How To Get A Job In QA
A re-post from gamerDNA.
A clanmate asked me about my stint as a tester today, as apparently I hadn't mentioned it before and she was curious. Thought it was as good a subject for an experience as any!
I worked as a Quality Assurance Tester (more commonly 'QA' or 'tester') for Atari Melbourne House, now Krome Studios Melbourne, for several months in 2006. I started out as just a junior tester, but by the end of my tenure there I had also gained experience in working specifically with devs to add new features and create testing plans. Prior to attaining this position, I had had no experience with the games industry at all - in fact, my interview for the testing job was a comedy of errors that culminated in a totally unexpected employment.
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A screenshot from Test Drive Unlimited, the game I was working on for PS2/PSP. Image courtesy of Gamespot; click for larger image.
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You know how all those "how to do well in interviews" guides have a few bullet-proof rules that you're meant to never, ever break? I think I broke pretty much all of them in this interview.
PUNCTUALITY: I was late by about twenty minutes. This was not entirely my fault - I would have been fifteen minutes early had my plans not gone awry, but the taxi driver took me to the wrong street - in the CBD - so we had to deal with peak hour traffic getting back out again. In my defense, I did call ahead and tell them what had happened, and they were fine with it. Moral of the story: Don't trust Melbourne taxi drivers.
DRESS CODE: They'd called me while I was already out and about in the city running errands, and wanted me to come in as soon as possible, so I hadn't dressed appropriately. More to the point, I was dressed rather un-appropriately. It was a pretty cold day and I was rugged up in my old jeans (the ones with the holes in the knees that'd been patched up three times), fairly grubby sneakers, and a presentable (but not by any means professional) black hoodie jacket with a furry lining. I was also having a bad hair day. When you have hair that reaches to your butt, a 'bad hair day' is a very scary sight indeed.
RESEARCH: I didn't know anything about the company beyond the fact that they were apparently responsible for the Transformers game. I hadn't, in fact, even known that until I mentioned to a friend on the phone that I was on the way to the interview. Said friend was (/is) insanely geeky, and had gone into nerdgasms over the idea of me working in a games studio. I was like, "Whoa, slow down there, buddy. Who says they'll hire me?" Too overjoyed at having a contact in the games industry, he didn't listen. (Again, in my defense, I hadn't had any time TO prepare. Had I been given a bit more notice, I would have spent a while looking them up, since I'm anal-retentive about doing things properly.)
REHEARSAL: I was too busy directing the bloody taxi driver to practice responding to any potential interview questions on the way there.
It turned out, when we finally arrived at the place, that the taxi driver's EFTPOS machine was broken. Somewhat on edge by now, I told him I had no cash, and did he know of any ATMs nearby? He said no. So we drove around a bit, me frantically searching for the desired glowing signs, and finally found one. Thankfully, he was reasonable enough to not charge me for the time spent looking for a bank. I was just about to get out of the cab and go withdraw some cash when he said, "Oh, do you have credit card?" I stopped short and looked at him. "A debit card, yes. Why?" "Oh, it's only EFTPOS that's broken, you could use the debit card if you wanted to?"
I nearly tore my hair out.
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A beholder from the Forgotten Realms games, ready to eat any unwary taxi drivers who fail to make their saving throw against disorientation. Original image courtesy of Wizards of the Coast; click for larger (unmodified) image.
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When I arrived at the place, I didn't do much better.
GREETING: Most 'successful interview' guides tell you to keep eye contact as much as is naturally possible. They also say to make sure to give a firm but not too tight handshake to the interviewer when you first meet them, to smile, and to appear confident. I was so rattled by all the other things that had gone wrong up until this point that my nerves were jangling all over the place. I think I smiled, but eye contact was negated by the fact that I stood up and promptly tripped over my bag. (Have I mentioned that I'm quite clumsy when I get nervous?) I shook his hand when I finally managed to right myself, but I'm pretty sure mine was ice-cold from the wind outside and the experience was likely not very pleasant for him.
