Working at EA as game tester?

[Deleted]

So I found out EA has a studio in my country (quite some time ago actually) and saw they have jobs for game testers for mobiles and playstation. And I thought I'd apply, so I did and I got a response from them inviting me to an interview.

I was wondering if anyone has any experience working in a similar position and/or has ever gone to an interview with EA or their partner companies?
How's the interview like? I mean, the recruiter sent me a little presentation on the major things that might be asked, but I was wondering on details a bit more.

How's it like working for them, are they nice, what do they want of you at an interview and after while you're working, you know, stuff like that.
I'd be most appreciative if anyone could give me some hints I really want to get the job for multiple reasons, I do like EA's games and I'd be thrilled to help improve future ones, it's a chance to start in the game industry 9hey, we all start somewhere) it's a nice job from what I've heard, it's in a nice location easy to get to, nice building (haven't seen the inside of it yet), the recruiter seemed nice, I am also close to my bestfriend's workplace which is awesome and one of the best things actually, so what can I say, it's like a dream job in a way I haven't had a job yet, would that be a problem? I mean I do play games, both PC and a few on mobiles but... what can I expect?

Thanks for the help.

Edit: So I was at the interview today. Since they didn't say I can't talk about the interview, I will. I won't talk about the game though since I'd assume that would go under some type of NDA or something. So, it was nice, even if I don't get the job I liked the interview. So the recruiter asked me the usual questions (why did you chose our company? etc.) aswell as more questions based on... well, what I'll do. Name some games I've played, have I played mobile games, can I name one, some characteristics of game testers etc.

Then at the end of questions, I asked a few questions and he gave my an iPhone. "my gift to you!" well, no, joking of course. so anyway, the recruiter said, here's a game in alpha, take it, do whatever you can, here's some papers, write the bugs (name them), describe them, say what category they belong in then the severity. You have 30 min. So, me, being unfamiliar with an iPhone took it and started testing stuff. You could see it was an alpha game, it was filled with bugs. I won't tell you genre or anything, but I want to say even if it truly was alpha, it's better then some open beta games I've played. So anyway, started testing it, I did go out of my way and check suspicious stuff where I could, and they weren't that hard to find, then wrote them down.

At the end he came back, took the papers, and as he was reading them I realized my writing (which may not be so... easy to read) might be a major setback. But I still hope for the best.

And yes, maybe it isn't the best job on the entire planet, but I kind of found ok what I'm supposed to do. I mean, it's just like any job, you do something, you then do something else depending on results, you repeat. What's the difference then entering data for a data manager or being at a call center for example? There really isn't that much of a difference, just that the line of work is different. One is something I enjoy, and one is not (I don't enjoy calling people at random since I don't enjoy being called at random).

So yes, I hope for the best. As I said, if they hire me and I find it to be a really horrible job, I can quit after a few months. And I get some experience.

[Korie]

I don't think "game tester" is a real job.

Also: Why should they hire you?

Testing games is listed as a job in quite a few job agencys, so I'm pretty sure its an "official" job

Arnorei: You'll be asked why they'd want to hire you, your background on different games(I suppose they'd want to know if you're a newbie at playing/rating games)

[Badpaladin]

Game testing is anything but a nice job, but it is a possible way to get your foot in the door. There's a few articles you could read to help out:

A decent IGN article: http://games.ign.com/articles/122/1221612p1.html

[Caiada]

I've never had a tester job, but I've never heard anything good about them either. It's usually either horror stories or at least bad ones. I think I've heard maybe one story of somebody going farther in the industry from a tester job. The experience is usually insignificant, the work is mind-numbing, the people almost certainly don't care about you, and your job once the project is done is tenuous at best.

Maybe EA's different, I don't know, but it's certainly not the best way to start in the industry. QA sucks.

