I still remember the first time I saw “RPA Interview” in an invite. I thought, “Cool, some questions about bots.” Then I walked in, and they hit me with UiPath workflows, debugging live scripts, and design questions that felt like mini-projects. I barely made it through the hour.

If you’re staring at the same coding interviews invite, wondering how deep they’ll go into Automation Anywhere or Blue Prism, you’re not alone. These interviews aren’t just about knowing tools; they test how you think when things break.

So here’s what I wish I'd had back then: real RPA interview questions, model answers, scripting tips, and examples that actually prepare you for the room, not theory, not fluff.

That’s exactly what I built the Interview Coder AI Interview Assistant for. It gives you mock RPA questions, real-time feedback, and helps you practice until your explanations land clean. Think of it as your personal prep partner, one that doesn’t judge, just gets you ready to win the automation role.

Summary

I still remember bombing my first RPA interview. The recruiter asked about rollback plans, and I just stared at the Zoom screen like it owed me money. Nobody tells you that building bots is the easy part, explaining tradeoffs without sounding like a walking Jira ticket? That’s where people choke.
That’s why I built Interview Coder. It doesn’t just throw buzzwords at you; it makes you practice like someone who’s about to get grilled on real numbers, not your “passion for automation.” If a hiring manager hears “we saved 30% on ops costs” instead of “we implemented a bot,” you win. That’s the whole game.
Most RPA projects fail for dumb reasons, such as bad exception handling, no SLA fallback, or someone hardcoding a selector to a button that disappears. So I trained Interview Coder to ask the same annoying governance questions your interviewer will. Better to sweat now than blank out when it counts.
Also, architecture questions are a trap. Everyone thinks it’s about tools, but it’s about tradeoffs. Do you surface it for speed? Or connect it for long-term sanity? Interview Coder forces you to explain those calls out loud because if you can’t explain it, you don’t understand it.
People who prep with us don’t just feel ready; they sound ready —real metrics, real structure, real reps. No fluff. 85% say they interview better after using it. 10,000+ got hired. No, it’s not magic. It’s just hard work, done right.

25 RPA Interview Questions That Actually Show You Know Your Stuff

1. What Is RPA, And How Does It Differ From Traditional Automation?

Why Do They Ask

They want to know if you understand the basics or just memorized a definition.

How To Answer It Like A Human

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) refers to the use of bots to mimic human actions on a computer, such as clicking, copying/pasting, and data entry. Traditional automation usually needs code changes or API access. RPA just says, “Screw that. Let’s work with what’s already on the screen.”

Example

RPA is software that mimics a person's actions on a screen to automate repetitive tasks. Unlike traditional automation, it doesn’t need to rebuild systems; it just clicks through like a human would.”

2. Can You Explain The RPA Lifecycle?

Why Do They Ask

They’re testing how RPA is actually built and maintained.

How To Answer It Like Someone Who's Done This

The lifecycle’s simple: plan the task, build the bot, test it, deploy it, fix it when it breaks (because it will). Then repeat because business rules change all the time.

Example

“RPA is never ‘set it and forget it.’ You plan, build, test, deploy, and then maintain. It’s a cycle, not a checklist.”

3. What Are The Key Components Of An RPA tool?

Why Do They Ask

They want to know if you’ve touched a real tool or just read the brochure.

How To Answer It Straight

There’s the designer who builds stuff, the runner who executes it, and the dashboard where you watch things break in real-time.

Example

“Every RPA tool gives you a way to design the bots, run them, and monitor them. That’s it don’t overthink it.”

4. Describe A Scenario Where RPA Works Well.

Why Do They Ask

They're checking if you know when to use RPA (and when not to).

How To Answer With A Real-World Lens

Anything repetitive and rule-based is fair game, like invoice processing. RPA crushes that.

Example

“Think of invoice processing same structure, same logic, 1,000 times a day. Perfect for a bot.”

5. What Are The Benefits Of Using RPA?

Why Do They Ask

They want to know if you can explain the upside without sounding like a sales deck.

How To Answer Without Bs

It saves time. It reduces dumb mistakes. It frees people from tasks they hate.

