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Playwright Testing Interview Questions for Hardware & semiconductors Companies

40 questions weighted to the interview style of hardware & semiconductors companies — 4 easy, 28 medium, 8 hard.

How hardware & semiconductors companies interview for Playwright Testing

Hardware, semiconductor and enterprise-technology companies hire data and QA people to work with engineering teams on large, complex products. Interviews test strong fundamentals, hands-on skills and careful, structured thinking.

This set focuses on Network Mocking (9), JavaScript and TypeScript (6), Visual & Accessibility Testing (4), Playwright Core (4).

HR round Technical round 1 Technical round 2 Managerial round Technical interview 1

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How do you add or change request headers for only some requests?

Network MockingMedium

Show answer

Register a route for the matching URLs and call route.continue({ headers: { ...route.request().headers(), 'x-test-mode': 'true' } }). Other requests are untouched. For headers on every request, use extraHTTPHeaders in the config instead. This is useful for feature toggles, tenant ids or bypass tokens that only certain endpoints accept.

How do you validate JSON schema?

API TestingMedium

Show answer

Use a library such as zod or ajv to define the expected schema and parse the response to fail on missing or wrongly typed fields.

How do you attach axe results to the Playwright HTML report?

Visual & Accessibility TestingMedium

Show answer

test('cart is accessible', async ({ page }, testInfo) => { await page.goto('/cart'); const results = await new AxeBuilder({ page }).analyze(); await testInfo.attach('axe-results', { body: JSON.stringify(results.violations, null, 2), contentType: 'application/json', }); expect(results.violations).toEqual([]); });

How do you wrap a component in a theme or router provider using hooksConfig?

Component TestingMedium

Show answer

// playwright/index.tsx import { beforeMount } from '@playwright/experimental-ct-react/hooks'; import { ThemeProvider } from '../src/theme'; export type HooksConfig = { theme?: 'light' | 'dark' }; beforeMount<HooksConfig>(async ({ App, hooksConfig }) => { return <ThemeProvider mode={hooksConfig?.theme ?? 'light'}><App /></ThemeProvider>; }); // in a test await mount(<Header />, { hooksConfig: { theme: 'dark' } });

Write a typed helper that retries an async function a few times.

JavaScript and TypeScriptMedium

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async function retry<T>(fn: () => Promise<T>, times = 3): Promise<T> { let lastError: unknown; for (let i = 0; i < times; i++) { try { return await fn(); } catch (e) { lastError = e; } } throw lastError; }

Write an API test with the request fixture.

API TestingMedium

Show answer

test('get user', async ({ request }) => { const res = await request.get('/api/users/1'); expect(res.ok()).toBeTruthy(); expect((await res.json()).id).toBe(1); });

How do you handle file uploads and downloads?

Playwright CoreMedium

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setInputFiles on the input for uploads; for downloads wait on page.waitForEvent('download') and save or inspect the file.

What is auto-waiting in Playwright?

Playwright CoreEasy

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Before acting, Playwright waits for the element to be attached, visible, stable, enabled and able to receive events — so manual waits are rarely needed.

Write a test that checks keyboard Tab order through a login form.

Visual & Accessibility TestingMedium

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test('login form is keyboard friendly', async ({ page }) => { await page.goto('/login'); await page.getByLabel('Email').focus(); await page.keyboard.press('Tab'); await expect(page.getByLabel('Password')).toBeFocused(); await page.keyboard.press('Tab'); await expect(page.getByRole('button', { name: 'Sign in' })).toBeFocused(); await page.keyboard.press('Enter'); });

How do you test how the UI handles a 500 error from the orders API?

Network MockingMedium

Show answer

Mock the endpoint with route.fulfill({ status: 500, json: { message: 'Server error' } }), then open the page. Assert the user sees a friendly error message and a retry button, and that no broken half-rendered table appears. Then make the retry return 200 and check the data loads. This covers a path that is hard to trigger on a real server.

Write a minimal custom reporter that prints the titles of failed tests at the end.

Parallel Runs, Sharding & ReportingHard

Show answer

import type { Reporter, TestCase, TestResult } from '@playwright/test/reporter'; class FailedListReporter implements Reporter { private failed: string[] = []; onTestEnd(test: TestCase, result: TestResult) { if (result.status === 'failed' || result.status === 'timedOut') { this.failed.push(test.titlePath().join(' > ')); } } onEnd() { console.log(`Failed tests (${this.failed.length}):`); this.failed.forEach((t) => console.log(' - ' + t)); } } export default FailedListReporter;

How do you mock network requests?

