The company asked me to complete a "two-hour max" technical assessment. The assessment contained approximately 19 questions. It also required coding three command line applications (yes, three) from scratch and analysis of a large script. Keep in mind the job title is "Automation Test Engineer." However, the candidate has to write the production code that solves the problem before they can move on to demonstrate how to automate its testing. The coding problems include searching for Windows updates on a PC (Uh, what if I'm coding on a Linux box?), filtering a JSON structure, and then a graph search on the filtered JSON output. Each had to be a complete solution, executable from the command line. Two hours? Yeah, right. Spoiler alert: if an automation engineer can write a graph search, they'd probably be applying for developer roles. I found errors in the automation questions and the support material but fixed them before focusing on the JSON filter problem. I spent three days creating an over-engineered solution that demonstrated I could write loosely-coupled, debt-free production code. I wrote 55 unit tests that provided 100% mutation coverage. I threw in a Cucumber test suite based on the provided Gherkin feature file (which I had to fix) and set the project up on a SonarQube server. I wrapped everything up in a bow by automating the entire build/test process. I emailed the company with this information. An architect replied, "Can you solve the graph search problem? We want to see how you think." Seriously??? I excused myself from consideration for the position and gave them professional feedback on their poorly conceived assessment. This company, and the architect, in particular, doesn't understand what a Test Automation Engineer does. The assessment should focus on how the candidate can reduce the risk of production defects through test automation. Instead, it's simply a recycled developer assessment where only the solution matters. *** They never even thanked me for my time. *** I think NinjaOne is the most unprofessional company I've ever encountered in a job search.
