A quality assurance specialist is tasked with inspecting, monitoring, and coming up with extraordinary measures to improve the quality of a product or process. Therefore, they play essential roles in quality assurance teams. If you have been eyeing a quality assurance specialist job for some time, this is the best article for you.
We will look at some of the questions you should anticipate in your upcoming interview to increase your chances of landing the job. Remember to work on your grooming and representation since the first impression means a lot for interviewers.
1. Why Are You Interested In This Role?
I have worked in several quality assurance teams before, which has given me the needed experience for this role. I am confident in my ability to succeed if given a chance. I have also always wanted to work for this company, given its reputation and performance over the years, and I couldn’t miss an opportunity when I saw a job listing. I am optimistic that I will blend in well with the existing team and work extra hard to succeed if given a chance.
2. What Are The Roles Of A Quality Assurance Specialist?
A quality assurance specialist, popularly known as a QA specialist, plays several critical roles required for quality production. They ensure that all the production processes undergo quality and compliance monitoring. These professionals are charged with conducting quality assurance audits and proposing suitable measures to correct or improve a final product. They also ensure that corrective measures are undertaken when a fault is identified in a product.
3. What Are The Qualities That A Quality Assurance Specialist Needs To Be Successful?
A quality assurance specialist requires several qualities and attributes given the roles they plan in the organization. Most of the outstanding skills include analytical skills, interpersonal skills given that they have to work with a team, attention to detail since they shouldn’t miss out on anything important; critical thinking to come ho with effective corrective measures; excellent written communication to pass information across different offices or teams and proper organizational skills.
4. What Major Challenges Did You Face During Your Last Role? How Did You Manage Them?
I only faced one major challenge in my last workplace since most of the processes and systems worked smoothly. I took over from the previous chief quality assurance specialist and soon discovered that most team members weren’t getting along with each other. He hadn’t also considered whether they had the right personality fit, and therefore, lots of the team activities stalled. I had to reshuffle the team and convince the top management that we needed additional people, which wasn’t easy. However, I put my negotiation and convincing skills to use, which saw me come up with a good team.
5. Describe Your Daily Routine As A Quality Assurance Specialist?
I have discovered that this role revolves around the same daily activities, regardless of the workplace or industry. Once I report to the workplace, my work revolves around monitoring, inspecting, and coming up with measures for correcting or enhancing final products or processes. I also ensure that all the products meet the established quality standards by the end.
6. Describe Briefly About Your Experience
This is my second year in quality assurance, and therefore, I cannot confidently say that I am extensively experienced in this field. However, I have worked in two reputable firms in these two years, which have taught me many things about quality assurance. I have also learned how to work well in team settings and even had a chance to step in for senior quality assurance technicians. I know how to ensure quality, monitor products, and processes, and inspect if they are of the right quality. I am sure that my experience will come in handy in this workplace.
7. What Kind Of Strategies And Mindset Is Required For This Role?
The best strategy for any quality assurance technician is to maintain a keen eye for detail, given the importance of monitoring and inspection in this field. They should be quick and ready to point out any flaws and call for correctio measures at any point of production. I usually ensure that I am thorough in my work, going through processes and stages repeatedly to look for areas that need improvement. To answer the second question, I believe in having a productive mindset when working in quality assurance. The more productive one is, the higher the chances of succeeding in this job.
8. What Is The Biggest Challenge That You Foresee In This Job?
I have been a quality assurance technician for five years, working in several fields and industries. Most of the challenges I have faced, such as poorly constituted teams, are pretty common and cut across different institutions. I can’t pinpoint a specific challenge in this work since everything looks okay from the outside. I may need to report to work first to point out something specific. However, I believe that I have all it takes to solve all the challenges I will face in this workplace, whether big or small. I am also ready to ask for help where necessary.
9. How Do You Stay Motivated In Your Work?
Staying motivated is essential, especially for quality assurance. It ensures that one maintains a keen eye for detail, which is greatly needed to tell whether a product or process needs improvement or correction. To stay motivated, I usually remind myself that my team needs me and the importance of the roles I play in the entire manufacturing process. I also have career goals, which I must achieve in the end. Therefore, I must keep being at my best.
10. Describe A Time When You Failed In This Role And The Lesson You Learned?
You are guaranteed both good and bad experiences when working as a quality assurance technician. The only positive part is that both the good and bad experiences help one grow and get better at the job. I once performed an audit and, with the quality control team, recommended corrective measures on a product but forgot to follow up. The improvement team, consisting of new members, did a shoddy job, which we only realized at the last stages of production. We had to repeat the whole process and ended up spending more time than we had anticipated.
11. Why Do You Feel You Are The Most Suited For This Role?
I am an experienced quality assurance technician, having been in this field for seven years. I have dealt with different products and worked in a range of industries which convinces me that I have everything required to succeed in this job. I am also passionate about quality, given real-life perfectionism. I usually maintain a keen eye for detail, ensuring that nothing passes me. Lastly, I am a self-motivated and hard-working individual who can push herself to deliver impressive/outstanding results.
12. Share With Us Your Greatest Achievement.
I have many achievements in both my professional and personal life that I am always proud of. I once worked for a company on the verge of collapse due to low quality or sub-standard products. I was hired to help salvage the situation and, therefore, had to work extra hard in my quality assurance technician job. I started by reviewing all the processes that went into production and all the tools and software used by the company. I also motivated other quality assurance team members to be at their best and made several recommendations to the company to help them come up with great products. My efforts paid off, and by the end of the year, the company had turned around to a profit-making entity.
