Urban Company Automation Testing Interview Questions & Answers
Curated interview practice questions with answers. These are practice scenarios, not a verified list of past interview questions.
About Urban Company hiring for Automation Testing roles
Urban Company is an Indian technology platform that connects customers with trained professionals for home services such as cleaning, beauty, appliance repair, plumbing and painting. It handles booking, pricing, partner training and quality control through its app. It hires software engineers, data analysts, product managers and operations roles, and also operates in a few international markets.
For Automation Testing roles, this Urban Company practice set focuses most on Core Java for Testers (6), Selenium WebDriver (5), Page Object Model (5), Git, Maven and Jenkins (5). It has 29 medium, 11 hard questions, so you can start easy and work up to the harder ones.
Company type
Product
Headquarters
Gurugram, India
Main India offices
Gurugram
Urban Company Automation Testing interview process
Online coding or analytics assessment
Technical round 1
Technical round 2 (design or case)
Hiring manager and culture round
Typical pattern based on public candidate experiences. Rounds vary by role, team and year.
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01
Your code review shows a test class with 30 copy-pasted lines in every method. How do you refactor it with Java features?
Extract repeated steps into private helper methods or a page object, move common setup into @BeforeMethod, and use a DataProvider when only data differs. If the repeated code differs only in a small action, pass that action as a lambda, such as a Consumer<WebDriver>. Rerun the tests after each small refactor to confirm behaviour is unchanged.
The screenshot may be taken before the page renders, the window size in headless mode may be tiny, or the browser is crashing due to low shared memory in Docker. Set --window-size=1920,1080, use the new headless mode, wait for page content before capturing, and add --disable-dev-shm-usage or a larger shm size for containers.
04
Should page objects use inheritance or composition?
Use a shallow inheritance only for a BasePage with common helpers. For shared UI parts, use composition: a page has a Header, a SideMenu and a Table component. Deep inheritance like BasePage to ListPage to ProductListPage to SaleProductListPage becomes fragile and hard to debug. Composition mirrors how modern UIs are built from components and keeps classes small.
05
What are Maven profiles and how do you use them in automation?
Profiles are sets of configuration activated by name, such as -Pqa or -Pstaging, or by conditions. In automation they switch environment URLs, suite files, browsers or parallel settings without changing code. For example a regression profile sets suiteXml to regression.xml and threadCount to 4. Combined with properties files, profiles keep one codebase for every environment.
06
What is the difference between git merge and git rebase?
Merge combines branches by creating a merge commit, keeping the full history exactly as it happened. Rebase replays your commits on top of another branch, producing a straight, linear history without a merge commit. Rebase is good for tidying a local feature branch before a pull request; never rebase commits that others have already pulled, because it rewrites history.
07
How do you handle dynamic elements whose ids change?
LoadableComponent is a Selenium support class that standardises how a page object ensures it is loaded. You extend it and implement load(), which navigates to the page, and isLoaded(), which throws an Error if the page is not ready. Calling get() checks isLoaded and calls load only if needed, then checks again. It gives a consistent, self-verifying way to open pages and fails fast with a clear message.
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.
13
How do you validate a response against a JSON schema in REST Assured?
Add the json-schema-validator dependency, place the schema file in src/test/resources, and assert with then().body(matchesJsonSchemaInClasspath("user-schema.json")). Schema validation checks field types, required fields and structure, so it catches contract changes that value checks might miss. It complements, not replaces, assertions on business values like status or totals.
14
How do you manage test environments for a CI pipeline?
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.
15
Your UI tests run noticeably slower on the Grid than on your laptop. How do you find the cause?
Every command now travels over the network, so chatty code with many findElement calls or getText in loops suffers most. Check latency between test runner and Grid, ideally keeping them in the same network or region. Check node resources: overloaded CPU or many sessions per container slow browsers. Video recording and VNC add overhead. Reduce round trips by batching checks, using JavaScript for bulk reads and avoiding implicit waits combined with explicit ones.
