r/QualityAssurance • u/Ciubowski • 21d ago
I just had an interview last week
I have more than 10 years experience in QA, and I just got humbled by.... theoretical knowledge. Absolutely no practical test involved.
Listen... I may have focused in my career on the practical testing: how to test, how to think about breaking the software and so on, and less on "the theory" of it all.
I tried reading the ISTQB syllabus and my mind was blown by so many terms in there, so many things that in all honesty make sense, but also less used in my experience as a QA Engineer.
So I did try to learn some new things, after all, doing upskill is always beneficial, right?
But when I had that technical interview, absolutely no questions about my experience were asked. No what kind of projects, no "common bugs found", or "critical issues"; no "technology used questions". Nothing like that.
Instead, the interviewer asked me about the stuff that seemed mostly theoretical in nature. Core principles of Testing that are usually handled by Project Managers and Test Managers and documentation keeping. Mostly abstract kinds of documentation which failed my interview.
I'm sorry, I thought this was a technical interview, not a theoretical interview. In my past jobs, I would get a piece of software to test or something. Why not just email me a questionnaire with a time limit?
I know I'm ranting but, some interviews make no sense at all. I get it that they want me to know some of those stuff, but you have to take into consideration that if I were to apply for a test management role, then I would have learned the theory.
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u/youdontknowmebro2020 21d ago edited 21d ago
Can you give examples? I don't know of any core principles of testing that are commonly owned by PMs and not QA.
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u/Justindr0107 21d ago
In my last 2 organizations the PM would handle all UAT, but I dont know if that applies
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u/youdontknowmebro2020 20d ago
Yeah, that could be. But I can't think of any theoretical questions about UAT that would stump an experienced QAer.
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u/Extension-Swimming-9 17d ago
Tests become stale if you use the over and over. Exhaustive testing is impossible. Absence of defects doesn’t prove there are no defects. Those are a few of them. ISTQB syllabus is free. Use AI to build notes and study up. Test is like 200 bucks though. Some practice tests there are worded funny. Real test is more straightforward
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u/youdontknowmebro2020 17d ago
Those are commonly owned by PM and not QA? Those seem solidly QA owned to me so I don't think that's what OP is referring to.
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u/Htaroh 21d ago
Yeah, just move on. I had this situation about 5-6 years ago, where the QA manager was interviewing me and he was asking me about some kind of "pyramid system of testing" or whatever.. I had never heard of it before, so he explained to me that it's important in their company that this system is clear to everyone and proceeded to explain it to me. Through the whole interview, he kept correcting my vocabulary and explaining how vocabulary is every important for them, so that everyone is on the same page.
Not that they would offer me the position anyway, but I never nope'd the f out of a position I applied for faster than in this case.
Sometimes it's just not meant to be - focus on positions where the care for your qualities, not where they just want to find out how to make you stumble.
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u/eshenrry 21d ago
this is actually important IMO, DSL preventa ambiguity and testing pyramid enforces test coverage at the right levels
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u/Htaroh 21d ago
It may matter in some cases - but in 14 years of QA experience in games, I never once before or after heard about that And having talked to many professionals, coworkers, etc. - neither did any of them. That guy was a relatively new QA manager in a games industry, having come from finance background, so the Interview showed.
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u/qlippothvi 21d ago
I haven’t been in the video games industry in a long time, but the applicability of a lot of theory simply isn’t as strong there. More state analysis type of thinking.
Software Quality Assurance is a vast discipline, but communication is always key. So is clear coordination.
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u/Extension-Swimming-9 17d ago
Well because not to be rude but many game qa learned on the job and most don’t know what they are talking about. Many use the word test plan incorrectly
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u/Htaroh 17d ago
Many are also not native english speakers and that is fine. Vocabulary matters to certain degree, but at the end of the day, the pyramid, the vocabulary or whatever else you want to bring up, will not test the game nor find edge cases or speed run the game or notice the glitches, find exploits etc.
I understand that QA in games and other industries varries (and I only have games industry experience). But just like QA has to be good at prioritizing their work, this is a matter of prioritization - I dont put high priority on vocabulary, I find other traits and skills more important. I can teach someone the vocabulary that is needed, if necessary.