BODY LANGUAGE: I'd been having back trouble for a month or two at that point, and hadn't yet worked out a good way to sit still without it hurting. I wasn't terribly comfortable throughout that interview, and I get the feeling it showed - I tried to relax, but my back kept sending out twinges of discomfort. I ended up sitting ramrod straight in what probably looked like a very unnatural position, as any other position made me wince with pain.
HAVE RELEVANT SKILLS: The position was specifically for a console tester (AMH was dealing with the PS2/PSP ports of Test Drive Unlimited) which was why I hadn't thought I'd even get an interview. "Do you own a console?" "No." "Have you ever owned one?" "No." "Have you ever even used one?" "Yes, but only for a few minutes at a friend's place." "When was that?" "About three years ago." Cue a lengthy, weighty pause.
TAKE NOTES: Didn't have any pens or paper with me, as my errands had been rather specific and my bag was jam-packed with other stuff that I needed. I tried to remember everything he was telling me, but between my back and the rest of my mistakes to date, it was a bit difficult. I also had to contend with the completely new experience of being ogled through the office windows by the intimidatingly large crowd of guys in the testing area. At the time, I hadn't known how skewed the gender ratio in games was, and it was unnerving to be the focus of so many eyes.
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Multiply that by twenty or so and you'll get the idea. Image courtesy of I Can Has Cheezburger; click to go to the LOL Builder.
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Leading up to that interview, I'd had quite a few months of unsuccessfully applying for the most mind-draining of jobs in both retail stores and call centres. This was, mind you, when I was actually doing everything 'correctly'. All it did was make me feel uncomfortable - at the time, I wasn't used to dressing even semi-formally, and was quite a shy creature in general. I felt that I was being given all these opportunities and just wasting them, and each successive failure was mounting up in my mind like a lich transforming into a demi-lich transforming into a very pissed-off balor. It was getting harder, not easier, to drag myself out and source new openings, apply for them, do research, go to interviews, etc. I think a lot of people can relate. Job-hunting is a pain in the ass.
So it was a very pleasant surprise, after all of the above, to be asked, "Can you start on Monday?"
This will be on the test.
A clanmate asked me about my stint as a tester today, as apparently I hadn't mentioned it before and she was curious. Thought it was as good a subject for an experience as any!
I worked as a Quality Assurance Tester (more commonly 'QA' or 'tester') for Atari Melbourne House, now Krome Studios Melbourne, for several months in 2006. I started out as just a junior tester, but by the end of my tenure there I had also gained experience in working specifically with devs to add new features and create testing plans. Prior to attaining this position, I had had no experience with the games industry at all - in fact, my interview for the testing job was a comedy of errors that culminated in a totally unexpected employment.
+ + + + +
A screenshot from Test Drive Unlimited, the game I was working on for PS2/PSP. Image courtesy of Gamespot; click for larger image.
+ + + + +
You know how all those "how to do well in interviews" guides have a few bullet-proof rules that you're meant to never, ever break? I think I broke pretty much all of them in this interview.
PUNCTUALITY: I was late by about twenty minutes. This was not entirely my fault - I would have been fifteen minutes early had my plans not gone awry, but the taxi driver took me to the wrong street - in the CBD - so we had to deal with peak hour traffic getting back out again. In my defense, I did call ahead and tell them what had happened, and they were fine with it. Moral of the story: Don't trust Melbourne taxi drivers.
DRESS CODE: They'd called me while I was already out and about in the city running errands, and wanted me to come in as soon as possible, so I hadn't dressed appropriately. More to the point, I was dressed rather un-appropriately. It was a pretty cold day and I was rugged up in my old jeans (the ones with the holes in the knees that'd been patched up three times), fairly grubby sneakers, and a presentable (but not by any means professional) black hoodie jacket with a furry lining. I was also having a bad hair day. When you have hair that reaches to your butt, a 'bad hair day' is a very scary sight indeed.