16
What is the Maven Failsafe plugin and how is it different from Surefire?
Surefire runs unit tests in the test phase and stops the build as soon as tests fail. Failsafe runs integration tests in the integration-test phase and checks results later in the verify phase, so post-integration-test steps, like stopping a server or Docker containers, still run after failures. By default Failsafe picks classes named *IT. Many teams run UI and API suites through Failsafe with mvn verify for that reason.
17
A utility method that parses dates from the UI breaks in parallel runs. What might be wrong?
It probably uses a shared static SimpleDateFormat, which is not thread-safe, so parallel threads corrupt each other's parsing. Replace it with java.time DateTimeFormatter, which is immutable and thread-safe, and LocalDate or LocalDateTime for values. Generally, avoid shared mutable static objects in test utilities that run in parallel.
18
An element is visible in Appium Inspector but your test throws NoSuchElementException on the device. What do you check?
First check timing: the screen may still be loading, so add an explicit wait for presence. Then check context: in a hybrid app the element may be in a webview while you are in NATIVE_APP. Confirm the locator matches exactly, including package prefix in resource-id. The element may be off screen in a list, so scroll first. Also check that the Inspector session used the same app build, language and device size as the test.
19
How do you record videos of tests running on a Docker Selenium Grid?
Add the selenium/video image as a sidecar container next to each node, sharing the node's display through DISPLAY_CONTAINER_NAME, and mount a folder for the mp4 files. Newer Grid versions also support recording per session by setting the se:recordVideo capability with Dynamic Grid. Name videos with se:name so they match test names. Keep videos only for failed tests or for a few days, because they use a lot of disk space.
Headless mode or screen resolution, timing issues, environment data, missing dependencies, browser–driver version mismatch or parallel conflicts. Check logs and failure screenshots and make waits robust.
git cherry-pick <commit> applies the changes of one specific commit onto your current branch, creating a new commit. It is useful when a fix on one branch, such as a locator fix on develop, is urgently needed on a release branch without merging everything else. Overuse creates duplicate commits and confusing history, so prefer normal merges when possible.
A good scenario describes one behaviour in business language, uses declarative steps ("When the user logs in as a manager") rather than UI clicks ("When I click the login button"), has one When and a clear Then, stays under about 5 to 7 steps and is independent of other scenarios. The title should state the rule being checked so failures are understood without opening the code.
IAnnotationTransformer is a listener that changes @Test annotations at runtime before tests run. A common use is attaching a retry analyzer to every test automatically instead of adding retryAnalyzer to each method, or enabling and disabling tests from configuration. It must be registered in testng.xml or via service loader, not with the @Listeners annotation.
24
You need 2,000 UI tests to run on every pull request in under 20 minutes. How would you design the infrastructure?
First shrink the UI suite by moving checks to API and unit level. Then run the rest on an autoscaling Grid, for example Kubernetes with KEDA, sized so tests divided by slots times average duration fits the budget. Make tests independent with API-based setup and ThreadLocal drivers. Shard tests across CI agents, fail fast on smoke tests first, and track flaky tests separately. Pin image versions and monitor queue time.
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.
26
How do you test an application that requires login on every test without slowing the suite?
Log in once through the API, capture the session cookie or token, and inject it into the browser with driver.manage().addCookie() after opening the domain, or set local storage with JavaScript. Then navigate directly to the page under test. Keep one real UI login test to cover the login page itself. This often saves several seconds per test.
It means no matching free slot appeared in time. Check the Grid UI to see whether nodes are registered and whether their capabilities match the request, such as browser name, version or platform. Compare the test thread count with total slots, since extra threads just wait in the queue. Look for stuck sessions holding slots after aborted builds. Then increase capacity, reduce threads, or raise the session request timeout.
29
How do you handle test data cleanup in Cucumber scenarios?
