Cucumber interviews for QA and test automation roles focus on behaviour-driven development (BDD) and writing maintainable automated tests. Here are common questions with concise answers.
BDD and Gherkin
What is Cucumber?
Cucumber is a tool that runs automated tests written in plain-language specifications. It supports behaviour-driven development, where business, development and QA agree on behaviour using examples.
What is Gherkin?
Gherkin is the structured language used in Cucumber feature files. Its main keywords are Feature, Scenario, Given (context), When (action) and Then (expected outcome), plus And and But for extra steps.
What is a feature file?
A feature file describes one feature with one or more scenarios in Gherkin. It acts as both documentation and an automated test.
Writing Tests
What are step definitions?
Step definitions are code (in Java, JavaScript, Ruby and other languages) that connect each Gherkin step to automation, usually using expressions to capture parameters from the step text.
Scenario vs Scenario Outline?
A Scenario runs once. A Scenario Outline runs the same steps several times with different data from an Examples table, which avoids duplicating scenarios.
What is Background?
Background holds steps that run before every scenario in a feature file, such as logging in. Keep it short so scenarios stay readable.
What are hooks?
Hooks run code before or after scenarios or steps, for example starting a browser, setting up test data or taking a screenshot on failure.
How are tags used?
Tags such as @smoke or @regression label features and scenarios so you can run subsets of tests and apply hooks selectively.
What are data tables?
Data tables pass structured data to a single step, for example a list of items to add to a basket.
Good Practice
How do you keep Cucumber tests maintainable?
Write steps in business language rather than UI details, keep scenarios short and focused on one behaviour, reuse step definitions, and use patterns like page objects in the automation layer.
How to Prepare
- Write a feature file with a Scenario Outline and matching step definitions.
- Be ready to explain how BDD improves collaboration.
- Review general QA and software engineer interview questions.
Get Help in the Interview Itself
Preparation gets you most of the way. For the interview itself, ApplyQuick Interview Copilot listens to each question and suggests a structured answer based on your resume and the job description, on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet or a phone call. You can also rehearse first with an AI mock interview. Every plan starts with a 7-day free trial.
