Advice for QA role for recent Grad.. . . . .

SSquir33

hey guys , im applying for a QA role at sega (some of you probs seen the ads), and wondered if this step really is worth it (as a 'foot in the door').

I have a strong 2:1 Bsc degree in Games tech, but found my portfolio is weak (due to the course structure having Moar exams than practical....ok ok im not blaming anyone..). I guess it isnt permanent but i already have a p/t sales assist job in tailoring (random right). either way i needed to 'buy' time to strengthen ma skillz as im a broke graduate living away from home.

the sega job is a mon-fri , minimum wage shindig, odd hours.I am pretty enthuastic about QA but from what ive seen i have mixed views. And its not too far from me. What if starin at a screen all day saps ma energy for portfolio work?

any thoughts? any guys who been thru QA and managed to move up from there?
is it really just for college kids ?

Mark Dygert

I wouldn't count on it as a gateway to much other than getting laid off. QA is typically the last dept to bloat up and the first to let people go the second things ship.

Even if it does lead somewhere it probably won't be art related, if that's what you're after. If you're looking to play the bills while you work on your portfolio then it might be ok. I just wouldn't expect to bump into too many artists or get a chance to get your stuff noticed working in QA, most of those departments are miles if not continents away from the development teams. It MIGHT make the resume look slightly more impressive than having "Joes Gas N Go" and might offer some further insight into how one particular company creates its games but you probably already know most of that...

If you don't have anything else lined up that's more lucrative and offers more time to work on your skills, then its probably a good option.

Ghostscape

QA is better than flipping burgers, but it isn't an entry level development job. You'll need to work on your portfolio and acquire real skills on the side.

It sounds like you're doing publisher QA and not in-house developer QA? In that case, you can pretty much forget about moving up into an assistant producer/manager role from QA, which is the most common form of QA->development movement.

Tom Ellis

SSquir33 wrote: »

the sega job is a mon-fri , minimum wage shindig, odd hours

Just be warned that it's highly unlikely that is actually fully true.

I've got a couple of friends who've been in and out of QA between jobs and it's not uncommon to work crazy hours, (not unlike most dev roles from what I've heard).

I'll quote one of said friends FaceBook status from yesterday:

'awesome, 15th day at work in a row'

And that's also at a AAA studio.

SSquir33

Due to the overwhelmingly positive feedback :shifty:, i opted to send off my cv anyway lol. i figured i can grab a few days doing QA, whilst keeping my p/t.

hopefuly thers like-minded people in the team and not just a bunch of kids wanting to play games.

Heres to hoping :poly131:

Pseudo

I started in QA many years ago and it worked out great for me. Flaagan and a few others are also QA success stories but keep in mind we are the minority. Out of the 50 people that I worked with in QA I can think of about 5 people who ever moved on to actual development.

As others have said it's very difficult to "move up" inside the company to an artist position, BUT if you work hard on your portfolio and keep up the job search it can be a great job. I learned a lot about game development in QA and I spent my personal time refining my art and I always went to every company event to socialize with the developers and other areas of the company.

Through the connections I made at company parties, and thanks to my portfolio which I kept working on, I eventually landed my first art job.

One thing I will tell you now, you WILL work 80 hour weeks, and you won't want to work on personal stuff when you get off a 12 hour shift. Take advantage of 8 hour days and work on your portfolio now while you still have the energy. Also when you get laid off (and you will) use that time to dive deep into your portfolio while waiting for the call back for the next QA project.


TLDR - Do it, QA can be a great learning experience and a great way to make connections inside the industry.

Kwramm

it's better than flipping burgers. Just as Pseudo mentioned, make connections!
Also maybe you can learn something about, well, QA! Quality is still a BIG issues in many studios - next to bad planning it's probably the #1 source for wasted time. I've never worked in QA, but who knows, maybe you can learn some methods which you can employ in other fields such as art, making your life easier when you got the job you really want. Good luck!

