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So, I think I'm about to become a QA Tester, what should I expect?
- Thread starter Ark-AMN
- Start date
Ark-AMN, you DO realise you will probably be playtesting Spore? Right in the studio of Will Wright?
Let me phrase it like this, you may have much closer ties to the team than you would think. Will freaking rocks, he's very casual, very intelligent and runs things very differently. I have seen most of his speeches and discussions he's held everywhere. From his own words, his staff is closely knit together. You will probably meet him.
Once you have settled in, tell me if I was right.
Let me phrase it like this, you may have much closer ties to the team than you would think. Will freaking rocks, he's very casual, very intelligent and runs things very differently. I have seen most of his speeches and discussions he's held everywhere. From his own words, his staff is closely knit together. You will probably meet him.
Once you have settled in, tell me if I was right.
deadhorse32
Bad Art
Looks like EA Emeryville is Will Wright's Studio. So that 's cool for you
Well I mean, that'd be nice. But I don't want to assume anything, cause my assumptions always seem to be way off. Like when I assumed I could get into the industry without doing QA, and that sort of thing, hehe.FoxSpirit said:
I mean, I certainly won't complain if things turn out nice in this position. But again, hopefully I can eventually become some type of an artist/designer.
The reason I'm kind of being cautious here is that a few weeks ago, EA offered me this job again, but later on told me they made a mistake and there was no job. So this time, I'm trying not to be so sure of things.
element
Member
If you don't want to be a tester, then don't apply for one. The days of getting your foot in the door just don't exist anymore really.
I met some people on Spore and they are very close, but they also have small 'proto' teams each working on a feature. This was a year or so ago, so it might have changed. Even if you worked on Spore, you really would be running lots of pre-defined tests. A game of this scope you probably wouldn't have Will Wright down there seeing what people think. But I could be wrong.
If you want to be a world artist, then keep working at that. Don't look at QA as a way to get in. It really only hurts you in your attempts to work out of QA.
Keep in mind, this is from the viewpoint of working at a large company.
I met some people on Spore and they are very close, but they also have small 'proto' teams each working on a feature. This was a year or so ago, so it might have changed. Even if you worked on Spore, you really would be running lots of pre-defined tests. A game of this scope you probably wouldn't have Will Wright down there seeing what people think. But I could be wrong.
If you want to be a world artist, then keep working at that. Don't look at QA as a way to get in. It really only hurts you in your attempts to work out of QA.
Keep in mind, this is from the viewpoint of working at a large company.
I do understand what you're getting at here. But like I've said, it has come to the point (my own fault I admit) where I no longer have the time to wait for that opportunity to get in as an artist, simply because well, I don't really see any short-term prospects opening up and I haven't been able to locate any real entry-level art jobs with any developers (even the tiny ones) out there. I need income, the student loans won't pay themselves. This is all I could find, so it's this or well, nothing.element said:
hyp
Member
despite what some may say, it's a good way to get your foot in the door. i started off as a tester, and about 3 1/2 years later i'm a production manager in the gaming industry. i wouldn't have gotten this job without my prior experience as a tester. before my current job i worked for a fortune 500 tech company unrelated to gaming. so when i went to apply for the management position at the gaming company, it was my short testing experience that helped land me the job. just make sure that you've got skills to leverage for when other opportunities come your way.
I don't agree at all that QA isn't a foot in the door anymore.
I've seen a lot of people move out of QA and into design, scripting and production roles in the last couple years and that was at a large company.
QA is definitely the bottom rung of the ladder, you won't be appreciated, you'll be mistreated and underpaid, but after your 6 month contract is up, you will have experience and you can take that and get a job elsewhere.
Pay enough attention while you are in QA and you can learn a lot, take that knowledge and apply it to whatever it is you are working towards. If you want to be an artist, there is a lot to learn from seeing art in development in a full scale title.
Ultimately everyone climbs the ladder, if you are looking to be an artist, make that known when you apply for another job elsewhere. Come in as QA but let them know that you are eventually moving in that direction. Most dev houses will actually prefer to hire someone who can potentially wear multiple hats over someone who can only do one thing.
