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Similar Titles
- Junior QA Tester
- Junior QA Analyst
- Junior Game Tester
- Game Tester
- Quality Assurance
Tools
Most Used:
- Testrail
- Confluence
- Microsoft Office
Good to Know:
- Azure DevOps
- Bugzilla
- Redmine
- Google Suite
- Git
- Agile Methodology
- Jira or Trello
- Slack or Microsoft Teams
Role Summary
A Junior QA Tester plays a crucial part in the gaming industry, ensuring a bug-free, enjoyable gaming session; this role requires a keen eye for detail, and a profound understanding of the game experience from the user’s perspective. Their main duties include performing various levels of testing on assigned game deliverables and actively participating in formal release cycles. By meticulously playing through games, they identify and report bugs, glitches, or other issues that could hinder the user experience, and manage day-to-day project tasks to complete various testing-related deliverables. Sharing their findings through detailed reports is a part of their routine, helping the development team flag any errors or inconsistencies that may exist within the game, be it visual glitches, spelling mistakes across different languages, or functional issues. The collaborative nature of their role requires strong communication and teamwork skills as they report and track bugs within software and help address them alongside senior-level QA testers and developers.
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Knowledge
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The specific understanding around software tools and techniques, terminology and the responsibilities of the role.
- Awareness of essential tools such as Microsoft Office for documentation and reporting.
- Familiarity with standard QA processes tailored for bug investigations.
- Has a grasp of tools like Jira used for bug management.
- Understanding of toolchains, notably applications like Jira and Confluence.
- Insight into the underlying world and lore of the game to enhance testing relevancy.
- Familiarity with Quality Assurance terminology, Software Development, and Game Launch cycles
Skills
The specific proficiency around technical skills, the types of creative and problem solving abilities, and areas of communication and adaptability.
- Demonstrated ability to convey basic ideas through written and verbal mediums.
- Skill in recognising and addressing challenges within QA such as Last-Minute Changes to Requirements, Inadequate documentation, and or out of sync collaboration between testers and developers
- Ability to familiarise oneself with in-house tools, and emerging technologies & processes.
- Capable of utilising tools like Jira and Confluence.
- Ability to write clear and concise bug reports.
- Ability to follow Test Cases and prioritise efforts based on previous data.
Behaviour
In relation to the capabilities around working within the team, and the expectations when it comes to professionalism or commitments to the role and company culture.
- Shows proficiency in both written and spoken communication.
- Shows a genuine inclination toward teamwork and cooperative efforts.
- Exhibits genuine interest in video games.
- Displays a meticulous mindset towards bug investigation to facilitate fixes for the development team.
- Exhibits a consistent attention to finer details.
- Showcases appreciation for testing methodologies and an openness to repetitive tasks
- Radiates a positive attitude, contributing constructively to team dynamics.
- Proactive and takes ownership of ongoing tasks.
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What to expect in the day to day duties:
- Entrusted with supporting the validation and testing of game builds to ensure quality throughout the gameplay experience.
- Assigned with liaising with game developers to stay informed about current game designs and functionalities.
- Duties involve conveying game details to external test teams to assist their testing processes.
- Tasked with assisting in the identification and documentation of bugs to ensure a smooth gameplay experience.
- Plays a critical role in providing feedback and suggestions to enhance the game's quality and user experience.
- Charged with supporting integration tests on defect resolutions and new features.
- Committed to becoming acquainted with gameplay systems to bolster quality assurance processes.
- Tasked with adhering to test plans and cases given by senior team members.
- Plays a key role in gaining basic awareness of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
- Is integral to learning and following established testing methodologies.
- Entrusted with liaising with the broader development team, presenting the QA perspective.
- Duties involve contributing to test reports with pertinent quality assurance insights.
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Interview One
Did you undergo any specific training or education (formal or informal) that you think was beneficial in obtaining your current role?
Studied Games Design at university. Not essential to the job but helped in understanding lingo as well as the process behind making games.
Describe your journey into your current role in the gaming industry.
Studied Games design at university. Whilst there I joined the British military reserve, training as an officer cadet. From there I transitioned into QA after graduating.
What experiences or qualifications were most critical in securing your current role?
My military experience was actually what caught the attention of my recruiters at the time. They were very intrigued by my life experiences, and wanted to hear more about the training I endured.
What were some of the challenges you faced when trying to get into the industry, and how did you overcome them? Do you have any advice for individuals trying to get into your role?
A lot of companies will decline your application, put you on hold (for sometimes even a year) or not reply all together. The important thing is not to put all your eggs in on basket and apply to as many companies as possible that have a role of interest to you. I always think of it as “If I didn’t get the job, it’s not where I was meant to be”.
Interview Two
Did you undergo any specific training or education (formal or informal) that you think was beneficial in obtaining your current role?
No.
Describe your journey into your current role in the gaming industry.
When I was in Portugal, I did a bachelor's degree in Human Resource Management and after I finished the course, I began working in a restaurant as a waiter to come to the UK. I came to the UK to do a Master's in management, while I doing this, I have worked in the hospitality sector as a food and beverage team member. After I left the hospitality job, since I always loved video games, I wanted to enter into the industry, and so I have begun to look into ways on how I could enter into the industry which lead me to the current job I am now.
What experiences or qualifications were most critical in securing your current role?
N/A
What were some of the challenges you faced when trying to get into the industry, and how did you overcome them? Do you have any advice for individuals trying to get into your role?
Some of the challenges were having no professional experience in video game testing as most jobs, even entry-level, would ask for experience; not existing much or clear information on how to enter into the industry for someone who doesn't any experience in QA or video game testing.
Most of this I overcame by finding a mentor by providing me information about on how I could enter into the industry.
My advice would be to tailor the CV and Cover letter to the QA role even if someone doesn't have experience related to it. The content could always be focused on the interest in working into the industry. For someone coming from a different industry, the skills gained there could be mentioned on the CV as those are transferable such as attention to detail; communication; time management or any other technical skills that could be helpful for the role of QA.
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