Is a QA tester job a good way to get into making video games? Or is it better to just work on a skill like programming, writing, music, etc?
You become a tester if you love video games and want to hate them in record time.
Kinda like coming to /v/ after 2007
What's your end goal? It heavily depends on that. QA to designer or artist isn't that unheard of, but QA to programmer is.
Though I wouldn't expect great odds of getting hired that way. When a position does go up and if you managed to make an attempt at a portfolio then you'd obviously be a candidate since you have connections with everyone.
>>343700348
From what I've read no, you get barely any money and often it's just an early copy, and you basically fix the game yourself.
>>343700348
if you want to make videogames then start making them.
if you really wanted to make videogames, you'd have started by now
I dated someone who did testing for Microsoft and Nintendo and the answer is no. You're basically just a bitch for whoever you're hired for at the time and you get average pay until they're done with you and then get let go until they need something else tested.
In fact game devs pretty much don't give a shit about you or will treat you like shit. If you need a seasonal job that doesn't pay amazingly then go for it, but if you're looking to get into game dev then you'll likely want to take some programming classes.
>>343700348
Do what you gotta do to get paid, ideally something related to the field (like a programming job, or whatever arts people do). Spend your free time writing games or if you're more on the artsy side contribute to opensource projects and mods who ALWAYS need solid assets.
There are so many resources and tools (free ones) out there that you really have no excuse not to just make games if you want to.
I suggest starting out with some html5/javascript games because it's fairly easy and most importantly you can easily show them off to friends and family. ( no one wants to download a exe to try you're shitty game, but i'll go to a website ) It's also easy to port to mobile.
That's my suggestion, people who want to make games make them.
>>343700348
testing is actually a great job, it shows you games for what they really are and kind of enlightens you as to the simulated nature of your materialistic desires, makes you feel sick that you took part in the addiction for so long, and then if you have half a brain you'll immediately drop them forever and get on with something more valuable to your life. the ones without brains start working their way up the ladder into a deeper level of purgatory
>>343700348
What's up with Voldemort in the back there? Why can't he use headphones properly?
What would they even ask at an interview for that job?
Friend of mine is a beta tester
>tests game all day
>comes back home, play video games all night while smoking weed
>>343702414
yet here you are
How do you expect to develop art or programming skills by playing fucking video games?
Go fucking practice those instead
>>343704075
Probably things about your attention to detail and ability to focus and shit like that
>>343704630
just popped in to give my annual warning
>>343704354
Tell him to grow up.
>>343704634
Isn't it a good way to develop connections?
>>343705207
the devs see testers as pondscum and won't talk to you
QA, like customer support/tech support are dead end jobs.
You would have to specialize or be really nice with your boss to get promotions.
Youre better off going to school
>>343705207
Depends on the size of the company. Larger companies tend to be siloed, with certain departments only talking within themselves. Most QA roles are entry-level, so if you're looking to network, it'd likely be with other entry-level QAers.
>>343706386
source?
>>343700348
I've been a QA tester for 2 years. I've never met the devs, so I would say that, while its a perfectly fine student job, it leads nowhere.
>>343707159
Dave the neckbeard
>>343700348
Been doing QA for like two years now, and I just finished my first week as an SDET (software development engineer in-training).
You'll be working at a Capital-C-Company (unless you're doing some kind of indie thing, can't say much about that aside that I've heard from co-workers that it's a lot more hit or miss of a good experience based on the indie company itself - ymmv). If you've never done company stuff, get ready for dumb managers, stupid, impossible deadlines, and reallllly stupid processes that everyone just kinda has to do because otherwise nothing will work right.
But, if you work hard, show your knowledge and whatnot, there's no reason you can't move up to wherever or whatever you want. I mean, 90% of the time you're working with/talking with devs directly, so you can eventually get a really good idea of what their workflows/responsibilities are like.
As for pay, ymmv especially based on location, but here on the east coast (RTP area, generally), you get a fair slice above minimum wage for what, at the entry level, is basically filling out spreadsheets and bug reports and following test cases. Far more fun environment and far more interesting work than RETAIL, for example.
/blog
programming obviously? what kind of skills do you think you'd acquire being a QA tester? that road goes nowhere. at least if you study programming you can go into a lot of different fields.
more importantly, do you even know what making video games is like? given your ignorance it sounds like you don't.
>>343700348
lol no
it's a terrible job and it has nothing to do with actually making games
Game testers are low level bitch boys. They're a dime a dozen. They have no skills, no knowledge, no future. A programmer is a god among mortals who understands the depth of coding and is worth their weight in gold. Game testers might as well work at McDonald's serving programmers their morning coffee.
>>343707920
Hey look a good answer
>>343708336
>god among mortals
>implying the market isn't saturated as fuck now
Spotted the programmer.
>>343700348
do something useful like learning a trade instead faggot
