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I would really appreciate some feedback.

Over the past year, I've learned:

  • Protractor
  • Seleninium webdriver
  • Appium
  • Postman
  • Rest api
  • Java
  • JS

My CV is great.

In the 1st round of interviews, I can get through no problem.

Second round...that's my stumbling block. I seem to have an issue articulating exactly how much I know. So I seem as 'I'm not technical enough' even though I can actually build frameworks from scratch.

I would really appreciate some help, tips, and guidance on how to handle the 2nd of interviews for automation testing roles.

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  • What do you mean by "issue articulating exactly how much I know"?
    – dzieciou
    Commented Oct 18, 2018 at 16:10
  • 1
    I get nervous flustered and forget things. But if you ask me about it a normal conversation I can talk about it with no problems.
    – fypnlp
    Commented Oct 18, 2018 at 18:33

7 Answers 7

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6

I think you need to practice.

No matter how good someone's GitHub account looks, or what they say they've done, listed on their resume, etc, interviewers are going to want to see some practical experience. Yes, not everyone is good with whiteboard exercises or coding in front of others, but it's pretty standard in most tech interviews.

If you're referring to parts outside of the technical interview, spend some time figuring out how to tell the stories of the various accomplishments on your CV/resume. Practice and figure out how you can explain and highlight the important bits and pieces.

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6

The best way to articulate how much you know is to have some proof of your knowledge. If you can write frameworks, then upload some of your frameworks to GitHub or BitBucket. Using that way you can demonstrate not even the entire completed framework but some basic demo-code of how you solve such or another typical test automation problem.

Another good way to demonstrate your knowledge is helping other people on the resources like SO, or our community so that you have some visible track of your knowledge dynamics.

You can also contribute to open-source tools or even develop and promote your own one. This will show that you understand the problems that test automation engineers face and you know how to solve them or at least make their professional life easier.

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  • Alexey. That's a great idea. I already have a git account I will create a repository with examples of my work
    – fypnlp
    Commented Oct 18, 2018 at 18:32
5

In addition to the other answers, one good way to practice the articulation of ideas is to join communities and discuss different points of view.

Online, Ministry of Testing is a great place to start. They have a rich discussion board and a Disqus (I always get it wrong spelled). Your favorite frameworks and technologies should have something similar.

Blogging is easier as ever, with Jekyll and GitHub Pages. Try to post both technical/tutorial things and more open-ended topics. It will be painful at first, but with time you get more speed in writing. (Don't worry about CSS and analytics for at least a year of serious blogging).

Locally, Meetup.com can indicate small events locally - many free. You can start just watching talks and asking questions and talking on snacks time. Afterward, using online discussions to build some talks.

People can good at explaining what they know mainly for expressing this knowledge over and over again, not by acquiring more and more information and skills*.

  • This expands the range of things you can get good at explaining, not on the explaining itself.
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  • 1
    That's awesome and something I would NEVER have thought of. thank you
    – fypnlp
    Commented Oct 19, 2018 at 8:31
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When i have given this answer to candidates in the past its because i feel they aren't demonstrating enough programming experience.

Quite a lot of test automation is done with tools that don't really need programming skills but are more about assembling work flows using a gui. Such as appium and postman in particular.

Try to talk about programming concepts and ensure you use the terms correctly. Mention objects, classes, methods, inheritance and how you have used them.

When you talk about using these tools talk about how you extended them , how you have helped others understand them and include specific details of the tools.

There is a balance here as well , don't use terms as buzzwords , demonstrate how you understand them. Ask the interviewer questions about how they use certain technologies and ask how they get round common pitfalls, this gives a good idea of what you can immediately do for them.

Show that you are interested in this stuff and not just treading water , talk about meetups you go to, talk about how you learned to code , how you invest in yourself, what you want to work on and how you like to work.

I always push myself to interview the interviewer a bit, for a testing role i always look for this confidence, you need to show inquisitiveness and not leave it to the interviewer to assume you have it. Show you can ask a useful question and demonstrate you can learn from it.

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  • and as others have said , get practise. keep explaining this stuff to people and it will get easier for you in an interview situation. If you have the time arrange a few interviews for roles you don't particularly want that is good way to get practice and try out some ideas. Your nerves will settle with more iterations.
    – Amias
    Commented Oct 19, 2018 at 10:55
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In addition to some nice feedback you already got: think of and prepare (before you go to the interview) a few interesting problems you have solved and which you can share. That way you might be more confident in telling about it and don't need to have to improvise.

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  • Thank you. I'm already doing that. I use the S.T.A.R interviewing technique. Still may need more stories, so that's a great point
    – fypnlp
    Commented Oct 19, 2018 at 13:31
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I would suggest thoroughly preparing with mock interviews.

Have someone like a friend or family member as an interviewer to practice with. Make it as tough(even bit more) as a real interview.

And practice.... practice.... and more practice.

IMHO, there is no substitute for practice.

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  • That's a great idea. I will have to speak a few of my contacts
    – fypnlp
    Commented Oct 19, 2018 at 13:32
-1

Sorry for replying very late on the thread but in current scenarios along with QA tools companies looks for candidate which are having a good understanding of data structure and algorithm.

I have given many interviews in companies and most of the time they asked DS questions and problem-solving questions.

You should practice some questions from geksforgeeks.org or from https://leetcode.com/

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