01
How do you scroll a page in Selenium?
Show answer
Use JavascriptExecutor with window.scrollTo or scrollIntoView, or the Actions class scroll methods in Selenium 4.
Broadcom Automation Testing Interview Questions & Answers
Curated interview practice questions with answers. These are practice scenarios, not a verified list of past interview questions.
About Broadcom hiring for Automation Testing roles
Broadcom is a global technology company that designs semiconductors for networking, broadband, wireless and storage, and also sells infrastructure software. Its software business includes VMware, CA Technologies and Symantec enterprise products acquired over the years. In India it hires chip design and verification engineers, embedded engineers and software engineers for its semiconductor and software divisions.
For Automation Testing roles, this Broadcom practice set focuses most on Selenium WebDriver (7), REST Assured (5), Page Object Model (5), Core Java for Testers (5). It has 33 medium, 7 hard questions, so you can start easy and work up to the harder ones.
- Company type
- Hardware & semiconductors
- Headquarters
- Palo Alto, California, USA
- Main India offices
- Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai
Broadcom Automation Testing interview process
- Online assessment or resume screening
- Technical round 1 (digital design or coding)
- Technical round 2 (domain depth)
- Hiring manager round
Typical pattern based on public candidate experiences. Rounds vary by role, team and year.
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02
What is the Background keyword and when should you avoid it?
Show answer
Background holds steps that run before every scenario in a feature file, such as opening the app and logging in. It removes repetition in Given steps. Avoid it when it becomes long, when only some scenarios need it, or when it hides important context, because readers then cannot understand a scenario on its own. In that case use a hook or a clearer Given step.
03
How do you attach a screenshot to the Cucumber report when a scenario fails?
Show answer
@After
public void afterScenario(Scenario scenario) {
if (scenario.isFailed()) {
byte[] shot = ((TakesScreenshot) driver)
.getScreenshotAs(OutputType.BYTES);
scenario.attach(shot, "image/png", scenario.getName());
}
driver.quit();
}
04
Write a REST Assured test using RequestSpecBuilder and ResponseSpecBuilder.
Show answer
RequestSpecification req = new RequestSpecBuilder()
.setBaseUri(Config.baseUrl())
.setContentType(ContentType.JSON)
.addHeader("Authorization", "Bearer " + token)
.build();
ResponseSpecification ok = new ResponseSpecBuilder()
.expectStatusCode(200)
.expectContentType(ContentType.JSON)
.build();
given().spec(req).when().get("/orders").then().spec(ok);
05
What is the Fluent Page Object pattern?
Show answer
Fluent page objects return objects from every action so a test reads like a sentence, for example new SearchPage(driver).searchFor("phone").filterByBrand("X").sortByPrice().firstResult(). It improves readability and models navigation. The risk is long chains that hide failures, so keep chains to a single journey and use clear method names that show which page you end on.
06
Your UI regression suite has 15 percent flaky failures. How would you bring it under control?
Show answer
Measure flakiness per test over many runs and fix the worst first. Typical fixes are replacing sleeps with explicit waits, creating independent test data via API, avoiding shared logins, using stable locators, isolating parallel drivers and stubbing unstable third parties. Quarantine known flaky tests into a separate job so they do not block releases, and set a target like under 2 percent.
07
How do you pass thread count and duration to a JMeter test from the command line?
Show answer
// In the Thread Group fields use property functions with defaults
Number of Threads: ${__P(users,10)}
Ramp-up period: ${__P(rampup,30)}
Duration (seconds): ${__P(duration,300)}
// Then override them when running
jmeter -n -t load.jmx -l out.jtl -Jusers=200 -Jrampup=120 -Jduration=1800
08
How do you pass authentication in an API test?
Show answer
Use headers such as Bearer tokens, basic auth, API keys or OAuth flows; fetch a token in a setup step and reuse it.
09
What is a quality gate in a CI/CD pipeline?
Show answer
A quality gate is a rule a build must pass before moving forward, such as all smoke tests passing, code coverage above a threshold, no critical static analysis issues, or no new high-severity vulnerabilities. If the gate fails, the pipeline stops and the change is not deployed. Gates make quality an automatic decision instead of a manual check.
10
What are relative locators in Selenium 4?
Show answer
Locators such as above, below, toLeftOf and near that find elements by their position relative to another element.
11
Tell me about a time you moved from web automation to mobile automation.
Show answer
Situation: my team needed Android regression tests and I only knew Selenium. Task: deliver a smoke suite in one month. Action: I learned Appium 2 setup, used Appium Inspector to find locators, asked developers to add accessibility ids, and reused our TestNG, POM and reporting structure with a new driver factory. Result: twenty smoke tests ran nightly on emulators within four weeks, and release smoke testing dropped from half a day to forty minutes.
12
What is the difference between noReset and fullReset in Appium?
Show answer
By default Appium clears app data between sessions but keeps the app installed. noReset set to true keeps app data and login state, which speeds up tests but can leak state between them. fullReset set to true uninstalls and reinstalls the app, giving the cleanest state but adding time. A common approach is noReset for fast suites with explicit cleanup in the test, and fullReset only for first-launch or onboarding scenarios.
