| February 2006 |
| By A. J. Gonzalez |
Let it be known that the only reason I took this job was because I was planning on trying to get into the videogame industry as a QA analyst and figured I needed experience.
The life of a Quality Assurance analyst is an odd one. For a company that makes software, the QA process is one of the most important. Often times a company's reputation hinges not only on the quality of their software but also on the reliability of it.
First off, the commercials depicting guys playing video games over and over again as their job isn't exactly realistic. Unless the videogame industry is different from the software industry, then this is not likely.
While I am testing software I have a notepad next to me at all times writing down exactly what I see wrong, what could be improved, what isn't working the way it's supposed to. I am literally going back and forth at all times, so there is no chance to really 'enjoy' the software.
QA also seems to be depicted quite often as being 'work at your own pace' type work. I'm not sure about anyone else but I have strict deadlines for when things are due. Also, I don't run my schedule, the project managers do. They decide what projects I'm on and how much time is spent on them. The only real say I have is when their time estimates are completely unreasonable I can tell them that they need to be adjusted by a day or two.
Oddly enough QA can also be a little damaging to the ego. There isn't a worse feeling in the world than to clear a piece of software only to find that a bug was not caught. Thankfully I haven't experienced this too much, and when I have it was usually as a result of not believing that the software update touched a certain part of the code, when in fact it had (possibly by accident).
A good chunk of time is also dealt with dealing with programmers and engineers. Meetings with them can be interesting. You can have a ten minute conversation with them discussing an issue with a server or a 1 hour conversation with them trying to figure out if a button should be placed on the left or right side of a screen.
As far as tools used it really depends on what type of software I am testing at the time. I test software that runs on terminal servers, webservers; software that connects to multiple SQL databases, LMS systems, financial software, etc. Each one requires a different plan of attack. There is no such thing as a generic plan.
I think the most important qualities in being in Quality Assurance are twofold; 1. You should have fanatical attention to detail. Your job is to notice the smallest details about the software and to note whether they are by design or error. 2. You have to be able to put yourself in the shoes of the people using your software. I can guarantee you that a healthy percentage of people do not use software the way it was specifically intended. You have to plan for them as well.
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