Describe your strategy for handling flaky tests in a large test suite.
- flaky tests
- stability
- test maintenance
Answer it first, then compare. Nothing here is saved or scored.
Model answer
Systematic approach: (1) Track flaky tests with a quarantine system, flag but do not delete. (2) Analyze patterns, is it timing? Environment? Data? Concurrency? (3) Fix root causes: replace sleeps with explicit waits, isolate test data, stabilize test environments. (4) Auto-retry with reporting, retry once in CI but flag retried tests for investigation. (5) Set a flaky test budget, no more than 2% of suite should be flaky. (6) Weekly flaky test triage meetings. Never just re-run and hope.
What interviewers listen for
- Test architecture instinctsYou can defend why your suite is shaped like a pyramid, a trophy, or a honeycomb.
- Locator disciplineYou rank selector strategies by stability and explain when to break the rule.
- Flaky test ownershipYou debug to a structural fix instead of retry-until-green.
- Parallelisation literacyYou know how your framework isolates state, fixtures, and database access across workers.