A career in game QA

For a long time, QA was considered an entry position in the gaming industry. It was presumed that people starting in QA used it only as a stepping stone to move toward game design or production. That is still true in many cases. It is considered a “natural” transition to move from QA to production and then possibly further up the management path.

But with more modern ways of working and independent teams with flat hierarchies, the need to move up the ladder is not necessarily there. Embedded QA in a games team often has a range of responsibilities and duties that far exceed traditional QA. It often gets involved with game design and product management, and depending on the individual skills, with coding or art. That makes QA as a job far more exciting, and it can lead to better salaries and work appreciation.

But let’s look at the traditional breakdown of QA roles. We can see it in Figure 12.2.

Figure 13.2 &...