Hello everyone, I am graduating this May with a master's degree in economics from Clemson University. I'm interested in taking at least one year off from school before continuing doctoral study in economics. I am most interested in using this time to pursue and explore my passion for game design. My qualifications are not sufficient to recommend me for a design position, so I was considering QA testing as a potential avenue for gaining an industry foothold. I am confident that I am a qualified applicant for such a position, possessing in abundance the characteristics suggested in Tom Sloper's tester FAQ (http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson5.html), however I am uncertain how best to sell myself considering I am an industry outsider with little prior experience. Will a well written resume and cover letter be enough to earn serious consideration for the position? If anyone has had first or secondhand experience with the QA tester hiring process, I would be extremely grateful for any advice on preparing my application packet for the position. I am not interested in starting at a temp testing agency. I am giving myself one (maybe two) years to see if I can get myself into the gaming industry. Otherwise, I fully intend to return to grad school and continue the economics route. I plan to target developers and producers who are established, where an employee with significant drive and determination can be successful. Since I'm aiming fairly high with my aspirations, any suggestions on how best to tailor my application materials would be much appreciated. Thanks, Andrew Clayton AAClayton@gmail.com

Quote: Original post by AAClayton
Will a well written resume and cover letter be enough to earn serious consideration for the position?

Realistically, no. It's enough for a 'tester' position, which I wouldn't exactly call QA (though others might, beware). QA testing does require a bit of a background in the development process.

Take it from me; it's really hard to go back to school, even if you have the best of intentions now...

Quote: Original post by AAClayton
I am confident that I am a qualified applicant for such a position, possessing in abundance the characteristics suggested in Tom Sloper's tester FAQ (http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson5.html), however I am uncertain how best to sell myself considering I am an industry outsider with little prior experience.

You should read that article again, because I never said in there that you had to be an industry insider with prior industry experience to become a tester.

Quote: Will a well written resume and cover letter be enough to earn serious consideration for the position?

Read my FAQ 49. You know where my site is.

Quote: If anyone has had first or secondhand experience with the QA tester hiring process, I would be extremely grateful for any advice

I have experience with the QA tester hiring process and I already gave you lots of advice.

Quote: on preparing my application packet for the position.

You mean your resume?

Quote: I am not interested in starting at a temp testing agency.

Okay, so "I want to become an actor but I don't ever want to go to acting school or play any bit parts." Dude, these days you probably have to start by temping. The big publishers don't like having to go to the full employment thing with an untried new guy in QA.

Quote: I am giving myself one (maybe two) years to see if I can get myself into the gaming industry. Otherwise, I fully intend to return to grad school and continue the economics route.

Don't wait two years. Do that now, why doncha.

Quote: I plan to target developers and producers who are established, where an employee with significant drive and determination can be successful.

Yes, by all means. If you can find a developer or publisher (surely "producer" was a typo there) where employees with drive can NOT be successful, don't work there.

Quote: Since I'm aiming fairly high with my aspirations,

What? Working in QA is a high aspiration??

Quote: any suggestions on how best to tailor my application materials would be much appreciated.

Funny you would ask the very question I answered in this month's column.
http://www.igda.org/games-game
"So there's no special trick to writing the résumé. It's what's IN the résumé, not how you write it, that's important. It's about who you are and what you have to offer. No résumé trickery can hide that from us. If you're raw, the real trick is to be qualified, and to be local. If you're experienced, there is no trick."

Moving to Breaking In, btw.

Thank you both for the replies, I suppose I have a few further questions.

Quote: Original post by Telastyn
Realistically, no. It's enough for a 'tester' position, which I wouldn't exactly call QA (though others might, beware). QA testing does require a bit of a background in the development process.

Take it from me; it's really hard to go back to school, even if you have the best of intentions now...

Isn't quality assurance the point of the testing process? I guess I don't understand what separates a "QA tester" from just a "tester". With regards to going back to school...I was not accepted this year at my first choice schools for economics. I am feeling somewhat lukewarm about the schools where I was accepted, one offered little funding, and the other just doesn't excite me that much. If I can get accepted into grad school this year, I'm sure I can do it again in the near future. My qualifications won't have changed.

