1.6Interview framing

"I treat Postman as my API reconnaissance tool. Before I write a single line of automated code, I import the OpenAPI spec, set up environment variables for each deployment target, and manually walk through every critical workflow -- login, CRUD, error paths. I chain requests using environment variables so I can validate multi-step flows like token refresh cycles. Once I understand the API's behavior and edge cases, I export the collection for Newman CI runs while transitioning the long-term suite to code-based automation. The trade-off is clear: Postman gives you speed of exploration, but code gives you maintainability at scale."