02-20-2014, 06:07 PM | #76 | |
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02-20-2014, 06:11 PM | #77 |
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Guys, if you're not getting anywhere for months on end and you have even just one hour a week spare, volunteering is the answer. Pick up relevant skills, show willing, network. Your CV and interview ability will improve.
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02-20-2014, 06:20 PM | #78 |
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I've been volunteering for multiple years building a resume; most important companies that even care about stuff like that won't bother interviewing you until you're at least 24, and even then that's with a degree or two under your belt.
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02-20-2014, 07:55 PM | #79 |
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Oh, I know this. That's why I have two degrees, two unpaid internships and now a fairly crappy four month research contract under my belt. But to get the first internship I was able to use extra curricular stuff and volunteering. It;s all about using these things to build your CV (resume). Doing a job for the sake of it is not progress aside from the money aspect.
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02-20-2014, 08:03 PM | #80 |
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Well while this thread is active again...
So as some may know, I am a senior-level video game tester, in a third-party, independent company. As much as I like my job and the people I work with, it feels like things are getting... old, repetitive. I don't know if it's the job itself doing this to me, the fact I feel like I'm not working at my full potential (I'm specialized in Nintendo compliance, but I'm thrown into random, unrelated projects instead, mostly because of time/schedule restraints) or if it's the environment I work in that's doing this to me, but... yeah, feels like I need to do something about it. Tonight arriving at home, my dad announces to me he read somewhere that Warner freakin' Bros. is employing. For the exact same job I'm currently working in. I've already worked there at their own site/building because of a previous contract between the company I work in and them (we usually stay in our own building to test their games, but at times companies that have their own location in Montreal they demand to have some testers "shipped" over at their site so they could have extra support/better contact with the programmers, producers, etc.) and it was pretty sweet. Then again, it might be because they gave us semi-special treatment for business reasons and all that jazz. Their location is easy to get there, but it costs me more to get there since I have to use a second transport system. There's some people who work there that I know of because they used to work with me at my current company, but some of them I was glad they moved there. There's the salary/social advantages to think of too, as currently I don't make enough to survive on my own, but I don't know if WB offer a better price. And there's also the stress factor: with what I'm doing right now stress is fairly low, and although I complain things are old and repetitive, at least I'm not losing any hair from stressing out. I'm a bit worried that when moving to WB, stress will get to an all-time high and I'll burn myself out instead. I could always try to get an interview anyways and see what they have to offer, and if they do end up choosing me I could always talk to my current boss(es) and ask them if they could make me a better offer or I'll be leaving (...but that's not really my style, plus I do not wish to break all bridges behind me in case things with WB go awry) but... I dunno. I guess I'm stuck between being lazy vs. wanting change vs. afraid of change :/ |
02-20-2014, 10:16 PM | #81 |
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You should definitely apply, if only to see what a large company's reaction to you would be. If you are in QA and are not feeling stressed all the time, you should consider yourself in an extreme minority - that seems like the exact opposite of what I've heard about your position.
Warner Bros isn't doing too hot with games right now, though, right? I guess they have tons of work for QA, though. Lots of tie-in work. |
02-20-2014, 10:43 PM | #82 |
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Stress-wise, it all depends on what exactly you do, and how things are well-planned in advance. It's mostly test leaders (the position just above mine in the QA hierarchy) that gets most of the stress since they're the ones who communicates the most with the client during the project/testing, have to constantly verify if everything's rolling fine in every way, and have to make the hard decisions. Senior testers simply handles the team and relays the information taken from the team to the lead, and assists him when he needs help or extra time. It only gets rough for us when the lead is not around for some reason and everything goes wrong ^^; (And even then, I can ask for help from other superiors.) The real reason why things are *really* not stressful for me though is currently management are put me into projects/teams which are either so well-planned the project runs by itself, or that I'm not actually the senior of the team and end up just doing the job of a tester. Which kinda bring the point of my feelings of not working at my full potential.
Well it doesn't look like it, since they're employing more people! ^^; Well they do have the Batman games, *insert other superhero here* games, Lego games, *insert popular movie here* games; not to mention they had some deals going on with Nintendo, especially with game that came out at launch of the Wii U... so I bet their money's in there. And it's been just a year or two since they opened up a studio/headquarters in Montreal, so I guess they're still expanding. Well I would say that the company I'm in is a pretty big company (just a lot less known in public eyes) but actually working directly at a publisher, without being attached to a 3rd party company, is definitely gonna be different. I might just as well try my luck and send my application, just to see ^^ At worse, I'll just come back to my old place XP I know some who did that, and some even actually do that at a yearly pace, going back and forth, wherever there's the most work/when their contract ends. Edit: Oh and for those who are curious, this is the company I work for. |
02-20-2014, 11:05 PM | #83 |
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Yeah, definitely send them your resume, see if you can get an interview. You can always find out what aspects of your resume come up short. What is your career goal?
Re: WB: Oh wow, I didn't realize how many studios they had purchased, in addition to their usual publishing stuff. Traveler's Tales and Rocksteady are very highly regarded for their good games, and WB Montreal had a satisfactory first showing with the new Batman game. I've never heard of VMC before (which is not surprising considering those sorts of companies are regarded quite unfairly as the grunt workers of the industry). One thing to keep in mind: big publishers like WB tend to lay off a massive amount of people after a game has been released, and only keep a small number on for DLC testing and support. This affects even super successful ones like Irrational Games. |
02-20-2014, 11:23 PM | #84 |
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> Career path
Well to be honest, I'm already in an unplanned path ^^; I went from wanting to be a 3D modeler to becoming a Web programmer to becoming video game tester X) I would plan to continue to climb on the corporate ladder in QA, but at the moment I don't feel quite ready to have that much responsibility on my shoulders, so I'm just building experience and connections so I can be ready to go higher up. Yeah, already QA is considered as the lowest of the low in video gaming business, it's even worse when it's from a third party ^^; Even though it feels like the whole game would've fallen apart if it wasn't for us :P And yeah, I do know about lay offs of that kind. It's different from publisher to publisher though. EA works a bit like you talked about since they work by contract, but I think most places try to keep people on the job as much as possible. And QA is easy to do that because of DLC and game updates ^^ |
02-20-2014, 11:42 PM | #85 |
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Ah I see. For the record, I think it's shameful how poorly QA and contract workers are thought of and treated in the industry. If video games ever unionize, it will start in the sort of jobs where you work.
