How do I even start with this one? Quality Assurance is a vital part in any product. In Software Development, testing is done in multiple stages during the development cycle. It’s all a process of pass and fail scenarios determined by the design document for the software. Basically, does it work? Yes? Next! Does it work? No? How so? If you have a good eye for detail and a passion for breaking things then QA might be for you. That’s just a very loose definition of what is expected of someone working in QA.
I started my career in software testing at a contracting company in Redmond. This was back in my college days when I wanted to get my foot in the door at some reputable software companies. My first official software testing title, and I’m not joking here, was “Bullpen Tester”. This was basically a place where all the eager game testers go to “get paid to play”, as they often exclaim while trying to imitate what’s “hip” and “cool” with the “gaming crowd”. This obviously attracted all types of gamers looking to get some extra funds while going through college. It all seemed so awesome when I first started.
The term “Bullpen” was a very apt description in many regards. You showed up at the building, entered the doors, and proceeded to wait in a small room with a few dozen other testers. Work was not guaranteed and if they didn’t pick you, you went home. I could go on about how, yes, some people didn’t have very good hygiene practices and, yes, that was pretty horrible at times; but that’s just me getting sidetracked. This was my first testing job and it got me into software development and quality assurance.
Some very important lessons were learned on my first few weeks on the job. You weren’t there to make sure the game is fun. You’re there to make sure it works. A lot of gamers make the mistake of thinking that testing games would be the exact same thing as playing them. This is a grave error to make, as it tends to lead to frustration followed by madness. What kept me sane was the drive to find and report the errors I found so the developers can fix them. Sounds simple enough right?
Well if you’re anything like me, you’re going to want the issues you find to be addressed and fixed before the product comes out. Unfortunately, this is not always what happens. The term “Won’t Fix” is probably my least favorite thing to see when getting my issues back from the developers. It means they know the issue is there, but they simply won’t fix it. I always understood if the issue wasn’t that severe, but when the developers are sending back software-breaking bugs as “Won’t Fix” you get a little discouraged.
Most of what I’ll be writing about in this blog will probably have to do with Software and Gaming in general. From testing games to reviewing them, it’s all in the details, and once you start testing, you never stop.
Bedsforth 