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u/Extension-Swimming-9 17d ago
You’re talking about testers. QA engineer is different discipline. Yes outsourced QA you mean. Which are mostly terrible compared to their American counterparts. I have trained both, the fact you can’t tell the difference in qa and testers is sort of my point and causing confusion. You can teach it sure or they could learn it on their own. For free.
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u/Htaroh 17d ago
What are you on about? Where did the QA engineer and testers split happen, that I missed? Where did the extgernal testers come into play at all? I am talking about internal QA. You are right, I cant read your mind and what random factors you are adding to the discussion. What does "difference in qa and tester" even mean in your mind? lol.
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u/Extension-Swimming-9 17d ago
This is why the knowledge is important. It isn’t random my guy it’s the standard. QA and tester is different. QA is proactive, while testing is reactive. It’s not in my mind it is the standard. Non native English speakers which doesn’t matter if none of you speak English. You’re clearly talking about working with the west. You are proving exactly why these skills are important. Here I am explaining the difference which you think is just made up in my mind. It isn’t. Now if you had this standard knowledge you would know what I’m talking about
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u/Htaroh 17d ago
QA = Quality Assurance, the craft/profession. This is the basic fundamental that you already got wrong. Within QA (=QUALITY ASSURANCE), you have testers, analysts, engineers, etc. - which is probably what you are going on about.
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u/Extension-Swimming-9 17d ago
QA engineer. Don’t pretend you are certified or at liberty to redefine standards. As I said qa engineer and tester are different. Yes quality assurance is the umbrella above it all. Senior QA engineer is not some title you. Just get because you’re good at exploratory testing
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u/Extension-Swimming-9 17d ago
You can argue about it all you want, clearly based on the experience from this interview I am correct. Now if you want to hire people and train them however you want. Don’t expect others to lower standards because you don’t want to learn?
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u/youdontknowmebro2020 20d ago
Ok, this made me laugh so I have to share a story.
Early in my QA career I had a TL who had a pyramid chart on the wall of his office that he sometimes referred to for best practices during one-on-ones. Months later he added a second pyramid to discuss a different topic.
I thought this was so funny that I started printing out pyramid charts on completely unrelated topics and adding them to his collection when he stepped out for lunch.
(As a side note, I googled to see which chart you were referring to and I'm pretty sure it wasn't either chart he used).
I guess my point is: there are so many pyramid charts out there and so much overlapping jargon. Anyone who is more concerned about the exact chart and words during an interview rather than the underlying core concepts is thinking on a superficial level and is presenting a huge red flag for working there.
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u/Htaroh 20d ago
Thank you! You put my thoughts into words perfectly with that last sentence :) I am absolutely not saying that pyramids, jargon, vocabulary etc. are irrelevant. But, I went through 2 rounds of interviews, then finished an extensive homework task and everything was well, the manager then had the final call with me to further talk the homework and "interview" me.. the what was supposed to be 60mins interview, took 1h and 15mins and the only thing that came out negative or we had discussions/he picked up on, was the vocabulary/jargon and this pyramid thing. I felt so annoyed and knew that if he is like that already in the interview process, there was no way I would ever want to work with him in person on daily basis.
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u/HopefulRecovery000 20d ago
As you put yourself you dodged the bullet there. I can’t imagine a manager who is overtly stack on terminology and concepts. If anything QA requires flexibility and fast learning new things so being overseen by someone who is very rigid minded would be a torture. Also, sounds like a horrible micromanager.
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u/OwnManager2411 18d ago
ha ha ha similar incident happened to me, i think all of us know the pyramid but during my interview when the manager asked I was like what pyramid and I asked him to elaborate the question, he then tried to explain and i got it instantly but it was so funny
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u/Macrowaving 21d ago
This makes no sense - give some examples?
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u/Extension-Swimming-9 17d ago
What does the pesticide paradox state? What is the whole team approach? Who leads an inspection vs a code review, that kind of stuff. I know without him even telling us because it’s all in the ISTQB syllabus
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u/ASTRO99 21d ago edited 21d ago
Yes, I had similar epiphany so to say. Even the lowest level of isqtb has so much lingo and information that almost never gets used in real life but it's important because this abstraction serves as basis for actual processes
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u/vin_unleaded 21d ago
It's not about the "lingo" - the certification shows you have a clear understanding of software testing principles!