[Deleted]

It's quite standard stuff, they'll be asking about your enthusiasm and experience with playing/rating games, it might be worth it if you played a couple games with the mindset of writing a review for it, there's no need to show them it but you'll encounter some questions within your own testing that'll give you some ideas as to what they will also expect from you. If you can figure out whether or not the recruiter is heavily involved in games or not it may help, if they're strictly recruitment they will be more interested with performance, though if they're dedicated gamers they'll be interested in your styles of play and whether you can handle the grinds and enjoy the games.

Edit: If it makes a better comparison it's about the same value getting your foot in the door as being a runaround on a movie set, no one really expects anything from you or wants to get you on track, but being around the right people and coming up with the odd contribution a cut above standard will get you somewhere.

[Deleted]

It is, but it's more paperwork than "gaming" if you're actually doing it as an employee, rather than as an "external contact tester" (which aren't paid but are supposed to lick boots and tell the company how great the game is).

People see "Game Tester" and think "OMG! FREE PRERELEASE GAMES!", when the truth is it's more about logging what you do and submitting it as a QC report to your line manager (who makes the issues available on a ticket-based system and usually runs daily or weekly meetings with developers to keep up to date with progress, along with finding out exactly what the tester should focus on).

Oh no, I don't see it like that at all. I see it as something like:
-you go, you're assigned to a game/platform, you play a bit
-you find bugs, you're playing in an alpha or a closed beta at best, so your experience will be just the start of the game. so you find bugs and report them through various tools
-you then write reports on the game as in why the graphics are good/bad, why something doesn't work, why something works great etc.
-your boss then sends it further, gets sent report back with new version and what they've improved, asks you what you need to focus testing in next experience
-cycle repeats

Am I right or am I dreaming it's this way?

---------- Post added 2012-06-13 at 10:45 PM ----------

Game testing is anything but a nice job, but it is a possible way to get your foot in the door. There's a few articles you could read to help out:

A decent IGN article: http://games.ign.com/articles/122/1221612p1.html

Thanks for the link, just read it, but even considering that, they do say the fix salary in the sort of questionnaire you have to complete before and it's better then many entry jobs in several other domains, so in my country I actually would get payed more then a call center person for example. Besides that, because of how contracts are made here, contracts are made over 3 months, so if I dislike it, I can then find something else, or if they don't like me, they can let me off then. However, even as 3 months it would give me something I lack, experience.

That said, I do understand it's not all sunshine and honey, and I do admit I didn't know some things from your link. That said, there's still the bonus of working close to my best friend

Yes, I admit, maybe I'm seeing this with rose-tinted eyes, to be honest I'm not sure but... I always wanted to work in the game industry and yet still be in my country and... well, there aren't that many options then.
On another interview I was at, which was some sort of group interview, there was one guy who did this QA testing and I did ask him a few questions. He did say it's ok, not sure if his ok would be different from mine of course, everything is subjective, just that he's looking for a better payed job.

[Illuwin]

Oh no, I don't see it like that at all. I see it as something like:
-you go, you're assigned to a game/platform, you play a bit
-you find bugs, you're playing in an alpha or a closed beta at best, so your experience will be just the start of the game. so you find bugs and report them through various tools
-you then write reports on the game as in why the graphics are good/bad, why something doesn't work, why something works great etc.
-your boss then sends it further, gets sent report back with new version and what they've improved, asks you what you need to focus testing in next experience
-cycle repeats

Am I right or am I dreaming it's this way?[COLOR="red"]

disclosure: I don't work in the gaming industry but I am a director of quality assurance which gives me a great deal of exposure to test procedures/processes and QA/QC standards, which are typically quite standard between industry.

That isn't really how testing works, you'll likely have a list of instructions to perform that vary from highly detailed to vague. Testing realistically has several components: An underlying requirement goal or statement; a test instruction/procedure; expected output from that procedure (and usually pass/fail conditions); your observed results / objective evidence of that procedure being performed. Depending on your area of testing you may be asked to give opinions such as impressions on an area, but that is doubtful and more oriented towards game design/project management/marketing. Your job is likely to be oriented to performing specific very detailed tasks to cover stated goals/requirements/area of source code.

