other information.

Know More About "Quality Assurance (QA)"

6. Continuous integration: What is it?

Project integration is necessary when multiple engineers contribute different branches of code to a single product. Developers send their working copies to a central shared repository to ease the transition to the working mainline. Continuous integration, or simultaneous automated testing, is a technique used to maintain efficiency (CI). CI improves application performance, cuts down on bugs, and saves time.

7. What CI tools are familiar to you?

Innumerable DevOps tool providers now provide as-a-service selections that can streamline one's testing and automation because automated testing is a fundamental component of continuous integration. Examples of tools are:

• TeamCity
• Jenkins
• Bamboo
• CloudBees CI
• CircleCI

8. Continuous delivery: What is it?

Mechanization prepares any changes as developers integrate new code into the flagship store for immediate production, resulting in smooth transitions into later build stages for more effective deployment. By incorporating new code changes into a test environment, continuous delivery builds on continuous integrations so that testing can take place in multiple dimensions beyond unit testing (UI tests, integration tests, load tests, API reliability, etc).

9. What XPath Axes are familiar to you?

Data in Extensible Markup Language (XML) can be modified using the syntax known as XPath. To find nodes connected to those on the tree, use XPath Axes. There are a total of 13 axes. You will gain more points in the interview if you mention at least one of them, such as child, ancestor,  parent or namespace along with the outcomes they produce.

10. What are TDD and BDD?

The test-first approaches and programming practises of Test Driven Development (TDD) and Behavior Driven Development (BDD) are used to evaluate the functionality of code. Smaller portions of an application are independently tested with TDD, and the test design process frequently begins with the development of a written test case. BDD functions as a team methodology that evaluates the effectiveness of application.

11. What does Maven's dependency management entail?

The successful completion of a project depends on effective dependency management. A product typically depends on a wide variety of parts, programmes, and outside libraries that are developed by numerous teams on their own schedules. You can control the interconnections for reproducible builds using Maven. Dependencies are crucial for automation testers because a slow service could indeed destroy testability and the efficient flow of work. Int.

12. How is an XML file validated?

Through database testing, automation testers can identify flaws that go beyond functional performance. Database testing with XML technologies is ideal because validating an XML file can guarantee its completeness. Create an XMLReader object that contains an XML schema which outlines the structure of an XML document and check that the syntax confirms as well-formed in order to validate.

13. Comparing Selenium WebDriver versions 3 and 4

Selenium is an automated testing framework that offers tools for platform and browser functional testing. The architecture is improved in new versions because it is open-sourced. Selenium v4 has improved stability and browser compatibility, but in the interview, weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each version.

14. In Selenium, what do implicit and explicit waits mean?

Wait commands are used in automation tests to identify and address lagging web components. Implicit and explicit wait types are both available in Selenium. Explicit waits enable your code to stop running until a particular condition is met. Implicit waits, which essentially postpone execution so that elements have more time to load, periodically poll the DOM (the structure of an HTML element).

15. What benefits does the Page Object Model offer?

The Page Object Model (POM) in Selenium creates a repository where class files are kept. Development teams can work much more efficiently with code because it allows you to store artifacts and web elements. POM, in particular, permits changes at the method level, improving maintenance and code reuse.

QA automation Interview Questions for Experienced

1. How are API test results verified?

You must conduct automation testing to verify reliability and performance because APIs offer the instructions for communication between various systems and web application components. REST over HTTP, which involves confirming the REST contract, is the most popular API testing approach.

2. Do you have any automated tests?

Our primary goal is to automate test cases for sanity, smoke, and regression testing. We occasionally concentrate on end-to-end testing depending on the project and the estimated test time.

3. How do you recognise the test cases that can be automated?

Testers of automation should be aware of what should be automated. The achievement of automation testing is heavily dependent on selecting the right test cases.

• tests that execute against various builds.
• tests with a high risk of human error.
• tests that demand multiple data sets.
• tests with a high level of risk.
• tests that cannot be carried out manually.
• tests that are laborious and time-consuming to run by hand
• tests that are performed using various hardware or software configurations.

4. What categories of test cases won't you choose to automate?

I do make sure the application is stable before choosing the test cases to automate. On the basis of this, I decide not to run test cases when the AUT constantly changes and I only run them once. Additionally, I don't automate when conducting exploratory and usability testing.

5. How should an automation tool be chosen?

For test automation, choosing an automation tool is crucial. There are many automated testing tools available. The following are a few variables to consider when choosing an automation tool.
support for your technology and platforms

• Accessibility, setup, and usability
• dependable debugging tools
• Types of support offered for the tools, such as guides, training, etc.
• Budget and price
• DevOps and CI support
• Dependable reporting system.