Example

“RPA cuts down on manual work, reduces errors, and lets actual humans do less mind-numbing stuff.”

6. How Do You Handle Exceptions In RPA?

Why Do They Ask

They’re testing if you can write bots that don’t fall apart when something changes.

How To Answer Like An Engineer

Log everything. Try/catch the risky steps. Assume things will break and prepare for that.

Example

“I wrap unstable steps in try-catch blocks, log every failure, and make sure someone gets pinged when stuff goes sideways.”

7. What’s The Role Of A Bot In RPA?

Why Do They Ask

They’re checking if you get the basic mechanics.

How To Answer It Without Buzzwords

A bot is just a script that acts like a person using a mouse and keyboard.

Example

“Bots are like super-obedient interns they follow instructions exactly, don’t complain, and don’t take coffee breaks.”

8. Difference Between Attended And Unattended Bots?

Why Do They Ask

They want to see if you understand how bots are deployed.

How To Answer In One Breath

Attended = sidekick. Unattended = background worker.

Example

“Attended bots help humans during tasks, like filling forms. Unattended bots run in the background on a schedule no humans needed.”

9. Common Challenges With RPA Implementation?

Why Do They Ask

They want to know if you’ve been through real projects.

How To Answer With Battle Scars

Biggest headache? People are resisting change. Next? Bad processes that weren’t ready for automation in the first place.

Example

“People hate change. And most processes are messy. Automating a broken process just makes a faster mess.”

10. How Do You Keep RPA Secure?

Why Do They Ask

They’re testing if you’ve thought about security, or just speed.

How To Answer Like You’re Paranoid (In A Good Way)

Encrypt everything. Lock access down. Log who did what, when.

Example

“I use encryption, role-based access, and audit logs. If something shady happens, I want receipts.”

11. Script To Automate Website Login?

Why Do They Ask

They want to see if you’ve done this before.

How To Answer It Smart

Find the username/password fields, enter them, and click login. Add retries. Add error checks.

Example

“I target the input fields with selectors, enter creds, click the login button, and check for success. If it fails, I retry or log the issue.”

12. Extract Data From PDF to Excel?

Why Do They Ask

This is a real-world task they deal with.

How To Answer Like It’s Routine

Use OCR or native text extraction. Parse it. Clean it. Dump it in Excel.

Example

“I extract the text, use regex or anchors to pull what I need, then write it row-by-row to Excel.”

13. Read Excel → Send emails?

Why Do They Ask

It’s common, and it shows you can loop through data.

How To Answer With Clarity

Open Excel. Loop through rows. Send an email per row. Done.

Example

“Loop through each row, grab the email + message, and send it out. Add logging so I know what got sent.”

14. How to Schedule RPA Tasks?

Why Do They Ask

They want to know if you’ve moved past running bots manually.

How To Answer With Confidence

Use the scheduler in your RPA platform. Or cron. Or task scheduler. Just don’t forget it.

Example

“I use the tool’s built-in scheduler or a cron job, depending on where it’s hosted. Timed jobs = less babysitting.”

15. Scrape Data From A Website?

Why Do They Ask

They’re seeing if you can pull structured data.

How To Answer Like A Scraper, Not A Crawler

Find the elements. Extract the text. Handle pagination. Save it clean.

Example

“Find the right DOM nodes, extract text, page through results, and save to CSV or Excel.”

16. Handle Missing Web Element?

Why Do They Ask

They want to know if your bot dies on edge cases.

How To Answer Like A Pro

Try → Catch → Retry → Log.

Example

“If an element’s missing, I catch the exception, retry a few times, and log it if it fails again. No silent errors.”

17. Integrate RPA with AI/ML?

Why Do They Ask

They want to see if you’ve built more intelligent workflows.

How To Answer Without Sounding Like ChatGPT Wrote It

Call an API. Get a result. Make a decision. That’s it.

Example

“I hit an AI API (like Natural language processing (NLP) or image classification), grab the result, and let the bot make decisions off that.”