Network MockingMedium

Show answer

page.route('**/api/items', route => route.fulfill({ json: [...] })) intercepts and replies with test data; route.abort() simulates failures.

A component under test needs a complex class instance as a prop and the test fails to serialise it. What do you do?

Component TestingHard

Show answer

Create a small test story component in a separate file that builds the class instance inside the browser and renders the real component with it. The test then mounts the story with simple props, such as an id or a scenario name. This keeps the data creation on the browser side of the boundary and also documents test scenarios as reusable stories.

What is the difference between toHaveScreenshot and toMatchSnapshot?

Visual & Accessibility TestingEasy

Show answer

toHaveScreenshot is for images of a page or locator. It waits for the page to become visually stable, retries the capture until two shots match, and supports options like mask and animations. toMatchSnapshot compares any value you pass in, such as a string, a buffer or text output, against a stored file, without waiting or retrying. Use toHaveScreenshot for UI and toMatchSnapshot for generated text or file content.

A feature is controlled by a flag served from a config API. How do you test both states?

Network MockingHard

Show answer

Mock the config endpoint in a fixture option so each test chooses the flag value, for example featureFlags: { newCheckout: true }. Run the flow with the flag on and off and assert the different UI. Mocking avoids changing shared environment settings that would affect other testers. Also keep one test against the real config to catch wiring mistakes.

How do you keep test code, page objects and utilities organised as a repository grows?

Framework Design and CI/CDMedium

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Use a clear layout: tests grouped by feature, a pages folder for page objects, a fixtures folder that exposes them, and api and data folders for helpers and builders. Add path aliases in tsconfig, a lint config with the Playwright plugin, and a short contributing guide. Review new helpers in pull requests so duplicate utilities do not spread.

Why mock the network in UI tests at all?

Network MockingEasy

Show answer

Mocking makes tests fast, stable and independent of backend data or third-party outages. It also lets you test states that are hard to create for real, such as empty lists, errors or huge responses. The trade-off is lower confidence that frontend and backend work together, so keep some unmocked end-to-end tests for critical journeys.

A beforeAll creates one user and tests in the same file fail randomly in parallel mode. Why?

Fixtures and HooksMedium

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With fullyParallel, the file's tests run in different workers, so each worker creates its own user, or tests in one worker share one user and change its state. Shared mutable data causes random failures. Give each test its own data through a test-scoped fixture, or create a unique user per worker with workerInfo.workerIndex in the name.

What does force: true do on an action, and why should you avoid it?

Playwright CoreMedium

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force: true skips the actionability checks, so Playwright clicks even if the element is hidden, disabled or covered. It can make a test pass while a real user would be blocked. Use it only for special cases like a custom checkbox whose real input is visually hidden by design. Otherwise fix the cause, such as an overlay.

How do you fail a test if the page logs any console error?

Debugging and Trace ViewerMedium

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test('no console errors', async ({ page }) => { const errors: string[] = []; page.on('console', m => { if (m.type() === 'error') errors.push(m.text()); }); page.on('pageerror', e => errors.push(e.message)); await page.goto('/dashboard'); expect(errors).toEqual([]); });

How do you keep API tests independent of environment data?

API TestingHard

Show answer

Do not depend on records that happen to exist in a shared environment. Each test or fixture creates what it needs through the API and cleans up after. Read environment-specific values such as base URL and credentials from config. For reference data that must exist, seed it in a setup project and verify it before tests run.

Why use readonly and as const for test data?

JavaScript and TypeScriptHard

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readonly and as const stop test data from being changed by accident, for example one test editing a shared user object and breaking the next. as const also keeps literal types, so ['admin', 'viewer'] as const gives the type 'admin' | 'viewer'. That lets TypeScript reject invalid roles at compile time instead of during a run.

How do you test that the app retries a request that failed the first time?

Network MockingMedium

Show answer

Register a route with a counter: on the first call use route.fulfill with status 503, and on later calls fulfil with a success body. Perform the action, then assert the UI shows the final data and the counter equals 2. You can also check that no error message flashed. This proves the retry logic works without waiting for a real outage.

Explain the event loop.

JavaScript and TypeScriptMedium

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JavaScript runs one call stack and uses queues for async work; the event loop pushes callbacks from the microtask (promises) and task queues when the stack is empty.

Write a fixture that gives each parallel worker its own test account.

Parallel Runs, Sharding & ReportingMedium

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import { test as base } from '@playwright/test'; export const test = base.extend<{}, { account: { email: string; password: string } }>({ account: [async ({}, use, workerInfo) => { const i = workerInfo.parallelIndex; await use({ email: `qa.user${i}@example.test`, password: process.env.QA_PASSWORD!, }); }, { scope: 'worker' }], });

How do you attach a screenshot or log to the report from inside a test?

