QA Tester
polycounter lvl 11
I'm thinking of getting a QA job with EA, because I need to start working, but I remember most of my teachers at school telling me to never get a QA job, because you never go anywhere from there.
Does anyone know first hand or know someone who started out as QA then got promoted to an artist? Do employers even count that as industry experience at all, or do they just laugh when someone has that on their resume.
Does anyone know first hand or know someone who started out as QA then got promoted to an artist? Do employers even count that as industry experience at all, or do they just laugh when someone has that on their resume.
Replies
If you get a QA job, you'll know people inside the company and have a direct line to submit your portfolio to, as well as supervisors to vouch for your work ethic. That doesn't mean you won't need to improve your skills though. If you have a crappy portfolio, it won't matter what your work ethic is, you won't go anywhere. Still, QA itself can be a great career if you're good at it.
*sternum. A straight punch to the chest may be unsatisfactory; a punch in the sternum always hurts.
So tell your teacher to suck it...
I'd say it IS the road less traveled, but the benefits are that you will have experience in a games company.
There are a few guys at my studio who started out as QA and have moved into different roles (Artists, Level Builders, Designers). I would highly recommend going for a QA position if you're having troubles getting an art role. But be prepared to stay there for a while until you can prove yourself.
Good luck, mate.
-caseyjones
Just keep working on that portfolio.
I learned more outside of my games course than I did in it. Even more so on the job.
-caseyjones
And while I was at EA Canada I heard there was one guy who was in QA who had a really good design idea and now jumped into position as a producer for that project he proposed...
All that necessarily boils down to is that...if you can deliver something to the marketplace and what the employer wants...you will get what you want.
And i hate to say it...unless your prof says its because of the end of OT...your teacher doesn't know what he's talking about.
I agree with Jesse here, but you guys have to consider one thing.
Something that separates "us from them" is that a lot of us have worked hard to get where we are today, regardless of whether or not we worked as a QA or at a shitty small studio that didn't pay anything.
A QA job or an intern isn't necessarily a guarantee if you don't put forth 120% day in and day out. Some studios push their QA and testing staff to ridiculous hours that may cause you to become disinterested or exhausted after 10-14 hour days, and you might not be making much cash while you are doing it.
One of my old roommates worked for a studio here in San Diego with this grand idea that he would "get his foot in he door" and after working for close to a year during alpha/beta/gold he was pushing 6-7 days a week with only enough time to come home, eat, go to bed, and get up the next day to do it all over again.
After pushing 60-70 hour weeks for months on end, he was let go with about 2 days notice due "cutbacks" and never had time to do much of anything that really put any kind of portfolio.
Is it his fault? Yes and no. He was a bit of a lazy-ass, but I would go crazy working as a tester with those sort of hours.
My point? Make sure you are testing at a decent studio that actually has an opportunity to move forward. Ask other employees there that have actually moved up through the ranks and aren't burned out disgruntled mice running the wheel of QA day-in and day-out.
It's a necessary job, and YES it can get your foot in the door - but keep in mind the sort of commitment you will have to make in that position, and the studio you will be working for.
That was a joke of course, but its a good movie. The main character is in a similar situation.
Being an artist is a skill. A skill that has nothing to do with QA. If you ever do make the transition to an artist, it will be 90% based on your portfolio and not your experience/repertoire with the company or employees.
When you work QA at EA you are a number; a cog in the machine. You'll stay that way likely for several years until you shift into an assistant producer position or leave. What you should be doing is considering working there because you need the money while you build up your portfolio to apply to a different company with.
Another thing, a lot of people tell stories about people getting 'great jobs out of QA' from 10 years ago. The industry has changed very much since then.
1) A monkey with half a brain can do QA and they do. It's not a great showpiece of skill.
2) Lots of talented people are competing for jobs regardless of industry experience and a good portfolio will kick the shit out of a QA bullet point. Think about it, why the hell would you look to QA to find artists?
3) QA is heavily outsourced in major studios and outsourced employees get little respect, usually for good reason.
Testing at a more tight-knit studio would likely give more opportunities for advancement.
You won't always get the job as an artist at the firm you worked for, but it still counts as experience for any job applied for.
Working in QA means you might end up with several months experience of working in a games studio. Not as an artist, but he's seen how the offices work, how people dress, what stress is like at peak times, how people work at peak times. He's dealt with numerous bugs and knows that sometimes bugs are very picky (or subjective) and annoy artists, and that some bugs artists are just a bit fucking lazy at times.
In fact, that'd be a good enough statement from a QA person from any company if I was interviewing them (and if they had a good portfolio).
So, as an artist get games experience in QA and then if work hard on a portfolio you can possibly get a job as an artist.
What do you need to do to become a producer?
Oohh...controversial!
At least with EA i've heard that it's hard to get out of the testing area. the managers seem to not like helping people advance, and from friends telling me, even employees have to apply through their job site like anyone else for positions.
And for Volt, I saw some post on craigslist saying he was scammed by them. Asked for his bank account and then not giving him a job. me thinks it was a scammer and not volt, but tough to say if he was scammed or not though.
My perception of game testing is it's slave labour for some places. Other places, as has been stated, don't slave drive the testers. Only testers I have known were friends that did it at ea between 1st and 2nd year at school and most were not too big of doing testing again and it really didn't help when they graduated and were looking for work.
I started out working in Q&A, worked at EA QA to start with actually - spent a few years working QA for a few different companies before moving into animation. The company I was with were very cool about me moving into a new position and actually let me spend a day a week working as a part time animator in the company while doing my QA job. 6 months after I started doing this I was working as a junior there and a couple of years down the line I became a fulltime animator
So QA is a good step, as you get to know people and make contacts which are extremely useful, just make sure you keep teaching yourself the things you will need for your intended career - and try to steer yourself in that direction when the opportunity arises
Honestly it was fun and I learned a lot about the production side of video games, but the actual QA job didn't get me any closer to becoming an artist. As others are saying, QA at publishers is completely disconnected from the developers, and there is very little communication with the devs aside from a few phonecalls or emails. I didn't start meeting with the devs until I was in a project lead position, and that was a year into it.
My recommendation is to take the job, because it sure as hell beats flipping burgers. If you can get into QA at the developer studio, then you have a much better chance of working up towards a role as an artist.
Just know that if you are working QA at a publisher the corporate ladder goes straight up to production coordinator/producer type of work. Any other opportunities will only be more commonly available if you go out of your way to make the connections outside of work (company parties etc.)