18. Compare Two Excel Files?

Why Do They Ask

Classic data cleanup task.

How To Answer It Like A Spreadsheet Assassin

Read both files. Compare cell by cell or row by row. Flag what’s different.

Example

“Loop through both sheets, compare values, and color the cells that mismatch.”

19. Why Is Logging Important?

Why Do They Ask

They want to know whether you consider debuggability.

How To Answer Like Someone Who’s Cleaned Up Messes At 2 am

Logs save your ass. Plain and simple.

Example

“Without logs, you’re blind when a bot fails. I log every step, inputs, errors, and time taken.”

20. How To Optimize An RPA Workflow?

Why Do They Ask

They want to know if you know what to fix when things are slow.

How To Answer Like Someone Who Tunes For Speed

Kill unnecessary steps. Batch where you can. Run in parallel.

Example

“I cut redundant steps, batch DB hits, and parallelize independent tasks to shave off seconds.”

21. Script To Generate A Report From A DB?

Why Do They Ask

Can you connect to a DB, query, and output something useful?

How To Answer Like It’s Normal

Connect → Query → Format → Export.

Example

“I run a SQL query, format the result into a table, and export to Excel or PDF.”

22. How Do You Manage Version Control?

Why Do They Ask

They’re seeing if you work like a developer.

How To Answer Without Sounding Junior

Git or bust. Track changes. Use branches.

Example

“I use Git to version bots commit regularly, branch for features, and push to shared repo.”

23. Fill Out The Web Form From Excel?

Why Do They Ask

It’s a basic automation test.

How To Answer Simply

Loop rows. Find fields. Fill data. Submit.

Example

“I read each row, map values to form fields, submit, and handle validation or errors.”

24. Best practices for testing RPA bots?

Why Do They Ask

They want to know if you test before deploying (you’d be shocked how many don’t).

How To Answer Like QA Matters

Test every scenario. Break it on purpose. Watch logs.

Example

“I test success, failure, edge cases everything. Better to find bugs in staging than in prod.”

25. How do you debug a broken workflow?

Why Do They Ask

They want to know if you panic or troubleshoot.

How To Answer Like Someone Who’s Seen Stuff

Reproduce the issue. Isolate the bug. Fix and retest.

Example

“I trace the logs, find the last successful step, and isolate the failing one. Then I patch, rerun, and watch closely.”

Final Thought

Knowing the answers isn’t enough. You have to make them real. Show them you’ve built stuff, fixed it when it broke, and didn’t just memorize answers the night before.

Want to go deeper and actually prep like someone who gets hired?

Try Interview Coder for free, the tool I built because I was tired of bombing interviews I could’ve nailed with proper prep.

30 RPA Interview Questions for Experienced Engineers

I used to think automation was just “press record and pray.” Back when I first messed with RPA, I built something that clicked through a finance dashboard, and it broke the second someone resized a window. That’s when I realized: RPA isn’t about building bots. It’s about building stuff that doesn’t break in the real world.

Fast forward, landing internships at Amazon, Meta, and TikTok didn’t happen because I memorized buzzwords. It happened because I got real about what breaks, why it breaks, and how to fix it. This post? It’s the exact list I wish I had before walking into those interviews.

Let’s not waste time. If you’re interviewing for serious RPA roles, here are the questions that matter and how to answer them like someone who’s been through production hell and came out the other side.

1. What Reasons Lead To The Failure Of RPA Projects?

Because people treat RPA like a weekend hackathon, they automate the wrong stuff — low-value screens that change every quarter — and skip the boring bits, like exception handling and real SLAs. Bots look fine at first... until things go sideways and no one knows who owns the rollback plan.

Real Talk Checklist

Don’t automate junk. Start with stable inputs and decision rules.
Governance = versioning + rollbacks + incident playbooks.
Track the boring metrics: error rate, throughput, cost per transaction.

2. What Are The Components Of RPA architecture?

Think microservices for bots. Split the brains (orchestrator), muscles (execution), glue (integrations), and logs (observability). Treat your bots like software, not side projects.