Well, the reason I brought up Irrational is because they are exactly the sort of studio that you'd think wouldn't do that - but they seem to have disbanded just because Ken Levine was done with Bioshock and so he closed the studio; Take Two has lost a lot of people this year in addition to Irrational closing. And that's just one example. No publisher is safe from this thing, from the incredibly risky (Zynga, King) to the safe bets (what I would have classified Take Two as for the most part - very little intervention into what their developers do, and so the developer can hold onto more people). I'd recommend working on coding/art/music design, what have you, on the side while you QA. It's difficult to go from QA into anything else without a tangible non-QA skill. You already know this, of course. |
02-20-2014, 11:59 PM | #86 |
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There is almost always money on the table, so switch jobs as much as you like and enjoy!
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02-21-2014, 03:15 AM | #87 |
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Implying it's that easy to just up and switch your job...
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02-21-2014, 06:20 AM | #88 |
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> Amras
Yup X) To be fair though, the mentality towards QA (and third parties) are slowly changing, as people start to see how important our job is and difficult it can be but pull things through. Some companies even try to make/consider QA just as important as programming, treating them with the same respect. (Moments of teamwork I had with programmers and even a few times with a producer, were always awesome.) Yeah I see what you mean, but thankfully it's easy to work to one place to another, whenever it's the studio that went down for some reason or just for personal reasons. (I can't count how many people left, and how some come back after months or even years since they left!) And there's always my current job/position, that even though it's not the best thing ever, at least the work is stable-ish thanks to working for different publishers/studios/whatever, and if said client goes kaput, I just switch on a dime to another project with another client. (It's not perfect though, as there's "down seasons" that can last for more than a couple of weeks.) Working in a business that is based on contracts is like that. Thing is despite my background of stuff outside QA, I don't plan going back out the department X) I've learned firsthand how 3D modeling (too time-restrictive) and programming (too much stress and pressure, although tbh sexism and illegal salary calculating was also involved in my experience) are not for me, but at the very worse of things, I can always go back to programming (...even though I'm very likely be outdated in terms of technique and technology >.<) > Morg Am I the only one who was dissapointed to not see Money by Pink Floyd at the other end of the link? I guess it was too obvious... or not that funny X) > Crumble As far as I can tell, it is. See second paragraph of my post XP |
02-21-2014, 07:13 AM | #89 |
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Often, it is.
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02-23-2014, 09:27 PM | #90 |
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Not really a job (though yes, pretty much a job), but I have just been accepted to Ohio State University's History PhD program, with funding!
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02-23-2014, 09:31 PM | #91 |
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Hey, nice going EmGee! Sounds exciting!
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02-24-2014, 02:50 AM | #92 |
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Nicely done!
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02-24-2014, 03:00 AM | #93 |
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Ta gents! It's a huge relief, and a great program.
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02-24-2014, 03:27 AM | #94 |
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Ohio State University, or The Ohio State University?
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02-24-2014, 01:10 PM | #95 |
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Well, although I did send my application to WB (no news from them so far btw) it doesn't mean I shouldn't ignore my current job at VMC!
Which, by the way, I got an offer from them... for YOU GUYS! (Yes, you've read this right.) Got a gaming PC or an XBox One? Got Paypal? You wouldn't mind getting some easy money by playing a game, at home, during the week-end? Well, this is for you ;) VMC is recruiting console/PC gamers (currently focusing on Xbox One) for @Home testing! What is @Home testing, you ask? It's exactly what it says on the tin: You test games in the comfort of your home, on your own system! A beta test, you could say, however you'll have instructions to follow (through Skype) and it's usually a weekly or bi-weekly event that lasts for 1 to 4 hours each session. Sounds cool? Wanna join in? It's pretty simple to join in, really. All you need to do is to fill out the application that's related to your world location: North America: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VMC-AHT-APP-NA Latin America: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VMC-AHT-APP-LATAM Europe: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VMC-AHT-APP-EUR Asia & Oceania : https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VMC-AHT-APP-ASOC If you guys need more info, just contact me through the thread, or PM me or whatever X) I know this sounds out-of-no-where and maybe "IT'S A TRAP!" But I assure you, it's not ^^; If I'm not mistaken, an UPNer (S_o_S) have participated on one of those sessions (or at least tried to), so it's not new on my part. What's new is I got permission to post it out of the open here XP |
03-05-2014, 07:38 PM | #96 |
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Got into the University of Cincinnati Classics PhD program, Ancient History track, with 6 years of funding =O
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03-05-2014, 07:43 PM | #97 |
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Bloody hell EmGee, you're just getting accepted everywhere, aren't you?
Nice going bro. |
03-06-2014, 02:10 PM | #98 |
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Ta Dave, you're very kind =3
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04-13-2014, 03:20 PM | #99 |
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Not really a job thing (though sorta) - I accepted Cinci's offer today!
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04-19-2014, 09:45 AM | #100 |
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So I'm fairly certain I don't want to spend the next fifty years staring at a computer screen and writing/reading reports. But that's broadly speaking where I appear to be heading.
Wat do. |
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