Life as a QA Engineer: From Video Games to Digital Products
From game screens to terminals, Yan Escobar recalls his path as a QA Engineer.
I’m a gamer. I’m a part of the vast sea of video game enthusiasts old and young, pouring billions of dollars into the ever-growing industry. As technology advances, so do the types of experiences and avenues for storytelling. I’ve witnessed this transformation from joysticks to HD graphics to VR war zones — and it isn’t stopping anytime soon.
Turns out, my passion for electronic worlds and the technology that makes them come alive actually helped launch my career into Quality Assurance (QA) Engineering. And my journey has taken me beyond video games, and into QA for websites and digital products.
Paid to Play
I got my start working for a major video game company, one of the big ones. I had no prior experience or technical background at the time, but I started off just as a Quality Assurance Tester. At the time, what was important was that, as a gamer, I could spot a good game when I saw one.
Perhaps you’re wondering, “Was your life just like in Grandma’s Boy?” and the answer is yes and no. While yes, I essentially played games all day, I was also playing the same game mode, the same screens, the same music on an infinite loop, and the same key press and motions into the wee hours at night. It’s not so much playing for entertainment as it is a whole lot of repetition. But sometimes the only way to know if something will go wrong is to put it through the wringer for 15 hours straight.
UX for Gamers
I gained some valuable perspective from my time as a tester, namely opening my eyes to user experience (UX). My testing was grounded in basic functionality, mostly visual and based on user interfaces. Putting myself in the controllers of people with various background, interests, and ages molded my perspective and ability as a QA tester. I was essentially trying to break the code my coworkers has spent months building.
After a while of breaking video games in post-production, I was finally promoted to an Embedded QA Studio Tester. That meant I worked directly with developers as needed to be a first-hand tool for other test teams. Being part of the pre-production workflow made me realize that I wanted more. Although my position had taught me valuable skills to excel in future roles, I wanted to create and code products — not just test them.
To Bigger and Buggier
The next step of my QA journey was at an online travel agency, and this was my first real exposure to web development. Unlike my previous job, I suddenly didn’t have crazy hours, a loud office, and no weekends. It was business as usual, but it came with its own challenges. It was my first exposure to an agile workflow, which meant constantly learning new industry insights along with my normal job responsibilities. In this faster-paced environment, I found myself loving what I did but falling behind because of my lack of development experience.
It was at this point that I began learning to code and started getting exposure to new programs. In my downtime, I taught myself basic coding languages like PHP and JavaScript. Luckily, I was in an environment that encouraged everyone to explore our industry, so my coworkers were eager to guide me as I practiced.
My biggest takeaway of that position was that I realized my endless room for growth. I also found a new appreciation for coworkers who encourage you to learn and prove yourself.
PRPL and Beyond
And now here I am, giving you something to read, as a QA Engineer at PRPL. Because I learned the foundations of code, I can now triple-check the code of others. I’m not trying to break things anymore. I’m now ensuring they won’t. I can spot bugs quickly, assess the value of a laggy feature, and provide insight to unseen problems.
Because QA work means finding problems, it expectantly comes with some frustrations. In video games, I was primarily looking into designs and basic functionality. As a QA engineer, I’m looking for the seemingly invisible. Small code errors, broken buttons, extra periods — the needles in the haystack if you will. It can get tiring to scan over a terminal screen for hours on end, just like it did to play the same game for weeks at a time.
Frustration can come from all QA-related testing, but in the end the position to invest in is the one that allows you to progress, personally and in your career. At PRPL, I’m in an environment that fosters growth, exploration, and risk-taking. What began as testing websites is now building automated testing frameworks from scratch. While I loved playing video games, and still do on my own, the switch to digital product testing was just what I needed.
Although this may seem like a how-to for finding your dream QA job, the secret is really in building it yourself. The tech industry is growing by the second, so start taking what you know to start learning what you don’t, no matter what your position is. The lessons I learned from playing video games for 12 hours a day at my old job helped me leverage my skills and excel to where I am now.
If you’re a fellow gamer trying to get into the world of QA testing, try doing it outside of the field first. You’ll find that experiencing the technical side of testing will make you well-versed and ready for anything. Plus, you’ll gain a whole new perspective when you grab that controller to play.
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