Question 1

Prompt: You start a new job on Monday. Walk me through your first two weeks. What a strong answer should cover:

• Week 1: Technical reconnaissance (architecture, codebase, test infrastructure, CI/CD pipeline)
• Week 1: Social reconnaissance (key stakeholders, decision makers, quality culture)
• Week 2: Deeper exploration (flaky test culture, unwritten rules, risk areas)
• Week 2: Begin drafting the 30-day assessment document Example answer:
• "Day 1-2: I get access to repositories, clone the main codebases, and use an AI assistant to generate an architecture summary. I identify the tech stack, the test frameworks, and the CI/CD configuration. I also ask my manager for an architecture diagram -- or note that one does not exist."
• "Day 3-5: I map the application from the user's perspective: major flows, API surface, error handling patterns. I read the CI pipeline configuration to understand what is actually tested versus what the team says is tested. I attend every meeting I am invited to and mostly listen."
• "Week 2: I deep-dive into the test suite: coverage gaps, flaky test rate, skipped tests, test organization. I identify the key stakeholders and their relationship with quality. I start drafting my 30-day assessment."
• "By day 14, I have a mental model of the full system -- technical and social -- and a draft document that will become my recommended priorities for the first quarter."

Question 2

Prompt: How do you use AI tools to accelerate your understanding of a new codebase? What a strong answer should cover:

• Repository summary (architecture, services, communication patterns)
• Test infrastructure audit (frameworks, coverage, broken or skipped tests)
• API surface mapping (endpoints, methods, dependencies)
• Risk identification (complex code, thin coverage, recent bug concentrations)
• AI as accelerant, not replacement for human understanding Example answer:
• "I use a structured five-step approach. Step 1: Feed the repository to an AI and ask for an architecture summary -- main services, their responsibilities, how they communicate. Step 2: Audit the test directory -- frameworks used, test organization, ratio of unit to integration to E2E tests, any disabled or broken tests."
• "Step 3: Map the API surface -- all endpoints organized by domain with methods and descriptions. Step 4: Analyze external dependencies -- third-party APIs, databases, message queues. Step 5: Identify risk areas -- complex code, thin test coverage, concentrated bug fixes."
• "This gives me a map in hours rather than weeks. But I always validate the AI's output by exploring the actual code, because AI can miss nuances like deprecated endpoints or dead code that is still tested."

Question 3

Prompt: Describe what your 30-day system assessment document looks like and how you use it. What a strong answer should cover:

• Six sections: system overview, current test coverage, CI/CD integration, quality culture, risk map, recommended priorities
• Specific and actionable, not generic
• Serves three purposes: forces synthesis, demonstrates initiative, becomes a work plan
• Shared with manager and used to align on first-quarter goals Example answer:
• "The document has six sections. System overview: a one-page architecture summary. Current test coverage: what types of tests exist, what frameworks are used, where the gaps are. CI/CD integration: what is gating versus informational, pipeline runtime, flaky rate."
• "Quality culture assessment: is testing a shared responsibility or a QA silo? How does the team handle flaky tests? How are bugs triaged? Risk map: highest-risk areas based on bug history, code complexity, and business impact. Recommended priorities: specific, actionable items for my first quarter."
• "A good priority is not 'improve test coverage.' It is 'Add API-level integration tests for the payment processing flow, which has zero automated coverage and produced three production incidents last quarter.'"
• "I share the document with my manager and use it to align on first-quarter goals. It demonstrates that I spent my first month strategically, and it gives my manager concrete evidence of my assessment skills."

LEVEL 1 -- TEST EXECUTOR

This is where most automation courses stop.