7.7Hands-On Exercise

1. Find and read the last 50 lines of an application log file on your system
2. Use jq to parse a JSON log file and extract only error-level entries
3. Create a .env file with test configuration and load it into your shell
4. Write a script that checks if all required environment variables are set before running tests
5. Use watch to monitor an endpoint's health every 5 seconds
6. Practice the full debug workflow above on a real or simulated test failure

Interview Talking Point: "I use the command line daily for QA work -- curl for quick API validation, jq for parsing JSON responses, grep for digging through application logs to find root causes, and Bash scripts to automate repetitive tasks like smoke-testing multiple environments. I am comfortable with Docker for spinning up isolated test environments with Compose files, reading container logs to debug infrastructure issues, and managing environment variables for test configuration across dev, staging, and production. When a test fails in CI, my first step is usually checking container logs and application logs rather than waiting for someone else to investigate. I also write scripts for test data cleanup, service readiness checks, and environment health monitoring to keep our test infrastructure reliable."