I've worked in a few places that preferred to fill roles internally first by moving people up the ladder before looking outside of the studio to fill empty holes in the team.
I've seen a lot of people move out of QA and into design, scripting and production roles in the last couple years and that was at a large company.
QA is definitely the bottom rung of the ladder, you won't be appreciated, you'll be mistreated and underpaid, but after your 6 month contract is up, you will have experience and you can take that and get a job elsewhere.
Pay enough attention while you are in QA and you can learn a lot, take that knowledge and apply it to whatever it is you are working towards. If you want to be an artist, there is a lot to learn from seeing art in development in a full scale title.
Ultimately everyone climbs the ladder, if you are looking to be an artist, make that known when you apply for another job elsewhere. Come in as QA but let them know that you are eventually moving in that direction. Most dev houses will actually prefer to hire someone who can potentially wear multiple hats over someone who can only do one thing.
I've worked in a few places that preferred to fill roles internally first by moving people up the ladder before looking outside of the studio to fill empty holes in the team.
Hmm, I do worry that QA probably wouldn't translate into art that well. I mean, I suppose it might help if I wanted to go into level design (which I might want to). I guess I'll just have to keep working on my art in the little free time I'll have. Maybe I'll be lucky to get some pointers from people. Heh, who am I kidding. :lol
Rukes
The front page still gets no respect
gutter_trash said:
This is extremely true. Started off in QA in a small-medium company. AMAZING job, amazing people, and I actually did multi-task in different parts of the company. Did an amazing job in QA, even got some "awards" such as the 3rd ever Xbox title to go through standards without even being flagged for one issue.
Then I came out to Cali and went for 2 companies...one bigger one, then one huge one. First one was an extremely poorly run QA. Didn't know how games even passed submissions. Of course I could have helped out in turning the whole department around, but they would rather pretend my resume didn't even exist.
Moved to a larger company for more of the same. It's very disheartning to see your years of experience not matter, while people with no experience at all are doing a poor job in higher positions. Not going to re-do the years of work I already did for fun. So I gave up, took up photography, and I could never be happier
You guys do realize if he's actually testing on Spore, there's a huge world of different - it goes from "wow it's the shittiest job in the industry" to "Super fantastic! I'm testing a really cool game, and will probably get to talk with one of the brightest minds in the industry (once in awhile)!"
Zombie James
Banned
So, umm, anyone know of any QA positions in Toronto? 
Um, not much feedback, just mainly those automated rejection e-mails. The little feedback I've gotten has made mention of experience (the lack thereof). The last bit of artistic feedback I got from someone in the industry was that my modelling was good but my texturing still needs work, so that's what I gotta work on. Course, texturing is pretty time-consuming work, more so than modelling I believe.Dante said:
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
You can expect to be doing the same thing over and over again.
Ark-AMN said:
Congrats on getting the job (EA is a good company depending which department u are working for)....
In QA u'll be in for tons of pain, many many bugs to sort out, u have NDA issues (cant talk about the game/ software) etc, EVEN if you dont want to work for EA ever again, please try to refrain from talking about games that u are testing, u can still do QA in another company and work upwards from there.
Well it's a start and well at least ur job is ur hobby
Mr. Mister
Member
If you want to do level design why are you talking about art?
Anyways good luck. Don't tell anyone your personal opinions and if you get invited out drinking go and socialize.
Networking is huge and if you don't have social skills kiss any job prospects you think you have good bye.
Anyways good luck. Don't tell anyone your personal opinions and if you get invited out drinking go and socialize.
Networking is huge and if you don't have social skills kiss any job prospects you think you have good bye.
