So you think it's all fun and games?

I work as a software tester, or a QA analyst or a Quality Control Specialist, or whatever you want to call me. Most people have no idea what I do all day. To put it simply: I make sure that the program that I'm assigned to works the way it's supposed to regardless of the person's expertise. That is, if you do something correct, it works correctly. If you do something incorrect, it should stop you.

My first job in the QA industry was when I worked for Sega in San Francisco in their test department. I didn't really intend to make it my career choice, but I kind of stumbled into something I'm quite good at, which is pointing out other people's mistakes without having to explain how to correct them.

Whenever I mention to people that my first job in QA was working testing video games, I'm usually met with the same response: "That sounds like fun." To which I reply, "You'd think that, wouldn't you?"

This usually gets a puzzled reaction.

I've written a story a while ago about how I equated getting a job testing video games like being told that you're going to die, but in a way that starts with good feelings first. Maybe a better analogy is that it's like drinking. At first, it's fun and games. Then you start to get bleary eyed and black out. Then you wake up with a feeling that you wasted hours of your life when you could have been doing something more productive. Finally, the hangover ends and you start over.

Here's a video that describes the video game testing world. From my perspective, it's absolutely accurate with what I went through.