Columns Bughunting and the value of QA

http://www.bit-tech.net/columns/2007/12/11/bughunting_and_the_value_of_qa/1

Simon Hill of Outerlight, the team behind The Ship, introduces himself as a new monthly columnist. Simon talks about how he got started in the industry as a games tester, asking: What role does quality assurance have in game development?

 

I know what you mean about QA being "viewed as the enemy" so to speak, it's the same where I work - you send a database down for audit and when the audit report comes back it's like "Their complaining about what?!?" .

You get all the jokes (in good humour, of course) about taking crosses and garlic (wooden stakes) when going to the QA dept. though the guys (and girls) that work there are usually great people and up for a laugh like anyone else.

A QA job is probably one of the toughest in any company, as the staff will need to know about the processes they're checking, not just for your dept. but also for nearly every other dept. in the company (depending on the size of the company obviously). And as they're nearly the last process it's always their audit time that gets reduced as deadlines approach.

 

I too work as a qa engineer for the enterprize corporate solutions group in my company. It seems to be one of the most important jobs but at the same time it appears that the development team hates us when we do our best. I really need some enchouragement as it appears my role is completely overlooked by programmers or even project managers . I used to be a freelance programmer, but I don't really like the idea of sitting in front of a computer the whole day, writing code. QA seems to be more fun as we get to visit customer premises, stay in touch with people to offer them training and support.

 

i went to an interview as a tester for the PS3 to test compatibility for old games and blu ray movies,. decided not to take it as they wanted me to work 12 hours a day 4 days on 4 days off which i kinda figured would have been so dull when your 5 movies in or playing a crappy old game 10 hours straight. although i did do a little research before going and the majority of big time game execs all started out as testers but as the article mentions it really isnt for the faint of heart

 

I spent about a year working as a test and compliance guy for a company making both hardware and software for the film and TV industry. My experience was quite the opposite - they were generally absolutely desperate to know about bugs. I expect the difference was that this was big-ticket film postproduction software being used to create big name, oscar-winning movies, and if it broke at 4am on a Sunday, you would turn out to fix it. As one of the software engineers confided to me, "you find the bug now, I don't lose my weekend."

Different worlds.

Phil

 

My current job is doing QA for a company and it is nothing but monotony

 

lol thanks for scaring me out of the gametesting role, I was thinking of doing game QA as my side job while i'm at college next semester.

 

its seems to me like the call for QA in these days of web enabled games machines is much reduced and the preferred method is releasing a game and patching it when the customer has tested it and complained

How many NES/SNES/PS2 etc. games have you had to return due to bugs etc. nefore the release of the Xbox and its internet enabled vision, I can only think of one console game that had a bug that was a real problem (MSR on DC) but other than that most console games even huge masterpieces were released with barely a noticable issue, nowadays shite like Ass Creek get released and have a load of bugs and patches mentioned almost before release 'tis sad.

More QA less of the money grabbing get it out quick attitude Please!

 

Sorry, but that was simply a bad column.

The title was "Bughunting and the value of QA" and it did nothing to address those topics. Recalling anecdotes and personal feelings from working in QA at a bad developer is not especially relevant or interesting.

 

The only thing I'd like to see in addition to the article is how your standard fair (say me or others like me) can break into video games as a tester. Is it a young man's field? Is it something anyone can do? How much does it pay? Where do you find your start? Etc. These are questions I really want to know the answers to.

 

Thanks for the comments everyone

Hells Bliss - don't be scared, it can be a fun job too and as I said it can lead on to better things

plinkyplonk - sorry you didn't like the article the editor chose the title though, my original title was "Irrelevant Ramblings from working in QA at a Bad Developer"

Holyman01101 - age is irrelevant for a job in test although it generally attracts younger people, yes anyone can do it but to be good at it takes some skill, it pays very poorly, look for game developers near you and ask them if they have QA departments and then apply (you usually don't need any specific expereince to get a job in test but it depends on the company you apply to). Check out this link for a directory of developers and publishers - http://www.gamesindustry.biz/directory.php