In the modern era, software development and testing approaches are constantly growing to meet the demands of modern consumers and businesses. Automation testing, in particular, has emerged at the forefront of software quality assurance, allowing businesses to accelerate their release cycles, enhance product quality, and enhance customer satisfaction. As per the MarketsAndMarkets report, the automation testing market size worldwide is projected to hit US$ 52.7 billion by the year 2027, at a CAGR of 16.4% (forecast period 2022-2027).
To keep up with the pace of the changing QA and software testing arena, you ought to be familiar with the modern test automation trends. With the adoption of new technologies and methodologies, automation testing interviews are becoming increasingly vital for organizations seeking skilled professionals to enhance their testing processes. Common Automation testing interview questions revolve around emerging trends influencing testing and strategies for ensuring successful automation initiatives.
The Evolution of Automatio
n Testing
The advancement of automation testing can be traced back to the early days of software design and development when manual testing was the model. As software systems grew in intricacy and scale, the necessity for automated testing became apparent to ensure more reliable and faster releases. The first-generation automation trends emerged in the shape of record-and-playback tools, allowing QA engineers or testers to record their actions and replay them to automate repetitive jobs. As software development practices changed and progressed towards agile methodologies and CI/CD (continuous integration/continuous deployment) pipelines, traditional test automation strategies struggled to keep pace with the quick changes in software applications. To address these intricacies and challenges, the automation testing landscape underwent a noteworthy transformation, driven by progress in technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).
Latest trends and technologies shaping automation testing
Here are some of the latest trends and technologies shaping automation testing interview questions:
- Shift-Left Testing: Interviewers might inquire about your understanding of shift-left testing principles. Be prepared to discuss how you incorporate testing into the initial stages of development to detect and address defects sooner. The shift-left testing movement is about pushing testing toward the early phases of the SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle). There are multiple advantages of shift-left testing – lower costs in development and testing, early identification of errors, and timely communication between the development & testing teams.
- Testing For Low-Code/No-Code Apps: According to the Gartner report, by the year 2025, 70 percent of new apps developed by companies will use no-code or low-code technologies, up from less than 25 percent in 2020. The rise of low-code app platforms (LCAPs) is driving the growth of citizen development, particularly the function of business technologists who report outside of IT departments and generate technology or analytics competencies for external or internal business use. Because of this, testing requirements will grow exponentially as the acceptance of low-code/ no-code application development spikes across companies. Demand will surge for optimized, automated testing solutions tailored for low-code platforms.
- QAOps to be adopted at a broader scale: QAOps is a new flavor of DevOps. The software quality assurance and operations team function together in close collaboration to bring a quality software product. Continuous integration, continuous testing, and continuous delivery form the basis of the QAOps approach. QAOps’ incorporation of QA into the pipeline for delivering software enhances the speed and quality of testing. QAOps fast-tracks and smooths out the software development cycle as it sticks to the DevOps method. The business will have extra time to function on extra functionalities because of shorter development lifecycles. Customers will have a great experience with QAOps as it relies on continuous tests. In 2024, we expect more software product businesses to utilize QAOps to streamline their QA procedure and reap the advantages of DevOps in quality assurance or software testing areas.
- Distributed Cloud for Cross Browser Testing: Selenium automated test approach on the local Selenium Grid is not scalable. This inadequacy has prompted several enterprises to shift their automated browser test activities to cloud-centric platforms. With the rise in the number of devices, browsers, and OS released every single year, cross-browser testing on the cloud seems a viable option. With a rising customer base globally, there could be intermittent delays in the test implementation if the testing is being implemented on a cloud hosted in a distant location.
LambdaTest continuous quality cloud test platform has been leveraging the advantages of distributed cloud to enable users to run web automation tests efficiently and efficiently. Usage of the distributed cloud for automated browser tests is one of the automation tests trends in 2024 that will be on the radar of cloud-based technology and QA automation test enthusiasts.
- Performance Testing of IoT-Based Applications: The use of IoT-based devices is growing considerably. As per the survey, the IoT (Internet of Things) inter-connected devices internationally are projected to hit 30.9 billion units by the year 2025, a significant increase from the 13.8 billion units projected in 2021. As a result, the return from the global IoT market is set to rise considerably in the coming years. Since the job of IoT devices is to streamline per daily tasks of a user, if you are developing an IoT application, you should take special care of performance testing. Thus, going by the latest trends in automation testing, we can notice a boom in the usage of tools like MATLAB, IoTIFY, Simulink, and other simulators. These tools aid developers by simulating real-time prototypes and examining how optimized the apps are to manage the load of multiple devices and commands.
- Mobile Automation Testing: With the growing number of mobile applications of different resolutions and OS behavior increasing regularly, businesses are focusing more on mobile app testing. According to a report, the mobile app testing market will generate an income of USD 8.23 billion by the year 2025.
Seeing the latest automated testing trends, frameworks such as Selendroid, Appium, and Robotium will be more prevalent. Moreover, the demand for testers with experience in these tools will also increase. Check how LambdaTest can assist you with mobile test automation. You can subscribe to LambdaTest YouTube Channel and get updates with thorough tutorials around Cypress testing, Selenium automation testing, and more.