Quote: Original post by Tom Sloper
You should read that article again, because I never said in there that you had to be an industry insider with prior industry experience to become a tester.

I realize it is not prerequisite, but surely experience is a valuable asset when applying. I'm trying to get a grasp for what kind of opportunities I can reasonably expect having none.

Quote: Original post by Tom Sloper
Read my FAQ 49. You know where my site is.

Done, and point well taken. However, when trying to get my foot in the door, I don't have much control over anything EXCEPT my resume and cover letter. Unfortunately being in the right place at the right time is dependent on the needs of the employer, not my own presentation. If a well written resume/cl is not enough, what can I DO in order to get myself an interview?

Quote: Original post by Tom Sloper
I have experience with the QA tester hiring process and I already gave you lots of advice.

Thanks.

Quote: Original post by Tom Sloper
You mean your resume?

I'm more interested in industry specific tips regarding what looks good to find in a cover letter. I think I'm pretty good on the resume front. Tom, I have read your FAQs 4, 5, and 12 which contained some good suggestions. If anyone else has something to suggest please feel free.

Quote: Original post by Tom Sloper
Okay, so "I want to become an actor but I don't ever want to go to acting school or play any bit parts." Dude, these days you probably have to start by temping. The big publishers don't like having to go to the full employment thing with an untried new guy in QA.

I suppose I incorrectly associated temping with off-site testing lab work. As you mentioned in your own FAQ, this type of work carries little to no opportunity for advancement. I don't expect to go from tester to designer in two years. However, considering I'm taking this time away from school in order to try to break into the industry, I want to give myself every shot I can at making forward progress. Otherwise I might as well just get my PhD and save myself a year of low wages. I don't see much point in diverting from a successful life track to pursue my passion if its just going to be wasted time.

I have tremendous gaming experience, computer games, card games, table top games, pen and paper games. I have closed beta testing experience for major game releases. I'm not going into this blind, and I'm a quick learner. I don't believe for an instant there is any part of a QA testing position that I am incapable of performing admirably.

Quote: Original post by Tom Sloper
Don't wait two years. Do that now, why doncha.

If you are referring to continuing grad school as opposed to shooting for a QA job; I was not accepted into my first choice schools this year. The applicant pool for graduate programs has exploded this year, and I got a bit unlucky. So, I've got at least one year on my hands before applying again, I'd like to try to do something I'm passionate about during that time, and see what happens.

If you are referring to trying to break into the industry, I intend to try that as soon as I have a plan of attack, which is why I'm on these forums.

Quote: Original post by Tom Sloper
Yes, by all means. If you can find a developer or publisher (surely "producer" was a typo there) where employees with drive can NOT be successful, don't work there.

Touche, and yes, producer was intended as developer. Proofread fail.

Quote: Original post by Tom Sloper
What? Working in QA is a high aspiration??

No, getting an interview for a QA position at an established developer or publisher with no prior experience is a high aspiration. Also, using QA as a steppingstone towards vision/design positions is a high aspiration.

Quote: Original post by Tom Sloper
Funny you would ask the very question I answered in this month's column.
http://www.igda.org/games-game
"So there's no special trick to writing the résumé. It's what's IN the résumé, not how you write it, that's important. It's about who you are and what you have to offer. No résumé trickery can hide that from us. If you're raw, the real trick is to be qualified, and to be local. If you're experienced, there is no trick."

Thanks for referring me to this. I think I can retool my resume such that it won't be summarily filtered on any grounds except lack previous industry experience. So, what seems important is that I persuasively sell my ability to be effective in the QA capacity without having this experience. Any tips on how to do this without sounding like I already know everything about QA when I obviously don't?

Also, would strong GRE scores be worth including in the resume, or is that something that nobody in game design really cares about?

With regard to locality, I am currently in Clemson, SC. I'm 100% planning to move this summer. Where I go is entirely flexible. If I send in a resume with my Clemson address on it, will it get dismissed before they read in my cover letter that I am willing to relocate? If I don't have a job offer by the end of summer, I may just move to an area with a high concentration of developers and publishers and hope for the best. Either way, I no longer want to remain in Clemson, so location isn't a problem unless I have to already BE there in order to get offered the job.

