From the course: Nail Your Software Tester Interview

Getting experience without experience

From the course: Nail Your Software Tester Interview

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Getting experience without experience

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- If somebody randomly asks you what experience do you have with X? Chances are, you won't be able to think of something even if you use X every single day. Having to answer that kind of question on the fly can be difficult enough even if you have experience in that area. When you're in an interview, if you don't feel like you have experience in that area and a question comes at you about one of them, it might mean you fumble your words or just don't have an answer. However, I believe that in many cases you do have experience in those areas, you just don't know it yet. If I'm preparing for an interview, something I like to do is write down the major skills that the company are looking for. Under each of these headings I try and think of areas of my work and personal life where I've performed this type of skill. For example, I have no formal experience in test automation, but I've automated jobs and tasks before and I've read and researched enough to understand the need for automation. In each area, I try and write at least three things. Sometimes it surprises me to realize that I have this much relevant experience for this job that minutes ago I thought was out of my league and I'd have nothing to talk about in the interview. Next, I write down the desirables. The list of skills that the company would like me to have and I remember one of my golden rules. You never apply for a job that you're already doing. If you're applying for any job, there's always going to be areas and aspects that you've never done before and that's fine. In fact, coming to peace with that means you'll be much more confident in the interview. Sometimes, this exercise can be enlightening because it helps to highlight where I might have experience where I normally assume that I don't.

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