Think along the lines of
[go to area x]
Check all that apply:
[] NPC wire frame loaded
[] NPC skin layer loaded
[] hundreds of additional observables
[press the X button]
Confirm the X button performs action ACTION_01
[Press and hold the X button]
Confirm the X button performs action ACTION_01_A
[Press and hold the B button]
Confirm the X button performs action ACTION_02 and not ACTION_01

and so on.

[Revik]

It is, but it's more paperwork than "gaming" if you're actually doing it as an employee, rather than as an "external contact tester" (which aren't paid but are supposed to lick boots and tell the company how great the game is).

People see "Game Tester" and think "OMG! FREE PRERELEASE GAMES!", when the truth is it's more about logging what you do and submitting it as a QC report to your line manager (who makes the issues available on a ticket-based system and usually runs daily or weekly meetings with developers to keep up to date with progress, along with finding out exactly what the tester should focus on).

Honestly, games tester is probably one of the most soul-crushing areas of the IT industry. Not because it's part of the entertainment side of it, but because it's the lowest of the low. You're forced into silence, have next to no input on the direction the game(s) go in, and your only purpose is to serve as a QA-Monkey.

You're not a developer, you're not an artist, you're not a network or database engineer... you're not even the guy who makes coffee that everyone relies on to get them through the day. You're just some low-end tester who's being chained up and told what you've got to do without being able to speak about it to anyone outside of the company while having no control over what you get to test. I wouldn't say it's the worlds worst job out there, but it really is one of the lowest jobs in IT.

Companies such as EA prey on the idealistic view of "People want to play games" and use that to draw people in.

^ This. I worked at THQ and lets say that I felt as you did but with in a week the reality set in and it was miserable. I stuck it out for a year though.

One illusion you need to dispell is the idea that your feedback is going to be considered or listened to. They are NOT going to be listened to. You only goal is to test how something works and if there is anything else wrong. THAT'S IT. They don't want to know how you'd fix it or what you would do to make it better because quite frankly everyone else knows better (true or not nobody cares).

The best advice I can give you is to find a game you hate the most and play that for 8 hours a day for a month straight. If you are cool by the end of that you might have what it takes to be a good tester.

A couple of positive experiences I did get from working at THQ is that the people you work with are usually really cool and there is a special bonding you develop with your co-workers when you are getting in the crap with the grunts.

[syn1k]

http://trenchescomic.com/

under the comic strip they have peoples stories of being a game tester. some good most not so much.

[Deleted]

I forgat to thank everyone who responded from start of thread, so, first, thank you everyone who responded

disclosure: I don't work in the gaming industry but I am a director of quality assurance which gives me a great deal of exposure to test procedures/processes and QA/QC standards, which are typically quite standard between industry.

That isn't really how testing works, you'll likely have a list of instructions to perform that vary from highly detailed to vague. Testing realistically has several components: An underlying requirement goal or statement; a test instruction/procedure; expected output from that procedure (and usually pass/fail conditions); your observed results / objective evidence of that procedure being performed. Depending on your area of testing you may be asked to give opinions such as impressions on an area, but that is doubtful and more oriented towards game design/project management/marketing. Your job is likely to be oriented to performing specific very detailed tasks to cover stated goals/requirements/area of source code.

Think along the lines of
[go to area x]
Check all that apply:
[] NPC wire frame loaded
[] NPC skin layer loaded
[] hundreds of additional observables
[press the X button]
Confirm the X button performs action ACTION_01
[Press and hold the X button]
Confirm the X button performs action ACTION_01_A
[Press and hold the B button]
Confirm the X button performs action ACTION_02 and not ACTION_01

and so on.

I see, so it's rather more basic tasks aswell, good to have some info from somewhere who's familiar with similar things. It doesn't sound that bad actually, I mean in many cases I already do that on games that work badly.

^ This. I worked at THQ and lets say that I felt as you did but with in a week the reality set in and it was miserable. I stuck it out for a year though.

