What HTTP status codes should a QA engineer know, and when is each used?
- HTTP status codes
- fundamentals
- REST
Answer it first, then compare. Nothing here is saved or scored.
Model answer
200 OK (success), 201 Created (resource created), 204 No Content (success, no body, common for DELETE). 301/302 Redirects. 400 Bad Request (client error - invalid input), 401 Unauthorized (not authenticated), 403 Forbidden (authenticated but not authorized), 404 Not Found, 409 Conflict (duplicate resource), 422 Unprocessable Entity (validation failed). 500 Internal Server Error, 502 Bad Gateway, 503 Service Unavailable. Know these by heart - every API test validates status codes.
What interviewers listen for
- Schema-first thinkingYou validate response shape before you assert on values, every time.
- Status-code literacyYou can defend why 401 vs 403 vs 422 matters for the consumer.
- Contract awarenessYou know when consumer-driven contract tests beat end-to-end checks.
- Auth fluencyYou can describe rotating tokens across parallel workers without secrets in logs.