Is having a QA job while goin to school for programming a decent route to take to get into a decent video game studio...

Is having a QA job while goin to school for programming a decent route to take to get into a decent video game studio? I'm in Texas, there seems to be lots here.

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It's a gamble, you either hit right and get a nice job or you fail and are stuck with a loan you can't pay. Consider suicide as an alternative. Good luck

>doing anything involving video games as your profession
Come on man
kill yourself

Are you familiar with version control? Do you literally have no other opportunities?

You're better off with a Jr. Software engineer job at any company (game related or not) . QA is hell and you don't learn a thing about how companies operate.
Make a game on your own.

I thought you people liked video games?

>start as janitor in a hospital
>expect to do surgeries a few years lator

That's what you're trying to do.

QA can work if you need a few extra bucks but it's not really programming work. It's basically glorified office work and pretty dead-end.

>video game developers have never played a video game before

If the janitor went to med school at the same time, I guess

You still wouldn't start as a fucking janitor.

no
it's a shit job and you'll never get anywhere that way

Most advice I have read over the years is that working QA to get into game production is a falsehood.

Really, If you want your degree to be worth anything and actually get employed in your field you must prove you find Work in of itself as Reward; you value Work for works sake. You simply must send your free time working on indie games (either solo or with a group) and your summers interning. Anything to gain "on the job" experience with no monetary imbursement expected (still could put that indie Greenlight or sell it around for cheap). Again, you must prove you value Work as a reward in of itself, and a paycheck just some bizarre after effect that just appears. That I s the reality of gaining meaningful, and gainful, employment in current year and probably for generations to come.

Idk why you want to work in QA. You get paid close to nothing for hours of menial work. Like, play a level 200 times, walking against walls, following complicated tasks, and then once you report your findings you get shit on by developers for giving them more work.
You don't learn about the game development process nor how to fix these issues.

This

I've had 2 games greenlit, one released and havent veen avle to get a job. The industry is fulled with nepotism like no other and the working conditions suck. Work as a programmer outside the industry

>he fell for the "I want to make video games" trope
>he actually went to college to learn how to make video games
>he's going to get a worthless degree in an over saturated field
why would anyone think it's a good idea to make video games?

youtube.com/watch?v=lGar7KC6Wiw

Honestly, the reason Im considering is because I started looking at LinkedIn profiles for devs(let's say CDPR) and quite a few of them have some type of QA job as their first employ. If the industry is rife with nepotism as you say, doesn't it make sense to be around the devs and get them to know you?

>make your own game
>make billions
>get a shitty job at a company
>work for pebbles
hard choice

>Wanting to work in the video game industry

you'll be better off making this a hobby

This op

Working as a video game developer is not anymore fun than any other programming job and will likely pay less to. And QA testing will ruin the joy of video games from you

>he wants to work for vidya gaems
You've already chosen your fate.

I work in QA, and it's really not all that bad.

Pays above minium wage, a lot of room to move up in the company and you get to see a lot of interesting shit related to how companies work and even games that haven't been announced yet.

The studio where I work gives us free drinks, smoothies, and other shit. We also work in-house at a studio that treats us very close to how the Devs get treated. If you can land a job at a inhouse studio and aren't put into a shitty QA warehouse than yea, Take the job. It's a lot of fun and you get to see some really interesting shit. Also, it usually looks really nice on a resume.

I went the total opposite of OP. Went into a studio, got sick of production, then went to do a more brain-dead QA job.

>Make your own game
>Make billions

Pick none.

What did you study to get right into production?

>Playing FPS game with gamepad
fucking casuals

You could get lucky

Don't listen to most of the basement dwelling neets here OP, most of them are unable to get any sort of job and will shit on you for attempting anything. Your better off asking leddit instead.

Game designing. I'm not a programmer, at least not the main guy. Got into making an indie studio with some friends. Get some (failed) experience, moved to a proper studio. Get sick of production and feeling overworked. Left the studio and went to QA. Easily gotten into QA with my background.

