QA Automation Engineer Challenge

Welcome to the QA Automation Engineer Challenge! This repository contains a simple Inventory Management System that you'll use to demonstrate your test automation skills using Playwright and TypeScript.

🎯 Challenge Overview

Your task is to demonstrate your QA automation skills by creating a comprehensive Playwright test suite for this Inventory Management System. The focus is on writing robust, maintainable automated tests using Playwright and TypeScript - not on modifying the application code itself.

Note: While you may modify the application code if you identify bugs or improvements, the primary goal is to showcase your test automation expertise through well-structured Playwright tests.

📋 Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18 or higher)
• npm or yarn
• Git
• Basic knowledge of TypeScript and Playwright

🚀 Getting Started

1. Clone this repository:

git clone [repository-url]
cd qa-automation-challenge

2. Create your own public repository on GitHub for your solution

3. Push to your new repository:

git remote set-url origin https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/your-solution-repo.git
git push -u origin main

4. Install dependencies:

npm install

5. Install Playwright browsers:

npx playwright install

6. Start the application:

npm run dev

7. Run the example test:

npm test

🏗️ Application Features

Authentication

• Login page with email/password validation
• Session management
• Protected routes
• Test accounts provided (see below)

Product Management

• View all products
• Add new products
• Edit existing products
• Delete products
• Search and filter products
• Sort by name, price, or stock

Inventory Management

• View current stock levels
• Adjust stock quantities (increase/decrease)
• Low stock alerts
• Stock status indicators

Test Accounts

• Admin User: admin@test.com / Admin123!
• Regular User: user@test.com / User123!

📝 Challenge Tasks

Your primary objective is to create automated tests using Playwright. Focus on demonstrating your test automation skills rather than modifying the application code.

Level 1: Basic (Required)

1. Complete the LoginPage Page Object Model

   • Implement the missing methods in pages/login.page.ts
   • Add proper waits and error handling

2. Create authentication tests using Playwright

   • Valid login scenarios
   • Invalid login scenarios (wrong email, wrong password, empty fields)
   • Password visibility toggle
   • Logout functionality

3. Create product management tests using Playwright

   • Add a new product with valid data
   • Validate form field requirements
   • Test validation errors (negative price, empty required fields)
   • Search for products
   • Delete a product with confirmation

Level 2: Intermediate (Recommended)

4. Implement additional Page Object Models

   • Create ProductsPage class
   • Create InventoryPage class
   • Create DashboardPage class

5. Create inventory tests using Playwright

   • Adjust stock levels (increase/decrease)
   • Validate stock cannot go below zero
   • Verify low stock alerts appear correctly
   • Test bulk operations

6. Implement data-driven testing

   • Use the test data from data/test-products.json
   • Create parameterized tests for multiple scenarios
   • Implement test data factories

7. Add custom fixtures

   • Create authentication fixture for logged-in state
   • Create product setup/teardown fixtures

Level 3: Advanced (Bonus)

8. Create end-to-end user journeys

   • Complete product lifecycle (create → edit → adjust stock → delete)
   • Multi-user scenarios
   • Complex filtering and sorting combinations

9. Implement advanced testing patterns

   • API integration for test data setup
   • Custom test reporters
   • Visual regression testing
   • Performance metrics collection

10. CI/CD Integration

    • Create GitHub Actions workflow
    • Implement parallel test execution
    • Add test reporting artifacts

📁 Project Structure

qa-automation-challenge/
├── app/                   # Next.js application
│   ├── login/            # Login page
│   ├── dashboard/        # Dashboard page
│   ├── products/         # Product management
│   ├── inventory/        # Inventory management
│   └── lib/             # Utility functions
├── pages/               # Page Object Models
│   └── login.page.ts    # Partially implemented - complete this
├── tests/               # Test specifications
│   ├── example.spec.ts  # Example test (working)
│   └── challenges/      # Your tests go here
├── fixtures/            # Test fixtures (create your own)
├── data/               # Test data
│   └── test-products.json
└── playwright.config.ts # Playwright configuration

✅ Evaluation Criteria

Your submission will be evaluated based on:

Code Quality (30%)

• Clean, readable code
• Proper TypeScript usage
• Following naming conventions
• DRY principles

Test Coverage (25%)

• Comprehensive test scenarios
• Edge cases and negative testing
• Appropriate assertions

Framework Design (25%)

• Well-structured Page Object Models
• Reusable components and helpers
• Proper use of fixtures
• Efficient selectors

Best Practices (20%)

• Proper waits and synchronization
• Error handling
• Test independence
• Documentation and comments

Bonus Points

• Innovation and creativity
• Performance optimizations
• Additional testing types (visual, performance, accessibility)
• CI/CD implementation

📤 Submission Guidelines

1. Complete the challenge tasks in your public repository
2. Commit your changes with clear, descriptive messages
3. Create a SOLUTION.md file in the root directory describing:
   • Your testing approach and framework decisions
   • Any assumptions made about the application behavior
   • Instructions to run your test suite
   • Test coverage strategy and prioritization
   • Challenges faced and solutions implemented
   • Suggestions for future test improvements
4. Ensure all tests are passing and can be run with npm test
5. Share the public repository link with us

🔍 Tips for Success

1. Start with the example test to understand the application behavior
2. Focus on writing robust, maintainable Playwright tests
3. Write clear test descriptions that explain what is being tested
4. Handle both happy path and error scenarios
5. Make tests independent and repeatable
6. Use data-testid attributes provided in the application for stable selectors
7. Comment complex test logic and assertions
8. Consider test execution time and parallelization
9. Remember: The goal is to showcase your Playwright test automation skills, not to fix application bugs (unless critical for testing)

🤔 Common Pitfalls to Avoid

• Hardcoding values instead of using test data
• Not handling loading states
• Ignoring test flakiness
• Overly complex selectors
• Missing error scenarios
• Tests that depend on other tests

📚 Useful Resources

• Playwright Documentation
• TypeScript Documentation
• Page Object Model Pattern
• Best Practices

❓ Questions?

If you have any questions about the challenge or encounter technical issues with the application, please create an issue in the original repository.

Good luck! We're excited to see your solution! 🚀