Thanks for the replies, hope I didn't sound too defensive. I'm just trying to accurately describe my situation and get advised accordingly.

Andrew Clayton
AAClayton@gmail.com

Andrew wrote:
>If I send in a resume with my Clemson address on it, will it get dismissed before they read in my cover letter that I am willing to relocate?

That is exactly what usually happens. Read FAQ 24 on my site.

A tester does a part of the job of the whole QC. (Yes, you are possibly referring to QC here, as in Quality Control, and not exactly Quality Assurance, they are a bit different from one another).

Where I work, QA is data managers and a few specialized units. Testers are the common job terms you've heard from: you test the game and find bugs, etc.

QC is slightly more. It does embody testing, but also inspection in general. Inspection can lead you to do various tasks outside from regular testing. As an example, a QC may gather statistics regarding certain behaviors. This isn't testing, as this isn't about finding a 'bug' per se, but it gives information regarding the level of quality of the product nonetheless.

A good example would be:

Starcraft 2 is a game that strives to be balanced. Imbalances aren't really bugs, and it requires a different mindset. Rather than focussing on your own thoughts and playing skills, you'll watch other people play, gather metrics from other people in an open beta, and analyse this information to send it to whoever else on the team will use it. You are, in a way, working on Quality (you are performing quality control).

As you can see, it is one of many examples as to why a QC requires both more experience and more skills than a simple tester. Anyone can test (although not everyone is skilled at testing). Testing is about feigning to be different users using the same game, until all potential behaviors have been explored. QA reaches much further than that, and my even be more proactive. You don't need to wait for the bug to happen, you can just make sure it won't happen by staying up to date through communication channels and foreseeing bugs.


BTW, montreal is having a spree right now with WB and funcom and THQ opening their doors soon. That's plenty of fresh jobs in a relatively junior place. They will be on the lookout for serious junior contenders (they might have a bit more trouble with seniors to lead the teams though).

Quote: Original post by AAClayton

Quote: Original post by Telastyn
Realistically, no. It's enough for a 'tester' position, which I wouldn't exactly call QA (though others might, beware). QA testing does require a bit of a background in the development process.

Take it from me; it's really hard to go back to school, even if you have the best of intentions now...

Isn't quality assurance the point of the testing process? I guess I don't understand what separates a "QA tester" from just a "tester".

There's a variety of things that go into QA, and not all places agree on the best approach to arrive at 'good product'. Usually though, the standard development process will involve business people creating requirements. "The product must do X,Y,Z", "It'd be nice if it did these other things", "usability should be favored over performance here and here".

Then it goes to engineers to create design documents. For each business requirement they'll detail how they intend to satisfy it. Those documents are in turn consumed by QA engineers, who make test plans detailing the individual test cases that they'll use to verify that the implementation engineers create satisfies the business requirements and does what it's supposed to (and doesn't break horribly when you do what it doesn't expect).

During the actual QA process, they'll step through the test cases and verify each works. They'll work directly with engineers when it doesn't. Usually, the QA engineer will automate that process so the tests are run via script overnight and they get a nice little report of what passed/failed. Depending on the company/position the QA engineer might also review or run automated tools on the source code itself looking for problem spots.


A tester on the other hand just uses the app and reports what they think is broken or sucky.

Thanks for the clarification regarding technical differences between testing types.

With regard to location; this is disheartening for me. I have the financial flexibility to relocate, however, to 100% commit to moving before securing an employment opportunity makes me apprehensive.

Is there honestly NO way to shop myself around as a prospective employee without physically living within ~30 minutes commute?

I may get slammed for this suggestion, but what about not listing a permanent mailing address on my resume, and only including email/cell phone contact info?

I have the personal confidence that if I can get an interview, I can get a job. I'm looking for a way to get a foot in the door without throwing all my chips on the table.

Feel free to insinuate the stupidity of my inquiry if you will ;) , but understand that I'm only trying to get a feel for the most practical way to approach my interest.

Thanks,
Andrew Clayton

Quote:
I have the personal confidence that if I can get an interview, I can get a job.

Well that's all well and good, but what actual experience/skills/talents do you have to provide for the job? It's not as though your competitors will be without confidence...

How many of those skills can be translated to paper to get you the interview in the first place?