13
What is the difference between getText() and getAttribute()?
Show answer
getText returns visible inner text; getAttribute returns an HTML attribute or property such as value, href or class.
14
How do you handle a web table in Selenium?
Show answer
Locate rows and columns with XPath such as //table//tr and //td, loop through them to read or click cells, or build the XPath dynamically from the row text.
15
What is polymorphism and how does it show up in Selenium?
Show answer
One interface, many forms. WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver() lets the same test code run on any browser class that implements WebDriver.
16
How do you test GraphQL APIs compared with REST?
Show answer
GraphQL usually has one endpoint and you send a POST with a query and variables. Tests check the data returned matches the requested fields, that errors appear in the errors array, often with status 200, and that authorization applies per field. Also test query depth limits and nested queries for performance. REST Assured works fine by sending the query as JSON body.
17
What is a DataTable in Cucumber and how do you use it?
Show answer
A DataTable passes a table written under a step into the step definition. You can read it as List<String>, List<Map<String,String>>, Map<String,String> or convert rows into objects with a @DataTableType method. For example a step that creates several users can take a table of name, role and email. Unlike Scenario Outline, a DataTable feeds data into one step and the scenario runs once.
18
How do you group tests?
Show answer
Tag tests with groups = {"smoke","regression"} and include or exclude them in testng.xml to run chosen sets.
19
Tell me about a time you had to explain a technical test failure to a non-technical manager.
Show answer
Situation: a release was blocked by failing tests and the manager wanted to know if it was safe to ship. Task: explain the risk without jargon. Action: I separated the failures into one real bug, where customers could be charged twice, and three environment issues. I showed the bug with a short screen recording. Result: the manager delayed the release by one day, the bug was fixed and the environment issues were assigned to DevOps.
20
What is PageFactory?
Show answer
A helper that initialises @FindBy elements lazily using initElements; some teams skip it in favour of plain By locators.
21
How do you retry failed tests in TestNG?
Show answer
Implement IRetryAnalyzer with a retry count and attach it through the test annotation or a listener to rerun flaky tests.
22
How do you test negative scenarios for an API?
Show answer
Send invalid or missing fields, wrong data types, values beyond limits, invalid IDs, expired or missing tokens, wrong HTTP methods and malformed JSON. Assert the correct status (400, 401, 403, 404, 405, 422) and a clear error body without stack traces. Negative tests often find more defects than happy paths because validation and security checks are frequently incomplete.
23
Write a declarative Jenkinsfile that runs Maven tests and publishes results.
Show answer
pipeline {
agent any
parameters { choice(name: 'SUITE', choices: ['smoke', 'regression']) }
stages {
stage('Checkout') { steps { checkout scm } }
stage('Test') {
steps { sh "mvn clean test -DsuiteXml=${params.SUITE}.xml" }
}
}
post {
always {
junit 'target/surefire-reports/*.xml'
archiveArtifacts artifacts: 'target/screenshots/**', allowEmptyArchive: true
}
}
}
24
Half of your TestNG tests are skipped in CI with no failure shown. What could cause it?
Show answer
Usually a configuration method failed, such as @BeforeClass or @BeforeSuite throwing an exception, which makes TestNG skip dependent tests. Other causes are dependsOnMethods on a failed test, a group filter excluding setup methods without alwaysRun, or a DataProvider that threw an exception. Check the configuration failures section of the report and the log for the first exception.
25
Why do Selenium browser containers need a larger shm_size?
Show answer
Chrome and Firefox use shared memory at /dev/shm for rendering and inter-process communication. Docker gives containers only 64 MB of shared memory by default, which is not enough for modern pages, so the browser tab crashes with errors like session deleted because of page crash. Setting shm_size to 2g in Compose, or --shm-size=2g with docker run, fixes it. Mounting /dev/shm from the host is an alternative.
26
How do you upload a file with REST Assured?
Show answer
Use multipart: given().multiPart("file", new File("src/test/resources/report.pdf"), "application/pdf").formParam("type", "invoice").when().post("/upload").then().statusCode(200). REST Assured sets the multipart/form-data content type automatically. Verify both the status and the response, such as the returned file id or size, and test edge cases like empty, oversized and wrong-type files.
27
How would you design a framework that supports both web and mobile using POM?
Show answer
Define page interfaces for business actions, such as LoginScreen.loginAs(). Provide web and mobile implementations using Selenium and Appium, chosen by a factory from configuration. Tests depend only on the interfaces. Share test data, config, reporting and API helpers. Accept that some flows differ by platform and keep those in platform-specific tests rather than forcing one abstraction.
28
What is CI/CD and why does automation need it?
Show answer
Continuous Integration builds and tests every commit, and Continuous Delivery ships automatically. Automated tests give fast feedback and gate releases.
29
What are generics in Java and how do they help in a test framework?