Create data in Given steps through APIs, record the created IDs in the scenario context, and delete them in an @After hook, which runs even when the scenario fails. Use unique names with a timestamp or UUID to avoid clashes in parallel runs. For shared environments, add a nightly cleanup job for leftover data tagged with a test prefix.
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.
Low-end devices are slower, so fixed waits and short timeouts expire before screens render. Replace sleeps with explicit waits and increase timeouts sensibly. Check for vendor-specific pop-ups, battery optimisation dialogs or different keyboards on that brand. Compare screen size and resolution, since coordinate-based taps break. Collect device logs with adb logcat and screen recordings to see what the app was doing. Also check whether the app crashed due to low memory.
35
Your 200 mobile tests across six devices take too long to finish. How would you speed them up?
Run devices in parallel with one thread per device, each with its own udid, systemPort or wdaLocalPort. Use deep links or API calls to reach the screen under test instead of navigating through the UI every time. Prefer noReset with explicit data cleanup over reinstalling the app. Replace XPath with accessibility ids. Split the suite so pull requests run a small smoke set on emulators while the full device matrix runs nightly.
36
Tell me about a time you reduced the run time of a test suite significantly.
Situation: our TestNG regression took three hours, so it only ran nightly. Task: get it under forty minutes to run on every merge. Action: I profiled slow tests, replaced UI login with an API token, made the driver ThreadLocal and enabled parallel classes, moved data setup to APIs and removed duplicate tests. Result: the suite ran in thirty-five minutes on four threads, and defects were caught on the same day they were introduced.
37
How do you capture a screen recording of a mobile test and attach it on failure?
// Start before the test, stop and save only if it fails
driver.startRecordingScreen();
// ... test steps ...
String base64 = driver.stopRecordingScreen();
if (result.getStatus() == ITestResult.FAILURE) {
byte[] video = Base64.getDecoder().decode(base64);
Files.write(Paths.get("target/videos/" + result.getName() + ".mp4"), video);
}
38
A stakeholder asks whether the system can handle 10,000 users. How do you plan the performance test?
First clarify what 10,000 users means: concurrent sessions, users per hour or requests per second, and which journeys they perform. Use production analytics to build the workload mix and think times, then agree on SLAs like 95th percentile under two seconds and errors under one percent. Prepare a production-like environment and data, plan baseline, load, stress and soak runs, set up monitoring, and share a report with clear limits and bottlenecks.
39
How would you design an automation framework from scratch?
It occurs when a collection is modified while being iterated with a for-each loop, for example removing items from an ArrayList inside the loop. Fix by using Iterator.remove(), removeIf(), collecting items to remove separately, or using CopyOnWriteArrayList or ConcurrentHashMap when threads share the collection. In parallel tests, shared lists are a common source.
Tips to crack the Urban Company Automation Testing interview
Practise DSA and low-level design for engineering roles, such as designing a booking or slot allocation system.
For analyst roles, prepare marketplace metrics like fill rate, repeat rate and partner earnings, and practise related SQL queries.
Understand the two-sided marketplace model of customers and service partners, and discuss how both sides stay satisfied.
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; Urban Company interviewers usually ask follow-ups on your first answer.
Frequently asked questions
How many rounds are there in the Urban Company Automation Testing interview?
Candidates usually go through 4 stages: Online coding or analytics assessment; Technical round 1; Technical round 2 (design or case); Hiring manager and culture 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 Urban Company Automation Testing interview?
This practice set leans on Core Java for Testers (6), Selenium WebDriver (5), Page Object Model (5), Git, Maven and Jenkins (5). Revise those first, then practise explaining one or two of your own projects end to end, because most Urban Company interviewers ask you to walk through real work.
Are these the exact questions asked at Urban Company?
No. These are curated practice questions that match the skills and difficulty usually tested in product interviews like Urban Company's. They are not a leaked or verified list of past questions.
Where does Urban Company hire Automation Testing professionals in India?
Urban Company has large teams in Gurugram. Openings and locations change often, so check the Urban Company careers page and filter by city and experience.
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