Wait, but that contradicts what most people in the thread said.

no, QA work is ass, and has absolutely no merit going into design. Major studios literally don't care about anything but design credits. I worked at propaganda games and let me tell you, when I applied, the interviewer said i'd essentially have a free ride but I had to play up that I went to college for level design when I came in to meet with the publisher's "overseer" who basically made sure work was being done every week and had to have all new employees run through him.

So, I had almost 4 years working QA for nexon america, but he literally looked at that, including my whole sheet of references, and just threw it to the side, then said "Oh I see you went to college, tell me about it, where did you go?"

It was fucking dumb. Granted I work in level design, not exactly the most programming intensive field out there but still, QA is relevant. VERY relevant. But publishers don't care, they think that nothing matters but the field they're hiring you for, when it's just the opposite, no experience in other fields mean you communicate as well as your average autistic, that is to say, you don't.

Basically, take the QA gig, don't count on it as boosting your standings above others when it comes time to get a steady job.

>Real life experience > What I think video game jobs are like.

Yes. I did QA for a shitty studio and that got my foot in the door to some shitty junior programming jobs and now I've worked my way up and I'm a senior. It is a great entry point, especially if you are friendly and nice and make lots of contacts.

Why would you take anything on this sub as fact?

I think it comes down to where you QA. So far, my studio's been the complete opposite of every QA horror story I've ever heard. We have a good relationship with the devs, we're giving different jobs to break up monotony, and we're gradually pushed more and more into the technical side of things with the purpose of eventually moving up. Just be cautious on where you end up, OP

Probably best just to avoid the big triple A companies like EA/Activision/Ubisoft if you want job security.

>tfw have no technical background outside of shitty Visual Basic high school projects and got hired solely off my vidya knowledge

Same here, what studio are you working for if you don't mind me asking?

Any job where you don't have to associate with normies and the general public is worth it, OP. I'm going to college for mechanical engineering and still took a job as a biological lab assistant doing field work just so I don't have to help the public, even if the job is easier.

If you have ever worked in retail or food, you will know what I'm talking about. The general public is all garbage.

I work at an internal studio in nvidia

livin the dream, I need to stop being a neet but every time I look for an "entry level" tech job they want 2+ years work experience

WB California here.

I see slave work at minimum wage in your future.

But you'll tell yourself that you enjoy it because it used to be your hobby. Unfortunately you don't have time to play games anymore, since you're working 12 hour days.

Then when whatever game you're working on is done you'll be out of a job. And the sad thing is, you didn't even have any creative input on it, you just had to do whatever you were told.

Hey, at least your name will be buried in the credits.

Wrong, So so wrong.

Working 12 hour days? Maybe if you're working crunch time. Also depending on where you work you get some input on the game, at my studio we do feedback playthroughs which the DEV QA dudes go over and read. Also most studios shift the workload after a project is complete. Hey, finished working on this one game? Now you're working on another AAA title that's in pre-alpha.

Work in the field before you start talking out of your ass.

I used to, asshole. Now I work a regular 9-5 software engineering job with twice the pay, and full benefits. I actually have time to play games.

more something like stitch inspector, and if that job existed, i suppose it could lead to surgery at some point

>I want to work in the video games industry

Is there anything more pathetic than this? Develop a hobby other than playing children's toys, OP. It's okay to engage in these activities, but don't let it entirely define who you are. Take up mathematics, chemistry, physics, philosophy, or something. There is nothing more pathetic than those computer science geeks I see on my university campus.

QA is where pretty much everyone starts in the industry, so that's a realistic route plan

Playing video games all day would suck.

Here it is, take it.

wtf I hate video games now

I'm having a similar experience but I don't think it's typical, at least at any remotely large studio I always hear QA is essentially bitch work and they don't have say in anything

Not OP.
I don't understand, why is going in the game industry bad career-wise?
I mean, this is Sup Forums i expected some people here to be in a game company or at least aspire to be in one.

It's just shitposting and/or fox and the grapes