The odds are low that you'll get anywhere near £20k as a standard QA tester, you are far more likely to be between £12k and £16k. I know some testers working at Rockstar Lincoln and their standard wage is closer to the low end of that scale, hitting the high end during their release crunch (12 hour shifts of fun!) as they got paid over time.

Obviously, that will change somewhat depending on where in the country you are going, but I really wouldn't be too hopeful for £20k, or even £16k as a junior tester.

Cheers Ging.

Yeah, i wasn't thinking too near 20K hehe. But London rates are gonna be better than up north right?

Marginally. Think £1k more, tops. London rates are a scam - the extra money is never even close to the higher cost of living.

Also if you get £15k as an entry level tester you're probably doing well. Think minimum wage for inexperienced hires and you're in the right ballpark (min. wage is currently about £11.5k for a 40 hour week).

I was actually very lucky. I was offered £16,700. Which i am very happy with. I will be working the graveyard shift though!

Just uncase anyone was interested in the interview:

I was interviewed by 3 young guys in a presentation room. They seemed quite nice on first impression and were casually dressed.

They asked me why i wanted to work for the company.
I knew from reading on their website/the company history that they focused on family orientated games. So i said i like playing/want to work on those kind of games.

They asked me if i had ever build or upgraded a PC before.
Luckily for my first year of 6th Form my Dad said we would build my own computer together. We bought the seperate parts from a computer fair and pieced it all together. In the last 5 years i replaced and upgraded the components myself. I explained this and joked that it's just like expensive Lego really.

They explained that i would be working the graveyard and asked if that was ok.
I was sure to reply positively to all questions throughout the interview and this was no exception. I knew i had to think about it before accepting a position but was focused on getting the job offer before putting anything down.

I was also asked what i knew about testing.
I had read some interviews of QA testers on the net the evening before where they had explained the job in detail. It's all about detective work, you have to play the game creatively to try to hunt down hard to find bugs that come in the form of graphical (textures, animations, ect) sound effects, typos and gameplay errors. I let them know that i have played lots of instable PC games and been involved in beta testing games before, where i used well written posts on web forums and Guides to resolve my problems.

The rest of the interview briefly covered my work experience where i explained what i had done for Kuju and Doublesix. We chatted just a little about my other hobbies, mainly music and then it was question time. Where i asked:

1: Are there a bunch of guys working the graveyard shift? (Yes).

2: Lets talk about pay? (I explained about the commute/travel costs and they offered me some food allowace as well as the afore mentioned pay rate).

Finally i was shown out by once of the three with a smile.

Notes:

-I arrived 30 mins early. I mentioned i was early to reception and could wait but they gave me directions to the office where i was asked to sit and wait for 5 mins before the interview actually took place.

-I wore a clean shirt, smart suit trousers and shoes. I had a shower the evening before and made sure my hair was clean. I would have had one in the morning but i had to leave the house at 5am to make the commute.

Good luck anyone else going for a similar job! :)

Congrats on the job.

Graveyard shift means late night / early morning right? Is there a chance you can switch to different hours later on?

I used to work Graveyard shifts at a bakery before I finished University. They were pretty awesome in my case. Mainly because I was by myself and no one was there to bug me.

They absolutely destroy your inner clock though. Especially if you try to flip flop back and forth between night time and day time (such as on the weekends). I used to have to work nights on the weekend then switch back for school during the week. It was pretty tough on the system.

On the plus side I got paid more for the night shift (quite a bit more per hour).

Good luck on the job.

Where did you apply? I've been trying to apply for various companies but most of them only seek for people who have fluent in other European languages as well as English :(

I would rather not say pritesh.

But from chatting to the other guys here i gather there are a bunch of testing studios on Slough trading estate. Activision, TT Games and Mircosoft just a few.

I've tried applying for TT Games a few weeks ago, though I recieved no replies. They had the position available and is still available according to their website. Man I dont know what they are looking for! I have experience in on hand experience on closed beta lead testing and still I get no replies :(

Mind PMing me the site location of Microsoft in slough? If you know it. I'm thinking of visiting Activision at their site tomorrow as its only 40 minutes away by bus, and maybe TT games in slough next week. Maybe visiting there in person can make a difference!

[Edited by - pritesh on July 23, 2008 1:54:45 PM]

Quote: Original post by pritesh
I've tried applying for TT Games a few weeks ago, though I recieved no replies. They had the position available and is still available according to their website. Man I dont know what they are looking for! I have experience in on hand experience on closed beta lead testing and still I get no replies :(

Have you called/re-contacted them to ask about your application?