Breakdown

Orchestrator: scheduling, RBAC, retries.
Execution: attended/unattended pools with autoscaling.
Adapters: APIs, queues, secure vaults.
Observability: logs, metrics, traces tied to biz outcomes.

3. What is Citrix Automation?

It’s the automation version of flying blind. Your bot sees pixels, not DOMs. So you build with OCR, anchors, and prayers. Stability depends on how much you respect latency and visual noise.

Don’t Be Dumb

Use OCR with anchors, not pixel clicks.
Add latency and fidelity checks.
Isolate to clean execution hosts.

4. Chatbot vs RPA?

Chatbots talk. RPA does. They’re the frontend/backend of automation. Let chatbots capture structured intent, and let RPA handle the dirty work behind the scenes.

Pair Them Like This

Chatbot: gathers user input and dumps intent to the queue.
RPA: picks up the queue, executes the process, and responds.

5. Thoughts on RPA Recorders?

They're like scaffolding. Helpful in getting started, dangerous if you live there. Use recordings to bootstrap object models. Then rebuild it like a real app with tested modules.

What To Do

Extract, parameterize, anchor.
Trash absolute selectors.
Build tests before you ship.

6. What is Process Studio?

It’s your brain on canvas. If you treat it like a no-code toy, you’ll regret it. Treat it like an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) with rules, tests, and structure.

Clean Builds

Modular by capability.
Add CI, linting, and code review.
Validate the five highest-revenue flows.

7. What Is UiPath Studio?

It’s a legit IDE, treat it like one. Use packages, semantic versioning, and testing utilities; store artifacts in Git. Don't let your workflow become someone’s future headache.

Real Tips

Shared libs? Version them.
No test = no deploy.

8. How Do You Handle Exceptions In UiPath?

It’s not one try-catch. It’s a mindset. Every exception should either self-heal, escalate cleanly, or pause for human review with context.

Patterns That Save You

Compensation flows.
Idempotent retries.
Clear escalation paths.

9. Role Of RPA in Data Migration?

When systems don’t talk, bots bridge the gap. Use RPA for the human-in-the-loop parts of migration. Automate extract-transform-validate flows.

How To Keep It Sane

Snapshots + verifications.
Dual-write with reconciliation.
Test harnesses everywhere.

10. Update Data In Two Apps Simultaneously?

You don’t. You coordinate. Use orchestration, staging, verification, and compensation. Assume one write will fail and plan for it.

Patterns

Simulate 2-phase commit.
Queue-based retries.
Transaction logs.

11. Latest File From A Folder In UiPath?

Sort by LastWriteTime, grab the first. Rename or lock the file before touching it. Run checks before you process anything.

Checklist

Desc sort by timestamp.
Move to “processing” folder.
Validate + checksum.

12. Calling Web/REST Services?

Use an HTTP client with retries and schema validation. Auth goes in a vault. Failures need fallbacks. Don’t assume a happy path.

Real Setup

OAuth or mTLS.
Retry with jitter.
Validate responses.

13. Why Use RPA for Email?

Because parsing inboxes manually is soul-killing. Use RPA for deterministic routing and extraction. Train it with ML if needed.

How To

Templates + classifiers.
Extract + stage + verify.
Full audit trail.

14. What’s The Automation Anywhere Control Room?

Your bot's mission control. Policies, deployments, telemetry. RBAC, scheduling, logs. Without it, good luck scaling.

Must-Haves

Credential rotation.
Concurrency controls.
SLA dashboards.

15. When to use Intelligent Automation?

Use it when volume is high, variance is real, and ML helps reduce grunt work. Not when you want to impress your boss with AI buzzwords.

Evaluation Grid

Volume, effort, exception rate.
Real-world accuracy gain.
Compliance checkboxes.

16. What Are The Risks Of RPA in Terms Of Security? How Are You Going To Deal With Them?

Bots are just as dangerous as people with bad passwords. Maybe worse. Assume they’ll be compromised someday. Plan accordingly.

Security Sanity Checklist

Short-lived creds from a vault.
Tie every action to job + bot ID.
Lock bots into hardened segments.

