Just what does it take to be a professional QA bug hunter?

"I suggest having problem solving skills, basic PC software skills, some schooling in an electronic field is a bonus too," says Jai Kristjan, who worked in testing for four years before graduating to junior producer, and is now a designer at Vancouver start-up Slant Six Games. "And the ability to do a mind-numbing, spirit-crushing repetitive task for long periods of time."

Another QA tester comments: "Games testing, as a job, is quite possibly the best way to earn yourself 6 an hour. It definitely beats stacking shelves." But what do you have to do for that 6? "Walking into every single wall in a level to find map holes is just one example of a tester's day in pixel hell."

To summarize: according to this article over at Edge Online, the life of a professional QA tester is directly equivalent to being a character in Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, only you can't expect to get drunk on beer mid-shift, pass out, then be granted release from your toils when a bunch of rats eat off your face. Florian Eckhardt

A Bug's Life [Edge Online] (Thanks, Jane!)

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