Quality Apprenticing
By now, you may have noticed that working in Quality Assurance is generally a low-paying, time-consuming, and largely-thankless job. It’s a rare beast that decides the QA life is for them, choosing low pay and prestige, to act as the perpetual proofreader. So, why do people actually take Quality Assurance jobs?
Everyone loves to compare games with the film industry, so let’s see if we can find any parallels in the cinema. During the growth of the film industry, there was a story that everyone knew:
A bright and promising youth would go to the movies and somehow the flickering images would ignite their imaginations. They would yearn to be the shining star on the silver screen, become enraptured with the possibilities of the camera’s lens, or feel their own stories well within them and ache to tell them to the world. And unlike the passing fancies of so many of their fellows, they would stick to their vows that someday it would be they - yes, they! - that would be the name behind the film! And to achieve those distant dreams, they would pack up everything they owned and embark for the big city in the West and its big studios, wrapped in confidence of their unique talent.
And then they would find that they weren’t the only prospector to flock to California’s second gold rush, struggling to stake their claim to fortune on the silver screen.
Some would take any job near a studio, waiters and cigarette girls hoping that their brilliance would catch the eye of a big name who would open all of the doors to them. Occasionally, it would work, but for most of these hapless souls, their time would lead only to bitterness and frustration. Some incredibly skilled few actually would have the skills to get in the door, but for each that became a sensation, others withered under the real strains of the industry.
But for most that made good, success came from taking whatever work they could find on a set, starting as a simple grip or assistant, and learning the real skills of their craft by watching everyone else on the set. They worked their jobs and studied the jobs of those around them, earning respect and trust until they found their chance to shine. They were apprentices who learned their crafts from the ground up.
Fade up to the present day, and you’ll see that at least as many promising young talents are entranced by the sparkle and gleam of games. They yearn to draw that dashing hero, to push that powerful processor, or to introduce players to the worlds within their minds. And unlike so many of their fellows on the fora, they take the chance that they - yes, they! - would be the name on the box. And to achieve those dreams, they pack up their best works and apply to those big studios around the globe.
And like their predecessors, they find that they aren’t the only person on the ‘net to try to get to that glittering gem.
Some spread themselves across the internet, posting in fora and news sites, hoping their insights would catch the eye of a big company who would open their doors to them. Occasionally, it works, but for most of those hapless souls, they descend into cultish sniping and deluded irrelevance. Some incredibly skilled few have the portfolio to get hired from obscurity, but for each wonderboy that becomes a steady force, others cannot handle the responsibility of working with a team.
But for most who make good, success comes from taking the jobs available at a game studio, starting as an intern, QA tester, or (heaven help them) as tech support. And from there, they begin the task of learning the real skills of their craft by watching the teams around them.
In one of these positions, an observant worker can see the many difficulties in the rough path a game takes towards completion. And nothing exposes a learner to
more of these mistakes than working in Quality Assurance as a tester. Testers see every mistake made and corrected, uncover every flaw found and fixed, and
log more hours on a game than any other human would ever consider. And, at every step, a clever tester learns about how to create game art, program functional code, and write gripping stories.
There’s simply no better apprenticing.