Salesforce·Software Engineer·Technical Phone Screen·Intermediate

Intermediate

Apr 2026

Summary

Did a technical screen for a SWE role at Salesforce, came up pretty standard with foundational CS concepts.

Questions Asked (1)

What are the different types of software testing?

Technical Trade-offs

Author's notes

Ran through unit, integration, and end-to-end testing and kind of stalled after that.

Create a free account to read the full note

AI HintsAI Generated

Suggested Approach

Start by categorizing testing types into functional and non-functional, then briefly explain each with examples. Emphasize how these testing types fit into the software development lifecycle and why they matter for quality at scale, especially in a cloud CRM context like Salesforce.

Pro tip: Mention that testing is not just about finding bugs but about building confidence and enabling rapid, safe releases—this resonates with Salesforce's focus on trust and innovation.

1. Define testing and its purpose

Briefly state that software testing evaluates a system to verify it meets requirements and to identify defects. Highlight that different types serve different goals.

2. Categorize into functional vs. non-functional

Explain that functional testing verifies what the system does (e.g., unit, integration, system, acceptance), while non-functional testing verifies how well it does it (e.g., performance, security, usability).

3. Detail key functional testing types

Describe unit, integration, system, and acceptance testing, giving a one-line example for each (e.g., unit tests for a method, integration tests for API calls).

4. Detail key non-functional testing types

Cover performance, load, security, usability, and compatibility testing, explaining their importance in cloud environments like Salesforce.

5. Connect to the role and company

Tie the types to Salesforce's context: e.g., multi-tenant architecture demands robust security and performance testing; CI/CD pipelines rely on automated unit and integration tests.

Key Points to Mention

Unit testing: testing individual components or functions in isolation.
Integration testing: testing interactions between modules or services.
System testing: testing the complete, integrated system against requirements.
Acceptance testing: validating against user needs and business requirements (UAT).
Performance/load testing: ensuring scalability and responsiveness under expected and peak loads.
Security testing: identifying vulnerabilities, especially critical for cloud platforms like Salesforce.

AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.