17. Surface vs Connector-Based Automation?

Surface automation = faking clicks. Connectors = speaking native API. If you can use a connector, use it. Save surface stuff for last resorts.

When To Use What

Connector = reliable and fast.
Surface = fragile, but sometimes your only option.

18. Attended vs Unattended RPA?

Attended is your sidekick. Unattended is your night shift. Different use cases. Different risk models. Plan both like different species.

Execution Rules

Attended = quick handoffs, local creds.
Unattended = orchestrator, strict RBAC, deep logs.

19. UiPath vs Selenium?

Selenium is a sniper rifle. UiPath is a Swiss army knife. Selenium’s great for browser testing. UiPath owns the process layer.

Use Cases

Selenium = testing and scraping.
UiPath = cross-app automation at scale.

20. Screen Scraping vs Data Scraping?

Screen scraping = brute-force OCR. Data scraping = structured APIs/DOMs. Use the second. Fall back to the first only when stuck.

Tips

Clean fonts before OCR.
Use selectors + OCR fallback.

21. Mainframe vs Non-Mainframe Apps?

Mainframes are tanks. Non-mainframes are drones. They scale differently, fail differently, and need different automation hooks.

Automation Pointers

Mainframe = emulators, stable screens.
Non-mainframe = API-first, async retries.

22. Read and Write Activities in UiPath?

I/O modules need structure. Don’t just read/write. Validate, log, and retry. Build for idempotency so you can safely re-run.

Modular Structure

Parse → Validate → Persist.
Schema checks, checksums, transactions.

23. UiPath Architecture?

It’s not just Studio + Orchestrator. It’s the whole ops picture, such as CI/CD, DR, scaling, and alerting. Build for day 2, not just day 0.

Add These Layers

CI pipelines + package repos.
DR plans + DB replication.
Business-KPI-driven alerting.

24. Process, Asset, Queue, Job?

Processes do. Assets store. Queues manage. Jobs run. Keep logic stateless and let queues carry state—version everything.

Tips

Idempotent processes.
Queues = scaling + retries.
Jobs = log everything.

25. What If The App Keeps Crashing?

Design like it will. Health checks, retries, snapshotting, and human fallbacks. Robots need a panic button.

Build Resilience

Auto-restart scripts.
Diagnostic capture.
Escalation flows.

26. Automate Dynamic Table Extraction?

Yes, but only if you respect timing, selectors, and loading patterns. Pagination and scroll detection matter.

Checklist

Row anchors + smart waits.
Detect async loads.
Reconciliation checks.

27. Process Requires Different Creds Per Stage?

Centralize creds. Inject them at runtime. Rotate often, track who used what, where, and when.

Cred Hygiene

Scoped access per stage.
Rotate after X uses.
Audit trail by stage.

28. Connect The Robot To The Orchestrator?

Sanity Checks

Job scheduled?
License active?
Heartbeat stable?

29. Handle Dynamic Selectors?

Use anchors and intent, not absolute trash. Wildcards only when they won’t explode later. Test them constantly.

How To Stay Sane

Store selectors in components.
CI health checks against staging.

30. Create an Excel chart with UiPath?

Wrap your macro call in validations. Don't trust Excel to “just work.”

Charting Flow

Validate data shape.
Run macro in scoped Excel.
Log results and errors.

Two quick stats worth knowing:

70%+ of companies are adopting RPA to save time.
RPA cuts operational costs by up to 30%.

Curiosity Loop

What separates someone who builds automations... from someone whose bots run the business next quarter?

Start with that question. Build from there.

Nail Coding Interviews with our AI Interview Assistant − Get Your Dream Job Today

I’ve been that guy sweating through LeetCode with four tabs open and Slack pinging in the background. Praying I don't accidentally alt-tab during a screen share and look like I'm cheating. It messes with your head if you’ve felt that stress, yeah, same.

So I built something I wish I had back then, Interview Coder. Start with the free plan. Zero dollars. Get used to how it works. If it clicks, grab the Pro version for $25/month (annual). It’s like having a calm brain next to you when your real one’s freaking out.