Ever wondered how some people seem to effortlessly manage a demanding tech career while continuously landing interviews with top companies? Kajal, an automation tester with four years of experience, has cracked the code. Recently, she told us about how she manages her job and landed interview calls from some of the biggest names in the industry. Companies like JP Morgan, Tata AIG, Russell Investments, Taurus Financial, a startup from Reliance Group, and even Booking.com have shown interest in her. But what’s her secret? Let’s dive into the conversation and uncover the strategies that set her apart in the competitive field.
Customizing Her Resume: The Key to Getting Noticed
One of the first things Kajal emphasizes is the importance of tailoring her resume according to the job she is applying for. For example, if a job requires knowledge of Playwright—a newer tool in automation, Kajal makes sure to include it in her resume. This shows potential employers that she’s not only up-to-date with the latest technologies but also that she has the skills they’re looking for.
Handling Tough Interview Questions: Honesty is the Best Policy
When it comes to interview questions, Kajal believes in being straightforward. If she doesn’t know the answer to any interview questions, she doesn’t try to fake it. Instead, she simply says she isn’t aware of the tools or technologies or explains whatever she knows about the topic. This truthfulness not only keeps the conversation genuine but also shows that she’s credible, aware of her limits, and willing to learn.
Cracking the Coding Round: Building Logic and Practicing Most Commonly Asked Questions
Kajal’s approach to the coding round has evolved over time. Initially, she tried to memorize the codes but soon realized that it was only temporary and superficial knowledge. Instead, she started building her logic and problem-solving skills. In the beginning, it took her about an hour to solve a single problem, but with time and practice, she improved. A key part of her preparation involved peer study—solving problems with a friend, which helped her gain different solutions, perspectives, and methods.
Some of the most repetitive coding questions she faced were finding the second maximum number from an array, and database-related queries like finding the second maximum salary of an employee. According to her experience, companies like Tata AIG and Russell Investments often ask these types of questions. She also told us that in Data Structures and Algorithms, the recruiter asks basic college questions like finding the second highest number, string repetitions, and implementing logic for prime numbers.
Mastering Automation Testing: Scenario-Driven Questions, Exceptions in Framework and Scaling Up
When we asked Kajal about the scenario-driven questions she’s encountered, she shared some interesting experiences from her interviews. For example, recruiters would ask her to test a login page, expecting her to cover everything from accessibility testing to security, UI, API, database, and browser testing. Even without hands-on experience in all these tests, Kajal made it a point to understand how to perform them. She learned which tools to use for the tests and even implemented a proof of concept (POC) on a small website.
She also mentioned that recruiters often ask about the types of exceptions she has witnessed in her framework. According to her, stale element exceptions, element not found, and timeouts are some of the exceptions she has encountered. Kajal also told us that companies may even ask OOPs-related questions like what is inheritance, abstraction, encapsulation, write syntax, and how you implement it.
Kajal is a firm believer in continuous learning. Whenever interviewers ask her questions like how do you scale up yourself, she tells everything she does to stay updated. She tells recruiters she joined our course where she learned DevOps activities. Even with just three to four months of hands-on experience in Playwright, she mentions it on her resume to show that she’s not limited to just Selenium.
For those wondering how to prepare for interviews during a 90-day notice period, Kajal suggests studying from question banks and being transparent about your notice period. Only resign from your current job if you have an offer letter in hand.
A Day in the Life of an Automation Tester: Kajal’s Role at Morningstar
Whenever recruiters ask Kajal about her Day-to-Day tasks, she replies with a very impressive answer. She tells the interviewer what her assigned tasks were and what was the release process. She then explains how she received requirements from the product team and, based on those, wrote manual test cases. Kajal ensured both the developer and product teams reviewed these test cases before moving forward.
According to the code and client requirements, the URL was supposed to change after the form submission and you cannot fill the form twice. While the link worked fine initially, it didn’t update if someone bookmarked it. As a result, if the page was accessed through a bookmark, the form would reopen, even though it had already been submitted.
How to Answer About the Framework You Have Created?
When someone asks about the framework she created, Kajal explains that she created a hybrid framework that combines keyword and data-driven approaches. She has also used the Test NG framework, and she structured it with three main folders. One folder for locators (named “Pages”), one for steps (where she wrote click operations and browser utility), and one for the main test. For reporting, she used Allure Reports or Extent Reports, and data was sometimes passed through Excel or JSON files for Playwright. Configuration files store essential details like usernames, passwords, and URLs.
Staying Sane in a Fast-Paced Tech World
Kajal’s advice: With the rapid pace of new tools and technologies, Kajal advises not to stress about knowing everything. Instead, focus on understanding how things work on a basic level and only dive deep into the technologies that are relevant to your current projects. This approach not only keeps you sane but also ensures you’re continuously learning without feeling overwhelmed.
Kajal has proved that your skills, knowledge, and experiences make you extraordinary. Her story is not just inspiring but also full of practical advice for anyone looking to excel in their tech career.
