■ Senior SDET Interview Prep (Disney+ / ESPN)
Java + Postman + Rest API Focus — Detailed Q&A; Guide
Section 1: API Testing Fundamentals (Postman + Rest Assured)
- **REST vs SOAP:** REST is stateless and uses lightweight formats (JSON), whereas SOAP uses XML and
is heavier. - **HTTP Methods:** GET (retrieve), POST (create), PUT (update), DELETE (remove). - **Postman
Assertions:** Use Chai syntax, e.g. `pm.test("Status is 200", () => pm.response.to.have.status(200));` -
**Chaining Requests:** Use environment variables and pre-request scripts to reuse data between calls. -
**Common Headers:** `Authorization`, `Content-Type`, `Cache-Control`.
Section 2: Rest Assured Deep Dive
Rest Assured simplifies REST API testing in Java. Setup Example: ``` import static
io.restassured.RestAssured.*; import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.*; given()
.baseUri("https://api.example.com") .when() .get("/users/1") .then() .statusCode(200) .body("data.name",
equalTo("John Doe")); ``` - **JSON Path Extraction:** `response.jsonPath().getString("data.email")` -
**Authentication:** `auth().preemptive().basic("user","pass")` - **Schema Validation:**
`.body(matchesJsonSchemaInClasspath("schema.json"))`
Section 3: Java Coding Questions for SDET
**Q1. Merge Two Sorted Arrays Without Extra Space** ``` int[] merge(int[] a, int[] b) { int i = a.length - 1, j =
b.length - 1, k = a.length + b.length - 1; int[] result = new int[k + 1]; while (j >= 0) result[k--] = (i >= 0 && a[i] >
b[j]) ? a[i--] : b[j--]; return result; } ``` **Concepts to Know:** - HashMap vs ConcurrentHashMap differences
(thread safety, locks) - Java Streams for filtering and transforming collections
Section 4: Framework Design & Advanced Q&A;
**Q: How do you design a reusable Rest Assured framework?** - Create a BaseTest class with common setup
(base URI, authentication). - Use RequestSpecification and ResponseSpecification for reuse. - Integrate with
TestNG for test organization. - Generate HTML/Allure reports for visualization. - Manage configurations with
property files or environment variables.
Section 5: Advanced API Scenarios
- **Pagination:** Validate `page`, `limit`, and response array size. - **Rate Limiting:** Send multiple requests,
assert `429 Too Many Requests` behavior. - **Negative Tests:** Send malformed payloads, missing tokens. -
**Performance:** Measure `.time(lessThan(2000L))` for API latency.
Section 6: Final Interview Q&A;
1. How would you debug flaky API tests in CI? → Use logging, retry mechanisms, analyze network delays,
isolate flaky endpoints. 2. How to test a live sports API updating every second? → Verify data freshness, time
drift, and caching behavior. 3. How to design tests for authentication flows? → Token refresh validation,
expired token handling, role-based access. 4. How do you ensure consistency across microservices? → Use
contract tests, message queues, and distributed tracing.