Justin Meisse

Mark Dygert wrote: »

I wouldn't count on it as a gateway to much other than getting laid off. QA is typically the last dept to bloat up and the first to let people go the second things ship.

Art is the 2nd department to get let go

skankerzero

we hire from QA if they have the skills. This doesn't just mean art skills either.

We've had some QA guys go on to scripting / level design jobs, production, outsource management, sound design, and art jobs.

Hell, one of our old QA guys got into art and eventually moved on to Bungie where he worked on Halo ODST and Reach.

It can happen, but you need to have the skills to move on.

chrisradsby

As far as I know, here at Evolution Studios it's the same. QA can move up into art-positions, game design even roles higher than that. It's not impossible but I guess it depends on what kind of studio your working for.

CounterSeal

I did QA at Sega's San Francisco location for about two months before I got my current job as an artist. The main thing I learned from that experience was that I would never want to do QA again, ever. Maybe QA is more tolerable at other companies, but it certainly wasn't for me at Sega. I met some cool people there though, but mostly everyone else were, to my surprise at the time walking stereotypes of a QA Tester, and sometimes worse.

Autocon

I think most people who move up from QA to full time positions dont move up to a skilled department like art, they generally move up to design, hr or community positions. This isnt to say design isnt a skilled department, just that you as an artist you cant just jump into max/maya and be great, it takes hundreds of hours. Design on the other hand can be more easily jumped into.

QA is also forced to work tons of hours, especially near the end of the project and that wont leave you time to do art. And your not going to become a better artist testing a game.

I just feel that QA moving up to a design position makes some sense and is more feasible as you are working with the mechanics of the game and the designers every day. Really you wont have much interaction with the artists unless they are trying to fix one of the millions of bugs you will assign to them forcing them to stop polishing to fix it! Honestly rocks that sound like metal when you shoot them in a multiplayer level isnt that important... ha

Habboi

I applied to that job a while back and got no reply so don't be hopeful but I hope you get it cause there's too many people like us who get nothing for our work.

Flynny

Been at this studio for almost 3 years soon, seen many many QA guys be hired into the ranks of art/design.
If you shine give good criticism and try to understand and help come up with fixes rather than pointing out xyz is broken again please please fix then you will do just fine!
If you show that your willing to learn why things work/break ingame that alone should raise a few eyebrows..


Best of luck!

Flynny wrote: »

Been at this studio for almost 3 years soon, seen many many QA guys be hired into the ranks of art/design.
If you shine give good criticism and try to understand and help come up with fixes rather than pointing out xyz is broken again please please fix then you will do just fine!
If you show that your willing to learn why things work/break ingame that alone should raise a few eyebrows..


Best of luck!

It's unlikely to be like that with the position he is applying for. It's a publishers QA department, not linked with any of their developers directly, and from what I know, chances of moving anywhere within this job here is very minimal. The only hope you have is if the position is at CA, but I very much doubt it.

It'll look good on a CV at least though to have a nice company name listed, which may help you in the future.

SSquir33, you ask whether i will sap your energy for portfolio work...it will I'd say, very much so, and it'll take some dedication to make sure it doesn't. If you're on the 7am-3pm there then I believe you'll be able to make that time, but the other two shift times, not so much.

All the best with it if you end up there.

MattBradley

Autocon wrote: »

I think most people who move up from QA to full time positions dont move up to a skilled department like art, they generally move up to design, hr or community positions. This isnt to say design isnt a skilled department, just that you as an artist you cant just jump into max/maya and be great, it takes hundreds of hours. Design on the other hand can be more easily jumped into.

Design is to a skilled department! :poly141:

Snacuum

MattBradley wrote: »

Design is to a skilled department! :poly141:

Hear! Hear!

Autocon

MattBradley wrote: »

Design is to a skilled department! :poly141:

I guess you didnt read the line "This isnt to say design isnt a skilled department"