Hmm, well, I tried searching for stuff outside the industry but still in the "art" world around my area (using Craigslist and stuff) and didn't turn up much. Again, this was all I could find. As for my website, I've often said I'm really bad at making them, and thats why I've had Kakusha work on it. Maybe I'll ask him to make some changes.element said:
Again, I need money, I can't afford to wait for my skills to hopefully impress someone, since that doesn't appear to be working anytime soon. Again, it's my fault, but I need money.nathkenn said:
Well, actually I like doing both. I love lots of aspects of game design/development outside of programming/engineering. Heck, I wouldn't mind doing stuff like character animation if I could work on it some more.Mr. Mister said:
AndoCalrissian
Member
Be positive, don't let the long hours get to you, and always be the first to volunteer for extra work. Don't go in with nor develop a superiority complex. You won't be seeing family and friends very much. If you get down or fed up, remind yourself that you're being paid to test video games.
Heh, I'm definitely one who wouldn't be so callous as to burn bridges and break NDA agreements and other confidentiality things, I treat those with the utmost of adherence. I'm no stool pigeon.bigswords said:Congrats on getting the job (EA is a good company depending which department u are working for)....
In QA u'll be in for tons of pain, many many bugs to sort out, u have NDA issues (cant talk about the game/ software) etc, EVEN if you dont want to work for EA ever again, please try to refrain from talking about games that u are testing, u can still do QA in another company and work upwards from there.
Well it's a start and well at least ur job is ur hobby
Another one of the big reasons I chose this was because it's probably the one place where I can have a decent commute in the Bay Area, from Walnut Creek to Emeryville which is not bad, as to say, from Walnut Creek to Redwood Shores which is like 2 1/2 hours each way on a good day.
DAY 1
Ran into a wall over and over again until I found a way to pop through the polygons.
DAY 2
Ran into a wall over and over again until I found a way to pop through the polygons.
DAY 3
Ran into a wall over and over again until I found a way to pop through the polygons.
DAY 4
Ran into a wall over and over again until I found a way to pop through the polygons.
DAY 5
Ran into a wall over and over again until I found a way to pop through the polygons.
DAY 6
Ran into a wall over and over again until I found a way to pop through the polygons.
DAY 7
Ran into a wall over and over again until I found a way to pop through the polygons.
DAY 8
Ran into a wall over and over again until I found a way to pop through the polygons.
DAY 9
Ran into a wall over and over again until I found a way to pop through the polygons.
DAY 10
Ran into a wall over and over again until I found a way to pop through the polygons.
Ran into a wall over and over again until I found a way to pop through the polygons.
DAY 2
Ran into a wall over and over again until I found a way to pop through the polygons.
DAY 3
Ran into a wall over and over again until I found a way to pop through the polygons.
DAY 4
Ran into a wall over and over again until I found a way to pop through the polygons.
DAY 5
Ran into a wall over and over again until I found a way to pop through the polygons.
DAY 6
Ran into a wall over and over again until I found a way to pop through the polygons.
DAY 7
Ran into a wall over and over again until I found a way to pop through the polygons.
DAY 8
Ran into a wall over and over again until I found a way to pop through the polygons.
DAY 9
Ran into a wall over and over again until I found a way to pop through the polygons.
DAY 10
Ran into a wall over and over again until I found a way to pop through the polygons.
element
Member
When I mean outside, I mean like find a temp agency and do data work or work at Trader Joe's or something. As a contract tester at EA, they probably pay $11/hr. You can easily find something more then that and not be 'required' to work insane hours, so you have time to work on your own work.
I wouldn't say that. Make $11/hr with hellish hours or make $11/hr and have time to work on your own stuff to get better.
Sigh. The really facking annoying thing about this thread is that I want to give advice, but it's an Ark-AMN thread so any advice you're given gets ignored.
You got a 6 month window of opportunity with one of the most powerful publishers amd developers in the world, which is great. However, let's be clear: During that 6 month period:
* You will not be moved on to be an artist.
* You will not have an influence on the game design.
* You will not become best friends will Will Wright.
Here's what you can (and should) do:
* Work your ass off
* No, seriously, work your ass off. If you want the 6 month contract extended, you need to prove your worth. Concentrate on the QA job as your primary focus in life.
* Refrain from telling everyone within a 30 foot radius about how you want to be an artist and how the whole world is against you and you didn't get the mythical training which will somehow magically turn you into an artist. It won't get you anywhere.
