Tester tested in interview(s) !

Hi Reader,

"I appreciate you for the respect you show to other's time" was one of the compliments from an acquaintance I received and keeping this in mind I am sharing some of my interesting interview experiences as a tester !

I was lucky to have attended 60+ interviews in this short span of 3 years in this industry... you would be amazed if I give you the list of companies that has interviewed me !

Here are a few interesting experiences -

Microsoft

"Pradeep , How would you test a pencil" Mr Satyan from Microsoft asked me on a face to face session..
"Could you give me a couple of minutes to think ?" my usual way to take time to answer any question ( tricky or simple )

After 5 minutes or so I shooted out some interesting test cases...

"Hmm ! all these are fine but could you tell me one case where only you could have thought but not other testers"Satyan ( an attempt to test the tester ) !
That was tough but I told the most foolish answer yet it made huge sense in context of testing[marketing].

"Sir , I would eat a few pencils" of course I did reply.
Satyan " what ? and why ?"

I cooked up "Sir, Pencils are targetted to children and they have the habit of chewing the back , by myself eating a few pencils would later ensure , it is not toxic and if it happens to have a good aroma and taste well then no wonder the pencil sales would increase as children would more often have it as a breakfast item or apetizer before their lunch session"

"Impressive" ( I expected it and with no hesitation , thankfully that was the reply)
I have actually been reading and inculcating a lot of marketing and sales technique which helped me to give such an answer.

While the interview was on a fire alarm started making sounds as if it was programmed to... and I watched above and nearby to see whether it was really a fire alarm " No , its false , dont worry" Satyan removed my anxiety to leave the place by telling so.

"Sir , looks like it hasnt been tested properly?" my brain send this information to my mouth and mouth responded to it.
"Pradeep, it can be a case where they are testing it" Satyan countered.
"Sir , Then we both are the giuena pigs :-D"...

Satyan laughed for a few minutes before he gave his verdict "You are good at testing , I would like to have you in , it may take time , do you mind waiting"
"Please take your own time Sir" actually this is not what my brain told me but the bloody mouth is unwise sometimes.

Hmmm ! am still waiting for the Redmond call , I hate taking up interviews and telephonic calls at odd times cos I am bored at it.

___ end of microsoft interview experience ___

The list of companies that have interviewed me are Cisco , McAfee , Aztec , Emuzed , SCT , Huawei , Celstream , Impulsesoft , Cisc , Sling media , nVidia , Qualcomm , Mindtree , WebtekLabs , Wipro , Infosys , efi , Socrates , L&T Infotech , Motorola , Zazu , Harita Infoserve , Mistral , Sasken ... ( wait i am searching my gmail for the companies that have interviewed me ) ... Tavant , Cassina ... hmm more ...more .... ( each company averaging 2-3 rounds )

To be frank and surprize you ... in all the above and beyond companies .... i wasnt disqualified in tech interviews ..... that is something i hate about HR ...

I would tell i learnt most of the theory of testing in the interviews and i would recommend young testers to attend interviews for the sake of improvement , it shows what are your voids and gives an opportunity to fill those voids.

I have never hesitated to ask what are the answers for the ones which i did not know and also have made a good homework too...

Edison says "A genius is a person who has done his/her homework well"... i hear this daily cos he talks to me ! ( just an illusion , could not be fasle too )

Best Wishes

Pradeep Soundararajan
pradeep.srajan@gmail.com

Note : If there happens to be a typo or spelling mistake you notice , ignore ...i too have seen it :-D