A Quality Assured Interview - Page 1 of 1

A Quality Assured Interview

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Matt Warner shines some light on one of the video game industry's most dreamed about jobs, the video game tester.

Would you like to introduce yourself?

Sure. Name's Matt and I've been lounging around 1UP for a while. Did some magazine and internet reviews, attended an E3 as a member of the press, and currently work as a tester for Namco Bandai.

How did you land the job?

Craigslist, believe it or not. Boring but true!

Take us through a typical day.

I'm out the door of my apartment by 8AM daily, on the train by 8:20 and in the office by 8:45. From there, it's work from 9AM to 6PM with an hour off for lunch from 1PM to 2PM. The workload varies depending on the game I'm currently on, but generally I'm assigned to some particular task to ensure the game is running up to snuff in a particular area, or told to freestyle it and just muck about for anything that looks like it needs to be fixed. Anything found that needs addressing goes into the database. Rinse and repeat!

So just how do you stay sane playing the same piece of level over and over again?

Same way you stay sane doing any other job, really. The big thing to consider is that you're not here to have fun; it's a fun job and it's perfectly acceptable to be enjoying yourself doing it, but at the end of the day playing games for test and playing them for personal pleasure are two distinctly different things. It's similar to editing a film versus watching the finished product. If you can't separate the two, testing will drive you completely insane.

Have you experienced crunch time yet? If so, how does it stack up to the myths?

Yep. And it's about what you'd expect. 60 hour-ish weeks are fairly common as a project wraps to a close, and in the final weeks you basically don't have any weekends. On the plus side, you get used to this fairly quickly, and the overtime pay is always a nice bonus. The job's not exactly physically demanding so the long hours aren't as bad as, say, working the Starbucks floor for 12 hours straight.

Some testers have complained about not getting enough pay for the work, are there some truths to this or can being a tester actually pay the bills just fine?

This depends on the company, your location, and a whole load of other factors. Regardless of where you are, it's a safe bet you won't get rich off of testing, but conversely it pays far better than food service jobs and the experience is invaluable if you're looking to branch off in the industry. I've seen some internet articles complaining about how testers make less than folks working at McDonald's. That's completely untrue. Your hourly wage isn't massive or anything, but factor in the overtime you're likely to get and the actual rate of pay goes up quite a bit (virtually all testers are paid hourly). I'm not hurting for money at the moment and I live in California, which has a pretty high cost of living. That probably says a lot.

How are the relationships between designers and testers in your opinion?

Again, this type of thing varies wildly from project to project and company to company, so I can't really say since my experience is pretty limited in terms of the overall industry. Sometimes the testers get a lot of say in how something pans out, and other times they get absolutely none. There's no default rule either way, it's more about what needs to get done at any given moment. Personally, I've had great experiences with all the dev folks I've worked with, but at the end of the day you're there to test for bugs, not tell them how to make their games.

What are some things being in QA has taught you?

You know how sometimes you'll play a game and think "Man, why didn't they think to do [random thing X] to make this game better"? Chances are, they *did* think of that and for whatever reason it was just unfeasible. Testing definitely grants a much deeper appreciation of just how ridiculously complicated it is to make these things, and just how much of a logistical nightmare it can be to get everything working. There's often this impression on the internet that games are just tossed together by a handful of people casually kicking some ideas around and coding them into a playable form and its all sunshine and rainbows. Seriously, nothing could be further from the truth. Its blood, sweat, tears, and a giant book of console standards and ESRB rules all the way.

How has it affected the way you play games off the clock?

Curiously; very little, other than not having as much free time. I know this is a fairly common thing, too. Nearly every tester at the office goes home at the end of the day and plays more videogames. I personally play just as many games as I did before I had the job, if not more. Go figure.

Has being in QA opened up any doors or changed your perspective in terms of a future career?

Definitely. QA is an entry level position, yes, but you're still that much deeper in the industry. As long as you work hard and keep your passion up, the whole hire-from-within thing will kick in and doors will begin to open. Just expect to have to put in your work in the trenches first.

Do you have any advice for someone who is thinking of becoming a tester themselves?

The immortal advice: Know your shit and take it seriously. Also, show up on time, every time. If you're not 100% dedicated to the whole thing, don't bother. There are a million guys out there who'd love to "play games for a living", and they all want the job too. You have to show that you're actually going to treat it like work and not a paid vacation. The other big one is, of course, location. Move to an area with a company you want to work for if you're really serious about it. As long as you can physically be there and perform up to standards, it's probably one of the best jobs you can land as far as entry-level industry gigs go. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Article by Kris Rosado.

Jul 2, 2008

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