* Learn from everyone you meet there. Ask about how they do what they do. Not only will it give you an insight into the game development process at that company (everyone is different), it will make you a better QA person. Knowing how the game is made helps you know how the game is broken.
* Once again, work your ass off in QA. Make yourself an essential part of the team. They go through thousands of new recruits every year. Don't be anonymous, but DON'T be a known for being a pain.
* As tempting as it will be to tell everyone on GAF what goes on in your job, keep it to yourself. You'll sign a NDA when you go in. Don't break it.
* And from everyone here at GAF, congratulations on getting a job in the industry. However, if you blow this opportunity we will call for your banning and kick your ass the next time you turn up at GDC or whatever and start complaining.
It's possible to move onto other departments and opportunities from QA. But right now, keep your head down, get the work done and make the most of this.
You got a 6 month window of opportunity with one of the most powerful publishers amd developers in the world, which is great. However, let's be clear: During that 6 month period:
* You will not be moved on to be an artist.
* You will not have an influence on the game design.
* You will not become best friends will Will Wright.
Here's what you can (and should) do:
* Work your ass off
* No, seriously, work your ass off. If you want the 6 month contract extended, you need to prove your worth. Concentrate on the QA job as your primary focus in life.
* Refrain from telling everyone within a 30 foot radius about how you want to be an artist and how the whole world is against you and you didn't get the mythical training which will somehow magically turn you into an artist. It won't get you anywhere.
* Learn from everyone you meet there. Ask about how they do what they do. Not only will it give you an insight into the game development process at that company (everyone is different), it will make you a better QA person. Knowing how the game is made helps you know how the game is broken.
* Once again, work your ass off in QA. Make yourself an essential part of the team. They go through thousands of new recruits every year. Don't be anonymous, but DON'T be a known for being a pain.
* As tempting as it will be to tell everyone on GAF what goes on in your job, keep it to yourself. You'll sign a NDA when you go in. Don't break it.
* And from everyone here at GAF, congratulations on getting a job in the industry. However, if you blow this opportunity we will call for your banning and kick your ass the next time you turn up at GDC or whatever and start complaining.
It's possible to move onto other departments and opportunities from QA. But right now, keep your head down, get the work done and make the most of this.
Father_Mike
Member
Its to bad Ark-AMN, your art has improved a lot in the last little bit.
PsychoCandy
Member
Hey, don't listen too much to all these negative talk.
Working in the games industry is cool anyway.
Of course developpers will hate you for reopening all their freshly closed bugs...
But they might also try to bribe you
Working in the games industry is cool anyway.
Of course developpers will hate you for reopening all their freshly closed bugs...
But they might also try to bribe you
Heretic Kazuma
Member
Gazunta provides great advice of what you can realistically expect from the job. Also take a look at this article. It's a couple years old, but it totally holds true (at least, for a localization company).
element
Member
not if you don't have any contact with people who can help you. Depending on the situation, he will probably be surrounded by other 18 to 30 year old men who don't have anything better to do and like video games. If he was QA at some small dev where he was one of 2 or 3 testers and had contact daily with production artists and leads, then he could learn a thing or two.Tiktaalik said:
I'm not trying to pee on your parade, congrats on getting a gig. But you are going to have to work insanely hard to get any attention for work outside of QA.
IMO, getting a normal job and finding someone to work with on modDB or something would have been a better avenue, because you will have time to actually work on your own stuff. Working at EA will be lots of overtime, and really when you work a lot the last thing you want to do is think about training or something. You're more concerned about 'do i have clean clothes for tomororw...' or 'why don't i have any food in the fridge...' or 'im really freaking tired...zzzzzzzz'
poppin fresh
Member
Ark-AMN said:
Take Gaz's advice, point for point.
The minute you bitch about not getting a chance as an artist or something everyone will chew you out.
Make yourself known for being a hard worker and do the job you have been given.
EA are not evil giants but they are big, don't let this put you off since you really are in a very replaceable position.
