20-Hour QA Interview Prep Syllabus
1. API Testing (Postman + REST Basics)
Goal: Be interview-ready to explain, test, and automate basic REST APIs.
Topics:
- REST Methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE)
- Status Codes (200, 201, 400, 401, 404, 500)
- Headers, Params, Body
- Postman Collections, Environment Variables
- Writing Tests in Postman (pm.response.code, body check)
- Automating with Newman CLI
Deliverable:
- Build and test 3 REST APIs in Postman
- Write basic Postman scripts (status + field validation)
- Run collection via Newman locally
2. Automation Testing Concepts + Frameworks
Goal: Understand architecture, purpose, and design of automation frameworks.
Topics:
- Types of Testing (Regression, Sanity, Smoke)
- Why and when to automate
- Page Object Model (POM)
- TestNG, Selenium, Rest Assured structure
- Writing reusable and maintainable test logic
Deliverable:
- Diagram a basic POM architecture
20-Hour QA Interview Prep Syllabus
- Prepare examples to explain test case design
- Explain how you'd reduce manual testing using automation
3. JMeter (Performance/Load Testing)
Goal: Build and interpret a basic load testing report.
Topics:
- What is load testing?
- JMeter GUI Overview
- Creating a Thread Group
- HTTP Sampler config
- Adding Listeners (Summary Report, View Result Tree)
Deliverable:
- Create test plan with 10 virtual users on dummy API
- Analyze latency and throughput
- Explain a sample performance bottleneck scenario
4. SQL + NoSQL (MongoDB)
Goal: Answer backend-data-related queries confidently.
Topics (SQL):
- Joins, Filtering, Aggregation (GROUP BY, COUNT, etc.)
Topics (MongoDB):
- CRUD (insertOne, find, update, delete)
- Aggregation Pipelines (match, group, project)
20-Hour QA Interview Prep Syllabus
Deliverable:
- Solve 4-5 real-world SQL + Mongo queries
- Join user and transaction tables or match docs in Mongo
5. Linux + Charles/Fiddler + Debugging
Goal: Show system-level comfort for debugging & traffic analysis.
Topics:
- Commands: cd, ls, grep, tail, chmod, ps
- Viewing live logs
- Using Charles to capture API requests
- Modifying headers, checking delays/failures
Deliverable:
- Intercept 2 APIs using Charles Proxy
- Read log file & extract last 10 errors using Linux
6. CI/CD + Git + DevOps Awareness
Goal: Talk about code versioning and how tests integrate into pipelines.
Topics:
- Git: clone, branch, merge, commit, push
- Jenkins Overview (freestyle job, pipeline)
- Jenkinsfile structure (stages, steps, agents)
- How automation fits in CI/CD
Deliverable:
- Write a basic Jenkins pipeline with test + deploy stage
20-Hour QA Interview Prep Syllabus
- Explain how tests break the pipeline on failure
7. C++ + OOP + Writing Test Scenarios in Code
Goal: Prove you're a problem-solver and can translate logic into code.
Topics:
- OOP (Abstraction, Inheritance, Encapsulation, Polymorphism)
- Writing test logic in C++ for input/output-based problems
- STL containers: vector, map, set
- Debugging logic bugs
Deliverable:
- Solve 2 test-case-style problems in C++
- Write a mini-test harness or stub in C++
8. Behavioral + Situational + Project Discussion
Goal: Be natural, confident, and structured while talking about yourself.
Topics:
- STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result)
- Discuss 2-3 projects (automation, debugging, testing)
- How you handled a critical bug
- Collaboration with dev, testers, product
- Adaptability story: How you learned tech quickly
Deliverable:
- Prepare 3 stories: 1 bug, 1 project, 1 challenge
- Practice how you'd pitch your journey into QA with C++ base