RESEARCH: I didn't know anything about the company beyond the fact that they were apparently responsible for the Transformers game. I hadn't, in fact, even known that until I mentioned to a friend on the phone that I was on the way to the interview. Said friend was (/is) insanely geeky, and had gone into nerdgasms over the idea of me working in a games studio. I was like, "Whoa, slow down there, buddy. Who says they'll hire me?" Too overjoyed at having a contact in the games industry, he didn't listen. (Again, in my defense, I hadn't had any time TO prepare. Had I been given a bit more notice, I would have spent a while looking them up, since I'm anal-retentive about doing things properly.)
REHEARSAL: I was too busy directing the bloody taxi driver to practice responding to any potential interview questions on the way there.
It turned out, when we finally arrived at the place, that the taxi driver's EFTPOS machine was broken. Somewhat on edge by now, I told him I had no cash, and did he know of any ATMs nearby? He said no. So we drove around a bit, me frantically searching for the desired glowing signs, and finally found one. Thankfully, he was reasonable enough to not charge me for the time spent looking for a bank. I was just about to get out of the cab and go withdraw some cash when he said, "Oh, do you have credit card?" I stopped short and looked at him. "A debit card, yes. Why?" "Oh, it's only EFTPOS that's broken, you could use the debit card if you wanted to?"
I nearly tore my hair out.
+ + + + +
A beholder from the Forgotten Realms games, ready to eat any unwary taxi drivers who fail to make their saving throw against disorientation. Original image courtesy of Wizards of the Coast; click for larger (unmodified) image.
+ + + + +
When I arrived at the place, I didn't do much better.
GREETING: Most 'successful interview' guides tell you to keep eye contact as much as is naturally possible. They also say to make sure to give a firm but not too tight handshake to the interviewer when you first meet them, to smile, and to appear confident. I was so rattled by all the other things that had gone wrong up until this point that my nerves were jangling all over the place. I think I smiled, but eye contact was negated by the fact that I stood up and promptly tripped over my bag. (Have I mentioned that I'm quite clumsy when I get nervous?) I shook his hand when I finally managed to right myself, but I'm pretty sure mine was ice-cold from the wind outside and the experience was likely not very pleasant for him.
BODY LANGUAGE: I'd been having back trouble for a month or two at that point, and hadn't yet worked out a good way to sit still without it hurting. I wasn't terribly comfortable throughout that interview, and I get the feeling it showed - I tried to relax, but my back kept sending out twinges of discomfort. I ended up sitting ramrod straight in what probably looked like a very unnatural position, as any other position made me wince with pain.
HAVE RELEVANT SKILLS: The position was specifically for a console tester (AMH was dealing with the PS2/PSP ports of Test Drive Unlimited) which was why I hadn't thought I'd even get an interview. "Do you own a console?" "No." "Have you ever owned one?" "No." "Have you ever even used one?" "Yes, but only for a few minutes at a friend's place." "When was that?" "About three years ago." Cue a lengthy, weighty pause.
TAKE NOTES: Didn't have any pens or paper with me, as my errands had been rather specific and my bag was jam-packed with other stuff that I needed. I tried to remember everything he was telling me, but between my back and the rest of my mistakes to date, it was a bit difficult. I also had to contend with the completely new experience of being ogled through the office windows by the intimidatingly large crowd of guys in the testing area. At the time, I hadn't known how skewed the gender ratio in games was, and it was unnerving to be the focus of so many eyes.
+ + + + +
Multiply that by twenty or so and you'll get the idea. Image courtesy of I Can Has Cheezburger; click to go to the LOL Builder.
+ + + + +
Leading up to that interview, I'd had quite a few months of unsuccessfully applying for the most mind-draining of jobs in both retail stores and call centres. This was, mind you, when I was actually doing everything 'correctly'. All it did was make me feel uncomfortable - at the time, I wasn't used to dressing even semi-formally, and was quite a shy creature in general. I felt that I was being given all these opportunities and just wasting them, and each successive failure was mounting up in my mind like a lich transforming into a demi-lich transforming into a very pissed-off balor. It was getting harder, not easier, to drag myself out and source new openings, apply for them, do research, go to interviews, etc. I think a lot of people can relate. Job-hunting is a pain in the ass.
So it was a very pleasant surprise, after all of the above, to be asked, "Can you start on Monday?"
This will be on the test.