There is No “Hollywood” in QA Testing: The Good
Author of this post: Joseph Hatcher | About Blog Authors »
Now don’t lose me here. There is a good side to being a Quality Assurance tester, despite my long list of bad things in the first part of this series. If you want to be in QA, there is light at the end of this tunnel. And hey, I’ve been in QA all this time, so there must be reasons that I stay. So if you’re still interested in the dream of a QA Tester, read on.
The Good
You get to play the game before the public does - Sometimes this is a good thing, sometimes not. But being able to know all of the ins and outs of the latest great game before your friends, can be a fun experience. QA Team multiplayer tests can be really fun too.
You get your name in the credits - I know this kind of contradicts what I put on the bad list, but that doesn’t happen all of the time. Seeing your name in the credits inside the game, or in the instruction manual (those who took them out, boo!!), is a humbling experience and gives you a great sense of pride and accomplishment (provided the game is actually good).
You learn about the game development process - Whether through just the bugs you find, what you read in the bug DB, or what extra things that you do outside of regular QA duties to help the dev or production teams, you will learn more about how games are made better then most people in the industry first hand.
In my opinion, every single person working on a game project should actively be a part of a QA team for at least 90 days before ever making or doing anything on their first game. Straight out of college? Good, have some QA. Interning as an artist? Great, have some more QA. Coming from being a producer or marketer from a totally different industry and product line? Excellent! Have a seat right here, I have some QA for you.
It is hard to respect what you don’t know, or haven’t experienced. How do you expect to work on something or represent it properly when you have no idea of how it is made, or what game development entails?
You have a greater sense of accomplishment when you complete work on a game - It is a great feeling to know that thousands, if not millions of people have played a game you worked so hard on. Working on a game in QA is a different feeling from developing it, but it feels just as good.
Hours and hours of enjoyment were had by people playing a game that you helped get to market. To me, it is one of the best feelings in the world creatively.
You get a free copy of the game you worked on - Sometimes this is true, other times it is not. It should be a standard industry practice. This is itself a nice perk of the job, although if the game really sucks, they make for great stocking stuffers for someone else to suffer with 
You CAN move up and out of QA to a better position that fits you - Like anything in life, it is what you make it. It is a good foot in the door, however it can be a brief moment of time inside. You can get promoted and move out of QA if you desire, but it takes some work.
Network with everyone and be friendly with everyone, no matter how much of a total jerk they may be. This is a small industry, and burning as few bridges as possible is highly recommended.
Learn what everyone does, find out what kinds of games they like or dislike. Whether you are an artist, programmer, composer, whatever, promote your skills to the appropriate people at the company you work for. Bring your demo reel or files, and let others know in development and production that you are interested in one positions that you feel you can fill.
You will encounter some jealous and negative people along the way who may try to stop you or slow you down, but hopefully they eventually realize it is about the game project, and the players who will play it, not about egos and who gets promoted from where. Just ignore them and keep on learning and trying to make great and fun games.
You can meet some truly talented, smart and nice people - Working beside and with the same people for 2-9 months day in and day out, if you haven’t made friends with most of them by then, you’re doing it wrong. I’m not saying you should try to be Paris Hilton popular, but being nice to everyone and helpful can go a long way.
Those relationships can be helpful to you or them down the road years later when people have switched companies, been promoted, lost their jobs, started a new company, etc.
Someone you help out today, could be your boss offering you a job in the future. Trading “war” stories about being in QA at such and such company with someone could turn out to be the best influential conversation of your life.
Are you still with me? Good. Hopefully I’ve helped some of you see a bigger picture about QA Testing in the game industry. It isn’t all fun and games like some commercials for universities, or one really bad movie made it out to be.
But being a QA Tester is a rewarding job if you know what to watch out for, and how to do things the best you can with the environment given to you.
Still interested in being a QA Tester, or working in the game industry?
Make sure that you can read and write concisely, learn fast, have tact, and don’t give up your dreams for anyone who tells you you can’t. Here are two books I recommend that you read: The Game Production Handbook by Heather Chandler and Game Testing All-In-One - by Charles P. Schultz, Robert Bryant, and Tim Langdell.
And good luck getting to your dream!
