Tanash Ramuk is a 23 yr old Software Test Engineer. Having completed his degree in computer engineering a couple of years back, he joined a start-up and was recently laid off. 2 Days back, he got a call from “Ele Info Systems”, a huge off-shoring software services company known for providing testing services and which could also boast of becoming a 1 billion $ company from a 1 $ company.

He’s promised to write to us regularly about his adventures with “Ele Info Systems” and here’s what he wrote to us this week. On how they recruited him.

Chapter 1 – The Recruitment

When Tanash arrived at the walk-in event, he found himself face-to-face with 1 of those pretty looking member of the HR dept. She was given the job of screening resumes. Observing her from a distance, Tanash understood that she was given the job of rejecting applicants, who did not have — an engineering degree, less than 60% marks in their degree, people who could not talk proper English. He also understood that they were hiring for testing positions.

Tanash slipped in his resume to her and was happy on being shortlisted for the test. He was asked to sit in a room with another 1000 grads. Looking at the other people who were writing the test, this is what he saw — some of them were attending the test to try and get the job, some of the were there to practice for their CAT exams, some of them looked like wanting to work for pocket money, some of them were there to fund their MBA exams and classes. His eyes were unable to spot a person for whom testing was a passion, in the crowd of 1000 people.

“Silence” — boomed the mike. Another guy well dressed with a tie took the mike and announced that they were going to hand out question papers.

Tanash’s 1st test lasted 50 mins, 25 questions. He had to solve aptitude problems.

Tanash’s 2nd test lasted another 50 mins and another 25 questions. The questions reminded him of an English test from his school. All questions were objective type questions.

3 hours later, Tanash’s joy grew. He was selected for the interviews scheduled for the afternoon.

Round 1

His 1st interviewer introduced himself as a senior Test Lead having 4.78 yrs of experience. Top 3 questions from the interview were:-

1)On Software definitions – what is grey box testing? What is the difference between grey box and white box testing? What is the difference between smoke testing and sanity testing? What is break-in testing? What is the difference between component integration testing and system integration testing?

2)What is the Requirement Traceability matrix?

3)Tell me about the Defect Life Cycle and the project life cycle

Round 2

The 2nd interview was conducted by the manager. The manager initially talked for 10 minutes about himself and the next 5 mins about how challenging it was to work for this company. Some words he used were “cutting edge technology”, “out of the box thinking”, “high-skilled leadership”, “Browser Wars”, etc. Tanash was wondering if he was being interviewed for some battle. Top 4 questions from the managerial round:-

The italics are Tanash’s thoughts on the reply. And the bold ones is the gist of what he said.

1)Why do you want to join us? (Obviously coz am out of a job) I have always wanted to join a company which has become a market leader.

2)What do you expect from us? (US, Onsite and lotsa pretty babes)….. A challenging career, working on the latest software and brightest minds, yada yada yada!!!

3)Where do you see yourself in 5 years from now? (@ Whoever pays me what I ask for!!!)… I’d see myself having experience on the latest technologies, leading a team and mentoring other new joiners.

4)What can you do for us which the others cannot? (How would I know? I don’t know who else applied)… Be more industrious, offer more due to my self-learning abilities, my better writing abilities… etc.

Round 3 – HR

And the HR round… they were only interested in his pay. He felt like he was bargaining to a vegetable vendor across the street. He felt like a “resource” while talking to them and not like a “human”?!!! Top 2 questions from the HR interview…

1)What’s your ideal job? (Money, Money and more money!!!). — Working in a fun environment, with the ability to contribute towards the team goals. The atmosphere should be competitive, and should reward quality!!!

2)Why do you think you previous manager is a good manager? (What makes you think he’s one? All managers are Jerks and should be fed to the sharks!!!) — Coz he’s a thought leader and he has been able to effectively mentor and guide me, without passing on any kind of pressure down to me.

2 more hours later, they promised that the offer letter would arrive in a week’s time!!!

Only Tanash knew how he came through the tests and interview – He was able to Google the questions and answers the previous day.

Tanash’s adventures would continue. He’s promised to write to us about his adventures!!! Can you identify what you think are “fake practices” in the above story?

***All characters and organizations mentioned are imaginary, and any resemblance to real persons or organization is entirely accidental. – Testing Circus Editorial Team***

Fake Software TesterA Fake Tester's DiaryFake Tester,Fake Tester's DiaryTanash Ramuk is a 23 yr old Software Test Engineer. Having completed his degree in computer engineering a couple of years back, he joined a start-up and was recently laid off. 2 Days back, he got a call from “Ele Info Systems”, a huge off-shoring software services company known...