Fixtures and HooksMedium

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test('report', async ({ page }, testInfo) => { await page.goto('/reports'); await testInfo.attach('report page', { body: await page.screenshot(), contentType: 'image/png', }); await testInfo.attach('meta', { body: 'build 42', contentType: 'text/plain' }); });

How do you read environment variables safely in a TypeScript test project?

JavaScript and TypeScriptMedium

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Load a .env file with a package like dotenv in playwright.config, then read process.env.BASE_URL. Values are string | undefined, so validate them early and throw a clear error if a required one is missing. Keep .env out of git and commit an .env.example instead. In CI, set the same names as secret variables.

How do you mock third-party APIs in UI tests?

Network MockingMedium

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Use page.route to intercept the call and fulfil it with fixed JSON so tests do not depend on external systems.

What is the difference between workerIndex and parallelIndex?

Parallel Runs, Sharding & ReportingMedium

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workerIndex is a unique number for every worker process started during the run, so it keeps growing when a worker is restarted after a failure. parallelIndex is a slot number from 0 to workers minus 1, and a restarted worker reuses its slot. Use parallelIndex, also exposed as TEST_PARALLEL_INDEX, to pick a fixed test account or database per slot.

How do you simulate a slow API to test a loading spinner?

Network MockingMedium

Show answer

await page.route('**/api/report', async route => { await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 3000)); await route.continue(); }); await page.getByRole('button', { name: 'Generate' }).click(); await expect(page.getByRole('progressbar')).toBeVisible(); await expect(page.getByRole('progressbar')).toBeHidden();

Mocked responses drift from the real API and tests pass while production breaks. How do you prevent this?

Network MockingHard

Show answer

Generate mock data from the API schema or real recorded responses instead of hand-writing it. Validate mocks against the OpenAPI schema in a unit test. Add contract tests on the backend side and re-record HAR files on a schedule. Keep a few unmocked end-to-end tests that run after each deploy. Treat mock files as code with owners and reviews.

How do you use more than one reporter in the same run?

Parallel Runs, Sharding & ReportingEasy

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// playwright.config.ts export default defineConfig({ reporter: [ ['list'], ['html', { open: 'never', outputFolder: 'playwright-report' }], ['junit', { outputFile: 'results/junit.xml' }], ], });

How do you share one authenticated API context across all tests in a worker?

Fixtures and HooksMedium

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Create a worker-scoped fixture that calls request.newContext with baseURL and an auth header, or logs in through the API and keeps the cookies. Pass it to use, and dispose it after use returns. Every test in that worker gets the same ready context, so login happens once per worker. Do not store per-test data on it, or tests start depending on each other.

How do you tag and filter tests?

Framework Design and CI/CDMedium

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Add tags in the title (@smoke) or use the tag option, and run with --grep @smoke or --grep-invert.

What is the difference between waitForSelector and expect with locator?

Locators and AssertionsMedium

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waitForSelector is a lower-level wait; locator assertions are preferred as they retry and are more readable.

What are discriminated unions and how can they model API responses?

JavaScript and TypeScriptHard

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A discriminated union is a union of object types that share one literal field, such as status: 'ok' with data, or status: 'error' with a message. Checking the status field narrows the type, so TypeScript only allows data in the ok branch. In test helpers this forces you to handle the error case and prevents reading fields that do not exist.

What is destructuring and the spread operator?

JavaScript and TypeScriptMedium

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Destructuring pulls values from arrays or objects into variables; spread expands an array or object into another, useful for copying and merging config.

Retries make the build green, but nobody notices flaky tests. How do you surface them?

Framework Design and CI/CDHard

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Playwright already marks tests that passed on retry as flaky in the HTML and JSON reports. Read the JSON report in a small script after each run, post flaky test names to the team channel, and fail the build if the flaky count crosses a threshold. Over time you can track trends per test and per area.

How do you run the same visual tests at mobile, tablet and desktop sizes?

Visual & Accessibility TestingMedium

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Create one project per size in playwright.config, for example using devices['Pixel 7'], devices['iPad Mini'] and a desktop viewport, and point them at the same visual test files with testMatch or a tag. Because the project name is part of the baseline file name, each size keeps its own images automatically. This keeps the test code identical while covering responsive layouts.

How do you test file downloads and verify their content?

Playwright CoreMedium

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Capture the download event, save it with download.saveAs, then read the file in Node and assert on name, size or content.