Work Work Work, you have 6 months to learn as much as you can, even if from here you don't advance into a higher place you will have some great experience and you will probably see the difference between industry and any academic training environment is vast.
Keep tight lipped.
Good luck, don't blow it.
Well, I guess I was a dick about him being a dick there. But I amended things to point out that I do agree with his points and it is good advice which I will be certain to follow to the best of my ability. But, I'll say it now, I promise not to talk about me being an artist and such. And bitching about not becoming an artist in that environment? Jeez, what do you think I am? (fraid to hear the answer to that one. :O)poppin fresh said:
Simply enough QA is what you make of it. The best thing for you to do to advance would #1 stay away from the drama. If there is any drama what so ever just don't take part in it. Do whatever you can to not be apart of it.
Respect others and just be a good person. This will definitely make people like you more. Hate to say it but this is a huge part of moving up. If someone is good at what they do but no one likes him he wont move up. If you are ok at what you do but everyone likes you then you will move up.
Write good bugs up. Be thorough yet concise in your bugs. Try to actually break the game. It's great and all that you can spot a 1000 obvious bugs but bugs that require multiple steps will tell the people above you that you are good at finding obscure bugs in the game and that you actually researched the bug to get it. Not just something that happened to you. In the past when I would do interviews for QA I would ask the people what their best bug was. If it was just some bug that found them I wouldn't be very impressed but if they had steps that led to a bug fresh in their mind I knew that they had good qualities and was generally impressed.
Also always write your bugs in a msword and use the spell checker. I cannot tell you, as a developer (I don't work for Activision as my title says), I hate to read bugs that have horrible spelling and grammar.
I started in QA and worked my way up through customer support, production, and then onto a developer. Getting in QA is the first step in a very very hard process of monkeys in a barrel (and that is not a derogatory analogy
).
Respect others and just be a good person. This will definitely make people like you more. Hate to say it but this is a huge part of moving up. If someone is good at what they do but no one likes him he wont move up. If you are ok at what you do but everyone likes you then you will move up.
Write good bugs up. Be thorough yet concise in your bugs. Try to actually break the game. It's great and all that you can spot a 1000 obvious bugs but bugs that require multiple steps will tell the people above you that you are good at finding obscure bugs in the game and that you actually researched the bug to get it. Not just something that happened to you. In the past when I would do interviews for QA I would ask the people what their best bug was. If it was just some bug that found them I wouldn't be very impressed but if they had steps that led to a bug fresh in their mind I knew that they had good qualities and was generally impressed.
Also always write your bugs in a msword and use the spell checker. I cannot tell you, as a developer (I don't work for Activision as my title says), I hate to read bugs that have horrible spelling and grammar.
I started in QA and worked my way up through customer support, production, and then onto a developer. Getting in QA is the first step in a very very hard process of monkeys in a barrel (and that is not a derogatory analogy
).poppin fresh
Member
I think you are some random on an internet message board, no more no less.
Lemming_JRS
Member
Even if he used a sledgehammer instead of a mallet, Gazunta hit the nail on the head.
I'm sorry the artist career path hasn't worked out for the time being, but there's nothing stopping you from continuing to work on your own time at home, taking classes, etc. And who knows, if the QA thing works out, it could lead to other things you might find interesting; coordinating, assoc. producer, all kinds of stuff.
The most important thing is this: even though this wasn't your first choice of careers, don't ever tell anyone, let alone imply, that it wasn't your first choice. EA is a big company, but that doesn't mean there isn't room to rise up in the ranks. Make a good first impression.
Congratulations on the job, and good luck...
I'm sorry the artist career path hasn't worked out for the time being, but there's nothing stopping you from continuing to work on your own time at home, taking classes, etc. And who knows, if the QA thing works out, it could lead to other things you might find interesting; coordinating, assoc. producer, all kinds of stuff.
The most important thing is this: even though this wasn't your first choice of careers, don't ever tell anyone, let alone imply, that it wasn't your first choice. EA is a big company, but that doesn't mean there isn't room to rise up in the ranks. Make a good first impression.
Congratulations on the job, and good luck...