One illusion you need to dispell is the idea that your feedback is going to be considered or listened to. They are NOT going to be listened to. You only goal is to test how something works and if there is anything else wrong. THAT'S IT. They don't want to know how you'd fix it or what you would do to make it better because quite frankly everyone else knows better (true or not nobody cares).

The best advice I can give you is to find a game you hate the most and play that for 8 hours a day for a month straight. If you are cool by the end of that you might have what it takes to be a good tester.

A couple of positive experiences I did get from working at THQ is that the people you work with are usually really cool and there is a special bonding you develop with your co-workers when you are getting in the crap with the grunts.

I see, so it's rather a case of everyone things it's better. you're only there to test other people's work so to say. hmmm... not sure what to say, even if it will fully be like this, at least there's the advantage of pay, ease to get to place and best friend working in next building and having her lunch break when I'd finish, which means I could visit her sometimes I can take repeating same action 100 times per day for that I think.

Good advice though you have there, though I have an interview with them tomorrow. Still, at least the game improves as you play it bug-wise, does it not? I mean with each patch, less bugs are there, are there not? Though I can imagine it being a pain if there's games that, even when done, would be crap... ahem. I'll need to think of this.

http://trenchescomic.com/

under the comic strip they have peoples stories of being a game tester. some good most not so much.

Thanks for link, will check it when I have some time.

[ddsad2212]

Okay first this is how it will be assuming your testing the game early(and i mean very early) You will spend 50% of your time playing 50% writing, the writing will be split into bugs(this will have to be very detailed in general), whats good and bad in the game and suggestion etc. And 50% of your time playing will be if your lucky. Dont think this will be a easy job, it will be a hard job, now you might start of as a play tester and get the game in a pre-beta state, but assuming you want to go far in the company it will get to a point where you spend more time writing then playing but be prepare for that.

Now about how to actually get the job, alot of the people who applied are people who gave a very wrong impression of people who want to play games for a living(ie play wow as they always have just getting paid) you got a interview so you stood out. What i suggest doing is look up everything you can about game AND SOFTWARE testing, in the end a game is a piece of software and there are very detailed articles about software testing , knowing the information in them will give you a leg up in the interview, best of luck and if you want to become a game designer, this is also one of the best places to start

[Uselessrouge]

Well, it's likely to be like this

- Hi, I have noticed some bugs here and here
- We don't care, launch day is tomorrow
- But we just got the game for testing today!!!

its EA you forgot a part

Dont worry the bug fix is for the 10$ DLC

[Maruka]

I am guessing this is the best job in the world as EA games dont ever change so when you test new games you just actually dont test, you just play the previous game with new skins.

[Lyriok]

its EA you forgot a part

Dont worry the bug fix is for the 10$ DLC

So sad yet true.

Basically what everyone has already said, May seem like a great job but it can be horrible. Not that it's the worse job EVER or anything.

[Deleted]

Ive been a games tester, just a few things you should know.

You wont get to play games in the way you do now. You will be given a specific build of the game. With this build you will then be told to work on a certain part of the game. Which means playing it over and over and over. You must try to break the game, any bugs must then be repeatable.

It really depends on the format the game is played on though, some testing will simply be connectivity, networking etc. So you could spend a day just doing that and not actually playing and game content.

You will need good communication skills, as writing up bugs is a big part of testing. Im most cases you wont be there to test and report on gameplay. If you spot something that is horrrible then by all means go ahead and put that forward. Its is just repetative and can be quite frustrating if you come into a project several builds after your fellow QA team. Finding bugs others have already reported in previous builds, can make it look like you aren't doing a very good job of testing as your bug count will be low.

Really it depends in the title and what sort of games you like to play. If you have a broad love of games and the industry give it a go. No harm will come of it. Depending on if you are a contractor or work for the company can make things a little bit rough as your income will fluctuate. In the UK contractor's may sometimes be viewed as self-employed, so you will have to sort out all your taxes and NI payments.

