Get That Job: QA Manager

What is your job role?
My role is to ensure all Bossa Studios games consistently release both with the quality we strive to achieve and especially what our players deserve. This involves me working with the development team, producers and other teams in the studio to highlight bugs which are found by our internal QA team and the wider community. I also provide guidance and advice to the QA team in order to ensure that our games are tested thoroughly and efficiently.

You need to be a dab hand with a Nerf gun and have a sweet tooth

Damien Peter, Bossa Studios

What qualifications and/or experience do you need?
I’ve been part of the industry for about 15 years, having previously worked at companies such as Sony, Microsoft, Sega and Electronic Arts. I’ve worked on a wide variety of different games and experienced a number of different test approaches, and I feel that experience allows me to better advise the QA and development teams on the best approach to take. I have a degree in computer science, which allows me to interpret information coming from the development teams.

The QA team at Bossa has a variety of different interests and academic backgrounds, from games design to programming to audio. This allows us to approach testing from different perspectives. It is important to recognise every project we work on is different and represents a different challenge to us in terms of QA, and is especially the case here at Bossa if you consider how different Surgeon Simulator is from I Am Bread and Worlds Adrift.

If you were interviewing someone, what do you look for?
Rule one: Passion. You have to be passionate about games and have a desire to make them better and as good as they can be – although you do not necessarily need to be good at them. I’m not, if I am honest.
In addition, you need be able to show you have an inquisitive mindset. In terms of Bossa Studios, I’d say you need to be also a dab hand with a Nerf gun and have a sweet tooth.

What opportunities are there for career progression?
One of the misconceptions of QA is that it is just an entry level position. Being a member of QA within a games development studio is a fantastic way of gaining exposure to all development disciplines (art, design, code, production, etc.) and the QA team here at Bossa also participates in game jams at the studio.

There is a defined career path though with QA which you can aspire to- starting as a QA tester, you can become a senior tester where you can be responsible for projects or project areas, to a lead tester and finally to my position as QA manager. Alternatively, you can become a technical QA tester, otherwise known as a software development engineer in test (SDET), where you will be responsible for coding test automation or tools which allows the QA team to focus on making sure the player experience is as good as it can possibly be.