6. What features will you prioritize when choosing an automation tool?

When choosing an automation tool, consider the following features:

• Support for Test Environment,
• UI element identification features, testing functionality for various elements, debugging features, and ease of use
• Should permit testing of databases.
• Should accommodate various frameworks

Know More About "Quality Assurance vs Quality Control"

7. How can CAPTCHA testing be automated?

Testing of the CAPTCHA cannot be automated. Any effective CAPTCHA strategy has that as its main objective. Computers can't automate it by definition. If it could, it wouldn't be a good challenge for your application. If you must test a CAPTCHA-using application, you must collaborate with the development team to create a workaround or back door that enables the automated test to get around the CAPTCHA challenge. It's crucial to only use this workaround in the testing environment and not in live systems.

8. CAPTCHA is what?

Completely Automated Public Scientific Process to Tell Computers and Humans Away from the Rest is referred to as CAPTCHA. Challenge-response authentication is a type of security measure that it is. The main purpose of the CAPTCHA is to safeguard you against spam and denial-of-service threats by bots and scripts by requiring you to pass a straightforward test that is challenging for computers to understand. It demonstrates that you are a human rather than a machine.

9. What are the parts of captcha challenge?

A CAPTCHA challenge has two components:

a series of letters or numbers chosen at random. To make it challenging for a computer to parse them, these alphanumeric characters might appear as warped images or concealed behind other insignificant characters.
The user is instructed to duplicate the characters into a text box. The user enters the characters in the text box to complete the test and demonstrate that they are human.

10. What stages of an automation testing life cycle are there?

Automation testing has a life cycle that is similar to the life cycles for software design and software testing. The main stages that an automated test project goes through are listed below.

• Establish the parameters for the automation testing
• Select the appropriate automation frameworks and tools.
• Create a test strategy and test plan.
• Make the test environment ready.
• Creating and running the test cases
• Creating and analyzing test reports

11. How can the standard login process for a web application be automated?

Here are the steps I will indeed take to automate the login functionality, assuming a tester has already set up the test climate and a test tool like Selenium.

• To fully comprehend all the input fields, check box, and knobs on the login screen, manually test the login process. Note the pages that the user is directed to during successful and unsuccessful logins.
• Make a test dataset with the combinations of username and password in it. The inputs have alphabetic character sets and are of varying lengths.
• Create test cases to evaluate different routes a user could perhaps take in the real world. Make a note of the anticipated results for each test case.

12. What test library APIs does the Robot Framework offer?

There are three test library APIs in the Robot Framework.

Static API: A class or module with methods that directly map to keyword names that accept the same assertions as the effective implementation methods is referred to as having a static API.
Dynamic API: At runtime, the names of the keywords to incorporate and their implementation methods are chosen.

Dynamic and static APIs combined into a hybrid API. The methods in libraries' classes specify which keywords to enforce, but those keywords has to be directly accessible.

13. What is robot framework?

A growing number of people are using the open-source robotic process automation framework called Robot Framework (RPA). Robotic process automation attempts to use software to mimic the movements and interactions of people. Robotic automation can (to a certain extent) comprehend what is on the screen, press keys and buttons, navigate to links, and extract data, just like real humans can.

14. Describe Protractor.

You can test your web applications end-to-end using Protractor, an accessible automated testing framework. It is based on WebDriverJS. Google created Protractor, which is used specifically for testing Angular applications.

Frequently Asked QA Automation Interview Questions

1. What is QA automation?

The method of automating the testing of mobile apps and software programmes is known as QA automation (or automated testing). QA automation tools primarily carry out manual, repetitive testing tasks that had previously been done by a human tester.

2. What is the goal of QA automation?

When teams and organizations automate their testing processes, the need for human intervention decreases, resulting in increased speed, reliability, and efficiency. Additionally, because the developers can iterate quickly and receive quick feedback, it helps shorten the development cycle.

3. What are the various types of automation testing?

There are numerous testing methodologies, but not all of them can be automated. Take exploratory testing as an example. These automated testing methods are listed below.
Software developers create unit tests, which isolate one piece of code for testing.

• Integration tests: These examine the interoperability of various software components.
• Regression tests: Confirm that any broken functionality was not caused by the new code.
• Performance evaluations: Verify that the programme will operate normally even under demanding conditions or high load.
• UI tests: Verify the software's consistent user interface and that none of the visible elements on the screen are malfunctioning.

4. When is test automation appropriate?

Under the following circumstances, a test is a strong candidate for automation.

• The test can be repeated.
• The tested feature doesn't frequently alter its behavior.
• It takes a lot of time for a sentient tester.
• There are challenging calculations in the test.
• The test makes sure that after a new change, the previous functionality didn't stop working.

5. When do you plan to stop using automated testing?

Despite the benefits, it is not a great idea to automate all of the testing. In the following situations, a human tester would be much more effective at testing the software than just an automated test suite.

