This post is to help candidates get a clear picture of what to expect in their final set of interviews with Qxf2.
The interview process
The final set of interviews takes between 3 and 4 hours. Depending on the candidate’s preference, we conduct the interview onsite or via Skype. There will be three rounds.
Round 1: A senior Qxf2 employee will talk to you and get to know your background. She/He will also give you a real application to test and look at how you break down testing at various levels. This stage is evaluating your communication skills and how you approach testing problems.
Round 2: We will sit you down with a computer and give you 45 minutes to grok a topic you do not know beforehand. At the end of 45 minutes, one of us will pose some problems in that domain and you need to answer them within 30 minutes. This stage is to see how quickly you grasp new topics and if you can apply what you read. We do this because when working with our target market of startups, ‘getting started’ quickly is an essential skill.
Round 3: This is a 1:1 with me (Arun, the founder). I will be probing for ‘culture-fit’. You should use this opportunity to clarify whatever you want about Qxf2. I am partial to candidates who ask me relevant and meaningful questions. I am also self-aware enough to know that Qxf2 is not a good fit for everyone. So don’t hold back if you have reservations.
Some ground rules
Everyone at Qxf2 is expected to follow some ground rules when interviewing candidates. Here are few ground rules that you may not be used to:
a) Expect questions with context We want to know what kind of tester you are. So expect questions with plenty of context to them. Think “what process will you adopt to test ‘X’ if the team is 2 developers short” and NOT “what is the best testing process to adopt”. You should be able to answer these questions just based on your experience. I’m looking to see how carefully you have thought about the factors that influence our testing approach.
b) We limit questions to what is on your resume If you say that you are not familiar with some piece of technology, we won’t grill you about it.
c) No memory based questions We won’t ask you purely memory-based questions like definitions. If someone at Qxf2 asks you about them – let me know.
d) You can use Google through the interview All through the interview you can access Google, because, every competent professional that I know, uses Google as part of work.
What we do poorly
The above ground rules make us look like Qxf2 is a nice and fair place to work. But we continue to make mistakes. Here is a couple of places we struggle:
a) I am lousy at follow-up emails. I forget to send out follow-up emails on time. This is one of the biggest drawbacks of not having a full-time HR professional with us.
b) We have been tardy with the start of our interviews in the past. We tend to have Skype and Internet problems when starting off. I have not had any luck fixing this issue. I’ve come to accept that this is one of the drawbacks of having a remote interview.
So I have a request to the candidates: please be patient through this process. We may not start well, but we do know how to evaluate testers fairly. And most candidates end up really liking our interview process at the end of the 3.5 hours.
Questions? Post them as a comment below or reach out to me at [email protected].
I want to find out what conditions produce remarkable software. A few years ago, I chose to work as the first professional tester at a startup. I successfully won credibility for testers and established a world-class team. I have lead the testing for early versions of multiple products. Today, I run Qxf2 Services. Qxf2 provides software testing services for startups. If you are interested in what Qxf2 offers or simply want to talk about testing, you can contact me at: [email protected]. I like testing, math, chess and dogs.