The experience is great, depending on the type of work you might want to go into after. You could sell this time as a tester in many ways, Teamwork, eye for detail. Recorded data, communication. Its all good stuff.

Most of all try to enjoy it, not many people will get to do this type of work. The games industry is viewed in a far more serious light now than it had in the past. SOme emplyoers might like you have had some work experience doing an unconventional job. I loved it.

[Reg]

Being a game tester can really ruin gaming for some people. I did testing for Atari back when I was in college, and it's not like you get to sit there and just play the game. You have to play the same level/area/zone for hours on end looking for anything and everything that could be considered a bug. You try to intentionally break the game. It's not a lot of fun and it made me quit gaming for a while.

[Deleted]

Really it depends in the title and what sort of games you like to play. If you have a broad love of games and the industry give it a go. No harm will come of it. Depending on if you are a contractor or work for the company can make things a little bit rough as your income will fluctuate. In the UK contractor's may sometimes be viewed as self-employed, so you will have to sort out all your taxes and NI payments.

Thanks for the whole input on your experience, was interesting to read, glad to see someone doesn't think it's as bad as others do. I quoted this part from you though since wanted to say that where I'm at, Romania, the salary is fix and communicated to you from a pre-interview questionnaire actually. Looking at it, it's quite good for a starting job, also it's important to say that other options for me both pay less and are far away from me on what I've found until now. Besides, stuff like call center or tehnical support (which are other options for other companies) seem more annoying to me since I know that when people think they're right they'll try to push their ideas onto you confusing you no matter what and some can be really rude. I know that even in game testing I'll have to deal with potentially annoying people (not as in annoying since they put you to work or want to do something else, but annoying since they have nasty personalities) but at least I won't have to deal with such people every single day while calling them or being called.

That said, it indeed is an unconventional job, but I like finding bugs sometimes, I like the jumping bugs most of times (where you jump out of gameworld, until now I've found one in almost every game where you can jump.

In the end, if it's so bad I can always quit, right? Not like I'm chained to them. And if it's good, it will be great experience and you never know where it might take me

[PizzaSHARK]

So I found out EA has a studio in my country (quite some time ago actually) and saw they have jobs for game testers for mobiles and playstation. And I thought I'd apply, so I did and I got a response from them inviting me to an interview.

I was wondering if anyone has any experience working in a similar position and/or has ever gone to an interview with EA or their partner companies?
How's the interview like? I mean, the recruiter sent me a little presentation on the major things that might be asked, but I was wondering on details a bit more.

How's it like working for them, are they nice, what do they want of you at an interview and after while you're working, you know, stuff like that.
I'd be most appreciative if anyone could give me some hints I really want to get the job for multiple reasons, I do like EA's games and I'd be thrilled to help improve future ones, it's a chance to start in the game industry 9hey, we all start somewhere) it's a nice job from what I've heard, it's in a nice location easy to get to, nice building (haven't seen the inside of it yet), the recruiter seemed nice, I am also close to my bestfriend's workplace which is awesome and one of the best things actually, so what can I say, it's like a dream job in a way I haven't had a job yet, would that be a problem? I mean I do play games, both PC and a few on mobiles but... what can I expect?

Thanks for the help.

Game tester does not mean "sit on your butt and get paid to play video games."

It means you are being paid to break a game. Then you have to duplicate the bugs you find. Then you have to write up what you've found and tell them (whoever "them" is in your environment) what you found, how you found it, how to duplicate it, and so on.

Ever write a bug report for a computer game? Okay, think like that... except that's your job, and you're not really playing the game so much as going down a list of problems to try and help the programmers iron them out.

[ZenX]

http://www.glassdoor.com/Job/game-te...11_KE12,27.htm

Might help you a bit, good luck

[Deleted]

Ok, been at interview, resume of it added to OP, some of you people scared me but it was ok. Now let's see how it goes, no matter what at least I tried.

Also, thank you to all those that responded, took some of your advice and will do more in the future as well