- Exploratory Testing to become routine: With an increased emphasis on software automation test execution across several organizations. Exploratory tests will become a routine for each Quality Assurance on board a project. As test automation will help to take care of the recurring jobs, QA automation testers will be projected to find unique test cases around their web app in their added bandwidth. Test automation will assist them to emphasize exploratory tests more so they can come up with crucial test scenarios unnoticed by the scripted tests. Because of faster go-to-market and the growing significance of Agile and DevOps in the testing departments, exploratory testing will become inevitable.
- AI and Machine Learning in Testing: AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) are revolutionizing the field of QA testing by introducing automation, predictive analytics, and smart decision-making capabilities. This trend is reshaping how testing is conducted, making it more scalable, effective, and accurate. AI and Machine Learning in test automation encompass various techniques and applications, including test case generation, flaws prediction, test cycle acceleration, and enhancement of software product quality.
Automation Testing Interview Questions
Here are some common automation testing interview questions:
- What is Automation Testing and why is it important in software development?
Automation testing is the technique of using software tools and scripts to implement pre-defined test cases on a software app, comparing the actual outcomes with the expected outcomes, and creating reports on the failure or success of those tests. It aims to automate arduous and repetitive manual testing tasks, thus reducing human error, increasing efficiency, and accelerating the software development lifecycle. Automation testing is crucial in software development to enhance efficiency, reliability, consistency, and cost-effectiveness, allowing QA teams to deliver superior-quality software products more effectively.
- When will you automate a test?
Automation is preferred in the following cases
- Repetitive Tasks
- Smoke and Sanity Tests
- Regression Testing
- Test with several data sets.
- What are the steps involved in the Test Automation Process?
In the automation procedure, the steps involved are
- Selecting the Testing tool
- Define the automation scope
- Planning, design, and development
- Test implementation
- Maintenance
- What scripting languages are commonly used in automation testing, and what are their advantages?
Common scripting languages used in automated testing include Java, Python, JavaScript, and Ruby. Every single language has its benefits, such as Python’s readability and simplicity, Java’s robustness and platform independence, JavaScript’s compatibility with web apps, and Ruby’s flexibility and expressiveness. These languages proffer extensive tools, frameworks, and libraries precisely designed for test automation, letting QA testers efficiently develop and manage automated test scripts.
- What is browser automation?
The procedure of mechanically opening a web application in a browser and executing more operations automatically is called “browser automation.”
- What are the points covered while planning the phase of automation?
During the planning stage of automation, things that should be taken into concern are:
- Choose the “correct” Automation tool
- Selection Automation Framework, if any.
- List of out-of-scope and in-scope items for automation.
- Test Environment Setup.
- Preparing Gantt Chart of Project timelines for test script development & implementation.
- Detect Test Deliverables.
- What is a Modular Testing framework?
Modular Test Framework is built on the idea of abstraction. In this kind of test framework, the tester generates scripts for all the app modules under testing and then these scripts are combined in a hierarchical order to generate test cases.
- How do you select the appropriate test automation framework for a project?
Selecting the perfect test automation framework for a project depends on numerous factors, including the team’s expertise, testing objectives, kind of application, and budget constraints. In addition, consider factors such as licensing model, learning curve, and available documentation and training resources to confirm the successful adoption and employment of the chosen framework.
- What are the different components of Selenium?
Selenium is a popular framework and a collection of tools that works in conjunction to give several forms of automation testing. Selenium Grid, Selenium WebDriver, and Selenium IDE are its key parts.
- Is Automation testing white box testing or black box testing?
Automation testing is primarily black box testing.
- What are some conditions where we cannot consider automation testing?
- User interface testing
- When you have ever-changing requirements
- Exhaustive documentation
- Ad-hoc testing
- One-time test cases
- Exploratory testing
- What types of frameworks are used in software automation testing?
Four types of frameworks used are
- Data-driven automation framework
- Modular automation framework
- Keyword-driven automation framework
- Hybrid automation framework
- What are the Prerequisites of Automation Testing?
A few significant pre-requisites of Automation Testing are:
- A stable build
- Test cases for automated Testing
- Functionalities to be tested
- Is it possible to achieve 100% automation?
No, it isn’t possible to automate everything. Accomplishing 100% automation is hard as there are a few scenarios where a registration page has a captcha or some test cases we do not implement often. Besides, automating these test cases wouldn’t add value to the automation or bring a positive Return of Investment.
- How can you measure the success of automation testing?
The following standards can map the success of test automation:
- Defect Detection Ratio
- Automation execution time & time savings to launch the product
- Reduction in Labour & other costs
In conclusion, staying abreast of the latest trends and technologies in automation testing is crucial for acing interviews and advancing your profession in quality assurance. By familiarizing yourself with these core areas and demonstrating your proficiency in test automation tools and methodologies, you can stand out as a crucial asset to any organization striving for excellence in QA, software quality, and delivery.