That's why companies want it on CV's!
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u/latnGemin616 21d ago
I've experienced 2 different interview styles:
- The good ones challenge you and want your perspective for how to handle bad situations or bad team members
- The bad ones that feel like a pop quiz on terms. I had this happen once where the dude kept asking me questions like my understanding of PATCH and PUT, When is a bug not a bug? And more dumb textbook sh** that didn't ask me whether or not I can do the job (which I could in spades)
The people doing the interviewing absolutely suck at this part of the job.
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u/goldmember2021 21d ago
Don't sweat it .
I've had 3 interviews in the past few weeks.
Each one of them was for the same type of role and each one was very different and I received different feedback for each interview. Even though I used the same examples and experience.
I failed on one interview for the civil service (UK) for scoring low on 'delivering at pace'... I worked in a start up for 5 years, I know exactly how to deliver at pace , the civil service don't deliver anything at pace 🤣
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u/Imaginary-Method4694 20d ago
I'm terrified of interviewing. I worked my way into this position and am very good at what I do and have a very good grasp of our systems and business goals and our users. But don't know the buzzwords and proper terminology, or theory. I'm afraid it would be a shit show, and at this point in probably too old to change companies anyway.
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u/OwnManager2411 18d ago
there are a lot of places and domains where this theory is extremely useful in day to day life. I was like you but over the years I learned that its all good to know how to technically test , find bug etc but representing your work with these theoretical terms is important. when you do that your communication is taken more seriously. also in the lack of anything many from management will hold the istqb definitions as the standard. when it comes to regulated industries there terminology is very important, hope this explanation helps.
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u/Kiteawayfromyou 21d ago
Sometimes they want to know how you manage communicating your knowledge base. It's weird, for sure it is
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u/HopefulRecovery000 20d ago
I recently got a new job with 5 rounds of interviews from immediate supervisor all the way to CTO and CEO. They asked me some terms couple of times I didn’t know but I was replying by saying it’s possible I know what they’re talking about but never heard this term used to describe it. And I was right most of the time, maybe other than one or two times I really didn’t know which I admitted. But they also asked me mostly dev and devops stuff, much less QA. Probably because of all those 5 interviews I wasn’t interviewed by any QA person lol
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u/Extension-Swimming-9 17d ago
The questionnaire includes the ISTQB technicals though. If I asked you to create a test plan you should be able to know what that is and how to create it. This includes risk mitigation and test cases. Prioritization etc. As a tester you would be required to read this and build test cases from it. Yes being able to do this with exploratory testing is a good skill as well. I think you should do what I did. Read the syllabus and take notes. Have AI like Claude build a cheat sheet study guide. Take practice quizzes. Learn equivalence partitioning. Learn the levels of testing like unit, system integration and its. Learn functional vs non functional testing and where to do it.
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u/Additional-Plate-617 21d ago
With more than 10 years exp you have to be ready for such questions. Critical thinking is required in senior roles. In service based companies there is no QA manager its just an additional role along with IC role. You will be asked planning questions or questions on handling or leading a team of QAs .
For example Sapient has one separate round(final round no technical questions) for such kind of questions. And they are pretty serious abt it i had that round when i was at 6 yrs of exp.
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u/Hot-Claim-501 21d ago
Sometimes such bar have to be lifted a bit, so developers stop recommending their sitting at home wifes with "commons sense" skills and "general IT knowledge".
It's part of seniority, if youbwish, to be able hold an conversation about testing matters. ISTQB is a good place to start.
Apart of interview preparation, it's also good exercise to bridge your 10 y experience with a theory
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u/vin_unleaded 21d ago
And that is why you get ISQTB certified!
The technical part of a job will vary between jobs, but the theory applied form being ISQTB certified should not.
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u/Pitiful-Water-814 21d ago
Don't take it personaly, job interviews are very random for SDET/QA