• The programme or feature being tested is constantly changing. It implies that you must frequently update the automated tests to keep them current. Tests are subject to rapid obsolescence and loss of usefulness.
• Exploratory testing is not a good fit for automated testing. A human tester is much more capable of exploring the software than a computer is.
• The automated tests cannot detect any UI issues unless they are configured or programmed to do so. A human tester will be much more effective at finding any UI flaws or design problems.

6. Should you be automating all the testing?

Although there are benefits to test automation, it is impractical to automate all forms of testing. User interface checking, usability testing, and accessibility testing are some types of testing that can only be carried out by a human tester. Another testing method where a human tester adds more significance than an automated test is exploratory testing.

In the testing process, a tester randomly browses through the software, just as an end-user would, in an effort to discover any bugs, UI inconsistencies, or other hidden issues that developers may have missed. Large projects involving complex calculations and repeatable test cases benefit from automated testing. A human tester offers a higher return on investment than automation would for features which change frequently and test cases that are rarely executed.

7. What is browser automation?

The process of programmatically opening a web application in a browser and carrying out various actions automatically, much like a typical user would, is known as "browser automation." You can test quickly and effectively using a browser rather than a human tester. Some of the frequently used tools for in-browser testing include Protractor, Cypress, and Selenium.

8. What are the activities performed by browser automation?

• Make sure the application launches by going to the application's URL.
• Verify that none of the page's various links are broken by testing them.
• Keep track of the page's broken links.
• You should test the load and performance of your web application.
• Launch numerous browser instances with various test users, and make sure that concurrent actions function as expected.

9. What are the prerequisites for a good testing environment?

• A server with a configuration similar to that of a production environment, complete with hardware and software.
• Sample test data that will be used to evaluate the software
• It can be a replica of a real production database that contains test data that is somewhat realistic.
• tested software that was installed.

10. Define cross browser testing

You can't predict in advance which browsers the users will use when using web applications. Therefore, it's essential to test the website or web application on various operating systems and major browsers. In cross-browser testing, a type of automated browser testing, the tester determines whether the web application will function properly on various browsers. The most well-known browsers include Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and others.

Benefits of Automation Testing?

1. Improved Effects

Even though automation testing saves a significant amount of time even when taking into account complex and enormous systems. This makes it possible to perform testing repeatedly, resulting in better and quicker results with noticeably less effort and time spent.

2. A more rapid feedback system

When a software project is in its validation stage, automation testing is absolutely essential. It vastly improves communication between programmers, designers, and sellers of goods and gives room for potential bugs to be fixed right away, which increases the effectiveness of the development team.

3. brand improvement

The calibre of the test data being used is always a factor in how well a test works. Because creating relevant and high-quality test data takes a lot of time, testing is frequently done on copies of live databases. You can repeatedly use your data thanks to automation solutions. From the perspective of project handling and project maintenance, this reduces costs significantly.

4. Cost-effective

Even though the initial investment required for automation testing is on the higher end, the company ultimately saves a significant amount of money thanks to it. The tests now take significantly less time to run, which is the main reason. Additionally, it contributes to a much higher level of work quality because there are no chances of human error.

5. Tests of Efficiency No. 5

One of the most crucial phases of the entire design and development process is testing. The ability to virtually leave automation testing unattended is its most alluring feature. This gives plenty of room for the process's final stages to involve monitoring the outcomes. This enables the application's overall efficiency to be increased.

6. Widening of the Coverage Area

Automation testing allows for the allocation of more tests for any application. As a result, testing coverage is increased and software anomalies are decreased. Additionally, it makes it possible to test more advanced features and applications. However, a large team and a lot of time would be needed to accomplish the same thing in a manual testing scenario.

7. Thorough Testing

Depending on their experience and level of expertise, testers tend to use a variety of testing methodologies and focus on various areas. With the aid of automation, testing is given equal attention in all areas, ensuring the highest quality final product while placing more of an emphasis on each component of the product. Automation testing is renowned for its atom level testing approach, which is why it is thought to be error-free.

8. Reusability 

Because of the nature of its test automation cases, test automation is repetitive in nature. In addition to being simple to configure, it offers software developers a chance to gauge how the programme will respond.

Key Upshots:

Software testing is a crucial process that guarantees quality and gives developers the assurance to release the apps to customers. Software testing that uses tools, scripts, and frameworks to automate tests in order to increase testing efficiency and speed is known as automation testing. This article discussed the value of automation testing in software development.

Additionally, Selenium and other automation testing tools were explained. Automation testing is just one element of a sound software testing strategy, though. To ship a high-quality software product, the good old exploratory and manual testing carried out by a human tester are still essential. The best long-term approach to enhancing the testing procedure is to test frequently, track results, get input, and