9.10Key Takeaways

• Always start scripts with set -euo pipefail to catch errors
• Use environment variables to parameterize across environments
• Health check loops prevent tests from running against unready services
• Capture test exit codes before running cleanup
• Use trap cleanup EXIT to guarantee cleanup runs
• Bash is the glue between tools — learn enough to orchestrate your test infrastructure

Interview Talking Point: "I write test automation in Python and TypeScript. I use OOP for framework structure — page objects with composition over inheritance — and functional patterns like map/filter for data transformation. I am comfortable with async/await, regex for log parsing, and Bash scripting for CI pipeline tasks. Programming is not a secondary skill for me; it is how I build reliable, maintainable test infrastructure."