13. What Is Your Greatest Strength?
My greatest strength, which has also helped me reach this far in my career, is my attentiveness. I am generally attentive to details, through and keen enough, allowing me to realize even the smallest of details. This attribute is greatly needed in a quality assurance job since it is all about reviewing and monitoring a product or process to ensure higher quality.
14. We Expect You To Track Your Testing Process. Can You Mention Some Of The Charts You Normally Use?
I take the testing princess seriously and, therefore, always ensure that I use the right tools. I used the burndown chart with quality assurance teams to record the testing process for several years until I discovered other charts with lesser limitations, such as burnup, which allows quality assurance teams to perform independent time testing and track scope. It has become my favorite chart.
15. Can You Explain What Testing, Quality Assurance, And Quality Control Mean?
Both testing, quality control, and quality assurance are needed to come up with goods of the proper standard, which explains why quality control, quality assurance, and testing teams collaborate during the manufacturing processes. However, it is worth noting that quality assurance is all about planning and monitoring testing processes. In contrast, quality control mainly focuses on finding defects and recommending how they can be fixed. Lastly, testing is about determining whether a process or software can meet given needs. Most companies use a cross-functional scrum approach that allows the classification of roles and sharing of responsibilities.
16. Differentiate Functional From Non-Functional Testing
Functional testing is a type of black-box testing that usually describes what a system does. It generally tests a software’s functionality blindly without knowing its internal workings. A tester is not required to be good in programming or even know software implementation. On the other hand, non-functional testing is more detailed as it assesses whether a system is adequately prepared. It, therefore, delves into the Non-functional attributes of a given software application, such as its functionality, productivity, and compatibility.
17. How Would You Handle A Testing Issue?
I have dealt with several testing issues before and, therefore, understand how to go about such an occurrence. I normally rerun the test to confirm whether it was correctly implemented or not. However, if everything is okay and the issue persists, I restart the product and the general test environment to ensure that everything is okay on the testing side. I don’t also mind talking to my supervisor or manager if I can’t seem to handle the issue. I understand the importance of asking for help where necessary.
18. Can You Tell Us The Difference Between Verification And Validation
Verification and validation are two important terms when it comes to quality assurance. Verification refers to the assurance process generally done when the software is still under development. At the same time, validation is an evaluation process at the end of the development stage. Both are important and should always be conducted by a quality assurance specialist. I plan to use verification for continuous testing if I land this job and validation after development to ensure that the software or product operates optimally.
19. You Will Mostly Be Required To Use Test Documents When Performing A Test. Tell Us What You Normally Include In Them
I have used testing documents before in the different entities I have worked for. However, it is worth noting that every job has had different entries given their different nature. All in all, I usually ensure that any information required by management is included. You will mostly find me, including inspection reports, user manuals, test plans and cases, bug reports, and different requirements.
20. Can You Write Test Cases Without Documents?
Yes. This usually happens when we don’t have any documents and differ from project to project. I usually know how to navigate such issues, given my experience in this field. I usually check the past tests or conduct proper research to understand the feature under implementation. I don’t also hesitate to reach out to anyone in the development team to understand the changes better. At times, I also work together with developers, which generally makes work easier.
21. How Does Load Testing Differ From Volume And Stress Testing?
I have conducted several types of software testing, even though these three are usually the most common. In load testing, the software is tested under a heavier load in an expected range like the name suggests, while for stress testing, a much heavier load exceeding the expected range is used. Lastly, volume testing differs from the last two since it is more of a system that uncovers whether a given software can respond to critical needs or not. It is also pretty standard.
22. Do You Have Any Experience Resolving Software Production Issues?
Yes. I have resolved several production issues in my career, an essential asset for any quality assurance technician. I usually perform continuous testing during the production process to uncover any flaws or areas of concern before the final product and a final test after development. Whenever there is an issue, I involve the entire team to help develop the right solutions. I may also involve my supervisor or manager and if we can’t still get the hang of it, seek the services of the developer.
23. What Is Your Greatest Weakness?
I believe that I am a workaholic. Whenever I am tasked with delegating work, I take the most significant portion, which generally leaves me working more than any other person in the group. I, therefore, struggle to maintain a perfect work-life balance which is necessary, especially for such a heavy job. At times I have to take work home or go over time due to the workload I usually have. However, I am glad that I have been improving lately by ensuring that all team members have the correct quantity of work.
24. Can You Mention The Differences Between Severity And Priority On Testing
Priority in testing is often a parameter that determines the order of fixing a particular defect. Like the real meaning of the world, any defect with a higher priority should be fixed first. On the other hand, severity tells the magnitude of a defect’s impact on software. It, therefore, sheds more light on the impact and implication of the defect on how the software functions. Severity stands for how severe a defect is, while priority denotes how fast these defects should be fixed.
25. Differentiate Between Build And Release
Software development can be pretty complicated, given the different terms and development stages. To answer this question, the build is the software version that a development team submits for testing purposes, while the release is the final product given to the customer. The build, therefore, comes before the release. It is accurate to say that the build is more of a draft while the release is the final product.
Conclusion
These 25 questions sum up some of the most common interview questions you can expect in a quality assurance specialist interview. Make sure that you are conversant with the technical aspect of your job to increase your chances of landing the job. Take some time to go through the questions once more.
