Interview questions Manual testing

Description

Manual tests play a pivotal role in software development and come in handy whenever you have a case where you cannot use automation. Hence, there is still a lot of demand for people with skills relevant to manual testing. This Manual Testing Interview Questions article is the perfect guide for you to master software testing. Maybe you already know this and are applying for a job in the field. If you want that job, you’re going to have to make a good impression at the interview and one of the best ways to do this is to demonstrate knowledge of the field itself.

1. What is Software Testing?

According to ANSI/IEEE 1059 standard – A process of analyzing a software item to detect the differences between existing and required conditions (i.e., defects) and to evaluate the features of the software item

2. What is quality control, and how does it differ from quality assurance?

Quality control is the process of running a program to determine if it has any defects, as well as making sure that the software meets all of the requirements put forth by the stakeholders. Quality assurance is a process-oriented approach that focuses on making sure that the methods, techniques, and processes used to create quality deliverable are applied correctly.

3. What are the best practices for writing test cases?

• Write test cases with end-users perspective
• Write test steps in a simple way that anyone can follow them easily
• Make the test cases reusable
• Set the priority
• Provide a test case description, test data, expected result, precondition, post condition.
• Write invalid test cases along with valid test cases
• Follow proper naming conventions
• Review the test cases regularly and update them if necessary.

4. What kind of skills are needed for someone to become a software tester?

Software testers need skills such as:
• Problem-solving skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Detail-oriented
• Able to handle the pressure
• Can work solo or as a team member equally well

5. What is white box testing and its various techniques?

Unlike black – box testing, white box involves analyzing the system’s internal architecture and/or its implementation, in addition to its source code quality. It’s techniques are:
• Statement Coverage
• Decision Coverage

6. What’s a test bed?

It’s not furniture. A tested is an environment used for testing an application, including the hardware as well as any software needed to run the program to be tested.

7. What is Sanity testing?

Sanity testing is testing done at the release level to test the main functionalities. It’s also considered an aspect of regression testing.

8. What is configuration management?

Configuration management (CM) is a process of systems engineering to maintain system resources, computer systems, servers, software, and product’s performance in a consistent state. It helps to record all the changes made in the system and ensures that the system performs as expected even though changes are made over time.

9. Name some popular configuration management tools?

Some of the popular configuration management tools are Sensible, Chef, Puppet, Terra form, Salt stack, etc.

10. What if the software is so buggy it can’t really be tested at all?

If the software is so buggy, the first thing we need to do is to report the bugs and categories them based on Severity. If the bugs are critical bugs then it severely affects schedules and indicates deeper problems in the software development process. So you need to let the manager know about the bugs with proper documentation as evidence.

11. What is random testing?

When tester performs testing of application by using random input from the input domain of the system, this is Random Testing.

12. Random testing involve following procedures?

• Selection of input domain.
• Randomly selecting any input from input domain.
• Using these test input testing of application is performed.
• The results are compared to the system specification. The test is a failure if any input leads to incorrect results, otherwise it is a success.

13. Explain Compatibility testing with an example?

Compatibility testing is to evaluate the application compatibility with the computing environment like Operating System, Database, Browser compatibility, backwards compatibility, computing capacity of the Hardware Platform and compatibility of the Peripherals. Example, If Compatibility testing is done on a Game application, before installing a game on a computer, its compatibility is checked with the computer specification that whether it is compatible with the computer having that much of specification or not.

14. What should be done after a bug is found?

After finding the bug the first step is bug to be locked in bug report. Then this bug needs to be communicated and assigned to developers that can fix it. After the bug is fixes by the developer, fixes should be re-tested, and determinations made regarding requirements for regression testing to check that fixes didn’t create problems elsewhere.

15. What’s the difference between a bug and a defect?

A bug is a just fault in the software that’s detected during testing time. A defect is a variance between expected results and actual results, detected by the developer after the product goes live.

16. What is Rapid Application Development model (RAD)?

The RAD model Rapid Application development (RAD) is incremental software development process models that focus on the development of the project in very short time. It is enhanced version of Waterfall model. It is proposed when requirements and solutions can be made independently system or software components, which is developed by different teams. After these smaller system components are developed, they are integrated to produce the large software system solution.

17. What is the test harness?

A test harness is the gathering of software and test information arranged to test a program unit by running it under changing conditions like stress, load, data-driven, and monitoring its behavior and outputs. Test Harness contains two main parts:
• A Test Execution Engine
• Test script repository

18. What is compatibility testing?

Compatibility testing is a type of testing used to find out the compatibility between the application and platform on which application works, web browsers, hardware, operating systems etc. Good software must be compatible with different hardware, web browser and database.

19. What is the term ‘quality’ mean when testing?

In general, quality software is reasonably bug-free, delivered on time and within budget, meets requirements and/or expectations and is maintainable. But again ‘quality’ is a subjective term. It will depend on who the ‘customer’ is and their overall influence in the scheme of things.

20. What are some best practices that you should follow when writing test cases?

Few guidelines that you need to follow while writing test cases are:
• Prioritize which test cases to write based on the project timelines and the risk factors of your application.
• Remember the 80/20 rule. To achieve the best coverage, 20% of your tests should cover 80% of your application.
• Don’t try to test cases in one attempt instead improvise them as you progress.
• List down your test cases and classify them based on business scenarios and functionality.
• Make sure test cases are modular and test case steps are as granular as possible.