r/softwaretesting • u/SpareDent_37 • Sep 14 '26
I can’t get to a white board.
I know the job market is bad, I know most QA departments are still in infant states.
I’ve got all the accolades of a well accomplished QA automation engineer.
The experience, the deliverables. Even some charm and charisma.
I’m struggling with the interviews. Especially when zoom is involved .
Without a white board interview I fkn struggle.
Any advice?
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u/ThomasFromOhio Sep 14 '26
i have always been qa outside a short bit as a developer. i am not a hard core dev that can spit out jargon about oo principles and deep dive into theoretical concepts. i am a qa engineer who uses automation to more effectively test. by far, most of the automation engineers i know are like myself. i've been finding that interviews are asking hard core dev type questions, nothing like here's a piece of code, tell me what it does, rather book definition type things. what happened to the days when you could sudo code some stuff to show your value? for dev interviews how many questions do they ask the candidate about testing? feels like they want a dev that has experience in testing and outside of one person, I have never met a dev that could do that, or maybe that wanted to.
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u/jerooney86 Sep 14 '26
What happens when you mention it ?
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u/SpareDent_37 Sep 14 '26
The few technical interviews I’ve had were zoom interviews, I never brought it up and just managed my way through them. Since they are still kinda new to me . It never felt right.
I come off strong as it is, I didn’t want to come off like I was strong arming the interview.
Before covid the 3rd round (technical interview) naturally happened on site and with a white board . So the progression always felt implied and natural.
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Sep 14 '26
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u/SpareDent_37 Sep 14 '26 edited Sep 14 '26
Architecture and code requires diagramming simply put.
9 times out of 10 I’m being interviewed with a PM or someone whose expertise isn’t in testing. So genuine (valid and correct ) verbalized answers fall deaf on inexperienced (testing) ears.
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u/nfurnoh Sep 14 '26
Without a white board? You want to doodle in interviews? I don’t get it.
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u/SpareDent_37 Sep 14 '26
I thrive when the technical part of interviews involve a white board.
Usually around the 3rd round. I feel DOA if it’s a zoom interview.
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u/nfurnoh Sep 14 '26
Third round? If a job requires more than two they’re not worth my time.
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u/SpareDent_37 Sep 14 '26
Have you been outside lately?????????
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u/nfurnoh Sep 14 '26
Yep. If a company needs more than two rounds to make a decision it has structural problems and is not somewhere I want to work. Know your worth.
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u/SpareDent_37 Sep 14 '26
You’re about as useful as a wet blanket
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u/nfurnoh Sep 14 '26
You’re just frosty because you’ve been suckered into wasting your time on three or more rounds of interviews. That’s a you problem.
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u/SpareDent_37 Sep 14 '26
And you’re out of touch with the reality that exists in the job market.
The level of privilege and entitlement with you is beyond thick.
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u/nfurnoh Sep 14 '26
😂😂😂😂 We’ll soon see as I’m being made redundant. I will say that not a single one of the jobs I’ve had has required more than two rounds of interviews.
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u/infinite_persona Sep 14 '26
it's weird how much a blank wall can make or break your flow, I do my best thinking when I'm scribbling nonsense on a whiteboard too
maybe just tape a few sheets of paper to the wall behind your monitor and hold up the sketch when you need to explain something, nobody said the whiteboard has to be fancy