Show answer
Generics let classes and methods work with a type parameter while keeping compile-time type safety, such as List<String> or a method <T> T readJson(String path, Class<T> type). In a framework they let you write one reusable helper for many types, for example a generic API client that deserializes responses into any POJO, or a BasePage method that returns the correct page type for chaining. They remove casts and catch type errors at compile time.
30
What is the difference between Comparable and Comparator in Java?
Show answer
Comparable defines the natural order inside the class (compareTo); Comparator defines custom orders externally (compare), useful for sorting test data in several ways.
31
In a hybrid Android app, driver.getContextHandles() returns only NATIVE_APP. Why?
Show answer
The webview is probably not debuggable. Android only exposes a webview to automation when the app calls WebView.setWebContentsDebuggingEnabled(true), which developers usually enable only in debug builds, so ask for a debug or test build. Also wait until the webview screen is actually loaded before reading contexts. If the app uses Chrome custom tabs, that is a separate Chrome process, not a webview. Finally check that a compatible Chromedriver is available to Appium.
32
What can testers do with Chrome DevTools Protocol support in Selenium 4?
Show answer
Selenium 4 exposes CDP through the DevTools interface and the newer cross-browser BiDi APIs. Testers can capture console logs and JavaScript errors, intercept or mock network requests, emulate slow networks or geolocation, add basic authentication headers and collect performance metrics. CDP is Chromium-specific and tied to browser versions, so for long-term code prefer WebDriver BiDi features where available, and keep CDP usage behind a small helper class.
33
What is the use of Maven in automation projects?
Show answer
It manages dependencies through pom.xml, builds the project, runs tests with Surefire and standardises structure across teams.
34
How do you handle waits inside page objects?
Show answer
Put explicit waits in page methods or BasePage helpers, not in tests. For example click() waits for elementToBeClickable before clicking, and a page's isLoaded() waits for a key element. Avoid Thread.sleep and avoid mixing implicit and explicit waits. Keep the timeout configurable so CI can use a slightly longer value than local runs.
35
How do you design a REST Assured framework for many microservices?
Show answer
Create a base module with shared specs, auth handling, config per environment, filters for logging and reporting, and utilities. Each service gets its own client class wrapping endpoints and POJOs for its models. Tests call clients, never raw URLs. Use builders for test data, schema checks for contracts, tags to run per service, and run independent services in parallel in CI.
36
How do you pass the WebDriver to page objects in a parallel framework?
Show answer
Use a DriverManager with a ThreadLocal<WebDriver>, created in @BeforeMethod and removed in @AfterMethod. Page objects receive the driver through the constructor or get it from DriverManager.getDriver(). Constructor injection is cleaner and easier to test. Never store the driver in a static field shared by all threads, or parallel tests will control each other's browsers.
37
What is method overriding and where is it useful in frameworks?
Show answer
A subclass redefines a parent method. Frameworks use it to customise base behaviour, such as overriding a wait or click method in a base page class.
38
How do you handle StaleElementReferenceException?
Show answer
Re-locate the element after the DOM refreshes, use explicit waits for the refreshed element, don't keep element references for long, or wrap the action in retry logic.
39
What is a DataProvider in TestNG?
Show answer
@DataProvider returns Object[][]; a @Test(dataProvider = "name") method runs once per row — the basis of data-driven tests, often reading Excel or JSON.
40
How do you manage test environments for a CI pipeline?
Show answer
Keep environment details in config files or environment variables per env, never in code. Prefer ephemeral environments created per pull request with containers, seeded with known data and destroyed afterwards. For shared environments, reserve them through the pipeline, reset data before runs and monitor health with a pre-test check so tests do not fail due to a down service.
Tips to crack the Broadcom Automation Testing interview
- For hardware roles, revise digital electronics, Verilog, computer architecture and verification concepts such as SystemVerilog and UVM.
- For software roles, revise C, data structures, operating systems and networking, especially for VMware and infrastructure software teams.
- Be ready to go deep into your project, explaining design decisions and debugging steps, as interviewers often probe details.
- Keep a one-minute story ready for every project on your CV: problem, your part, tools, result.
- Practise the hard questions on this page aloud; Broadcom interviewers usually ask follow-ups on your first answer.
Frequently asked questions
How many rounds are there in the Broadcom Automation Testing interview?
Candidates usually go through 4 stages: Online assessment or resume screening; Technical round 1 (digital design or coding); Technical round 2 (domain depth); Hiring manager round. The exact rounds change with the role, team, location and your experience, so confirm the process with the recruiter.
Which topics should I prepare for the Broadcom Automation Testing interview?
This practice set leans on Selenium WebDriver (7), REST Assured (5), Page Object Model (5), Core Java for Testers (5). Revise those first, then practise explaining one or two of your own projects end to end, because most Broadcom interviewers ask you to walk through real work.
Are these the exact questions asked at Broadcom?
No. These are curated practice questions that match the skills and difficulty usually tested in hardware & semiconductors interviews like Broadcom's. They are not a leaked or verified list of past questions.
Where does Broadcom hire Automation Testing professionals in India?
Broadcom has large teams in Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai. Openings and locations change often, so check the Broadcom careers page and filter by city and experience.
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