Re: Tests for a Contract TWing Opp.

[Andreia Wilson <awilson42 -at- earthlink -dot- net>]

My own test story:

I've been through this before with various jobs (software quality assurance; web) but especially in some of the more junior positions.

After I finished my graphics certificate, the school sent me on an interview at a company which gave me a test of my HTML skills. That was fine, nothing strange there. They were looking for an HTML coder, and wanted to see if I knew HTML. 

More of my work experience is in SQA though, and in SQA, it's common to be interviewed by a team, and presented with test scenarios and questions, although being given an actual test (let alone a timed test) has been rare in my experience. Sometimes they will ask you questions which test your problem-solving ability, or creative thinking ability.

Success as an SQA engineer involves flexibility, and writing good, solid documentation. You have to write as if you're writing for a kindergartner. Worse, you have to write as if you're writing for a computer programmer, which is even worse. I've seen kindergartners with better communication skills.

Some SQA jobs will ask a demonstration of your documentation writing. SQA isn't just about bug-catching. Children are better at bug-catching than adults are. The difference is, however, is that adults document better.

While on an SQA interview, you may be presented with a fictitious scenario - such as, finding a bug in software - and asked how you would document that problem. You will be expected to give a step-by-step description of how you found the bug, and how you will document it. 

Or you may be asked to demonstrate your skills in creating a test plan. You may even submit a written bug write-up, because companies are going to be looking for someone with good, solid communication skills.

OK, this is normal stuff. They're determining if you can do the job.

The one that blew me away - was when I walked in for an interview at a company in Fremont, and was left alone in a cubicle with a test on paper. The test had absolutely nothing to do with the job or qualifications for the job.

The test had a series of abstract, nonsensical questions that reminded me of some IQ tests. And I do badly on those kind of tests, and generally tend to panic.

I sat there in a cold sweat for about half an hour, then got up and left. 

Later on, I talked to another person I knew who worked at that company. He said that the whole point of the test was to see if somebody could sit through the test and do it. None of the questions had "right or wrong" answers; they were testing creative thinking.

Nonetheless, this situation offended, demoralized and annoyed me; I'm pretty cut-and-dried, and if a person isn't going to tell me specifically what they want from me, we probably aren't going to get along very well.

Dreia



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