Interview Question: Tell me about a time you automated a repetitive task.
Engineer A sees a tedious manual task, sighs, and does it every week. Engineer B does it once, then writes a script to automate it. Which would you hire? Engineer B has a multiplier mindset—they don't just complete tasks; they eliminate them. Your answer shows initiative, efficiency, and the ability to create lasting value.
What Interviewers Are Looking For
- Problem Identification: Can you recognize inefficiency patterns?
- Initiative: Do you fix problems without being asked?
- Pragmatism: Do you apply appropriate effort?
- Impact: Can you quantify the benefit?
- Generosity: Did you make it available to the team?
STAR Framework
S - Situation
Describe the painful, manual, repetitive task. How long did it take? How error-prone was it?
T - Task
Your self-defined goal: eliminate this pain permanently.
A - Action
How you built the automation, chose the tools, and shared it with the team.
R - Result
Quantify: "Reduced 4-hour process to 10 minutes. Zero errors. Saved 15 hours/week team-wide."
✓ Strong Answer
"Our QA team spent 2 hours per test session manually creating test accounts. I built a CLI tool with simple commands like create-test-user --plan=premium. Reduced setup to 30 seconds. Saved 10-15 hours weekly."