Top 15 Automation Testing Interview Questions & Answers (2021)

Thomas HamiltonByThomas Hamilton Hours Updated


Following are frequently asked questions in interviews for freshers as well experienced QA professionals.

1) What is Automation testing?

Automation Testing is a technique using an automation tool to write and execute tester’s test scripts and cases.

The main goal of Automation Testing is to reduce the number of test cases to be run manually and not eliminate Manual Testing altogether.

2) When will you automate a test?

Automation in preferred in following cases

  • Repetitive Tasks
  • Smoke and Sanity Tests
  • Test with multiple data set
  • Regression test cases

Usually, the decision is based on the ROI (Return on Investment)

3) When will you not automate testing?


One should not automate in following cases

  • When the Application Under Test changes frequently
  • One time test cases
  • Adhoc – Random testing

4) What are the steps involved in the Automation Process?

In the automation process, steps involved are

  • Selecting the Test tool
  • Define scope of automation
  • Planning, design, and development
  • Test execution
  • Maintenance

5) What are the points that are covered while planning phase of automation?

During planning phase of automation things which must be taken in concern are

  • Selection the “right” Automation tool
  • Selection Automation Framework if any
  • List of In scope and out of scope items for automation
  • Test Environment Setup
  • Preparing Grant Chart of Project timelines for test script development & execution.
  • Identify Test Deliverables

6) In what condition we cannot use automation testing for the Agile method?

Automation testing is not useful for agile methods in following conditions

  • When Agile testing always ask for changes in requirements
  • When Exhaustive level of documentation is required in Agile
  • Only suitable for those regression tests during agile testing like continuous integration

7) What are the primary features of good automation tool?

  • Test Environment support and easy to use
  • Good debugging facility
  • Robust object identification
  • Object and Image testing abilities
  • Object identification
  • Testing of database
  • Support multiple frameworks


8) What are the types of the framework used in software automation testing?

In software automation testing four types of framework used are

  • Data-driven automation framework
  • Keyword driven automation framework
  • Modular automation framework
  • Hybrid automation framework

9) What is the scripting standard while performing automation testing?

While writing the scripts for automation, you must consider following things,

  • Uniform naming convention.
  • 3 Lines of comments for every 10 lines of code
  • Adequate indentation.
  • Robust error handling and recovery scenario
  • Use of Frameworks wherever possible

10) What are the most popular tools for automation testing?

The most popular test tool for automation testing are

  • QTP (HP UFT)
  • Rational Robot
  • Selenium

11) On what basis you can map the success of automation testing?

By following criteria, the success of automation testing can be mapped

  • Defect Detection Ratio
  • Automation execution time and time savings to release the product
  • Reduction in Labour & other costs

12) Can list out some disadvantages of manual testing?

  • Manual Software Testing requires more time and more resources.
  • Inaccuracy
  • Executing same test case repeatedly is error prone and boring.
  • It is impractical to do manual testing on very large projects and time bounded projects.

13) Tell me what you know about Selenium

Selenium is a free (open source) Test automation library. It is used to automate Web and Mobile environments. It consists of

  1. Selenium IDE (Browser Addon – Record and Playback Tool)
  2. Selenium WebDriver
  3. Selenium Grid (Distributed Testing)

Selenium supports scripting in languages like Java, C#, Python, Ruby, PHP, Perl, Javascript.

14) Tell me about QTP

QTP (Quick Test Professional) is now known as HP UFT. It is a commercial automation tool and supports a very wide range of test environments Web, Desktop, SAP, Delphi, Net, ActiveX, Flex, Java, Oracle, Mobile, PeopleSoft, PowerBuilder, Siebel, Stingray, Visual Basic amongst others.

The scripting language is VBScript. The tool gels well with HP ALM (Test Management Tool) and HP LoadRunner (Performance Testing Tool).

Salient features of QTP include Business Process Testing, keyword driven framework, XML support, robust checkpoints, test results.


15) Explain what Sikuli is?

Sikuli is a tool that uses “Visual Image Match” method to automate graphical user interface. All the web elements in Sikuli should be taken as an image and stored inside the project.

Sikuli is comprised of

  • Sikuli Script
  • Visual Scripting API for Jython
  • Sikuli IDE

Practical uses of Sikuli is that

  • It can be used to automate flash websites or objects
  • It can automate window based application and anything you see on screen without using internal API support
  • It provides simple API
  • It can be easily linked with tools like Selenium
  • Desktop application can be automated
  • Sikuli offers extensive support to automate flash objects
  • To automate desktop, it uses powerful “Visual Match” and Flash objects
  • It can work on any technology-.NET, Java,

16) Mention what is the difference between Selenium and Sikuli?

Sikuli Selenium
  • It provides extensive support to automate flash objects
  • It has simple API
  • It uses a visual match to find elements on the screen. So, we can automate anything we see on the screen
  • It can automate the web as well as windows application
  • It cannot automate flash objects like video player, audio player,
  • It has got complicated API
  • It does not have visual match
  • It can automate only web applications

Free PDF Download: Automation Testing Interview Questions & Answers

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