One of the major downsides to quality assurance is the lack of a career advancement path.
On a project nowadays, you may have forty to sixty temporary testers, after which maybe two or three are brought on as full-time testers.  In a department of forty to sixty full-time testers, you may have maybe five leads that [...]

My people have a saying: “Cate bordeie, atatea obiceie”; the rough translation of that would be that each household has its habits. I have witnessed the truth of that in my career as a game tester – truly each and every company I have worked for or with had its own approach to testing and [...]

We’ve all had them…those fellow employees who just suck the life out of any team, department or company that they are associated with.
However, it can be difficult as a lead or manager to figure out whois the poison pill in a team because most of the time, employees will openly bitch about other employees only [...]

Back in 1940, Chevrolet released a management training video called “Hired.”  You can view the second half at the beginning of the “Manos: The Hands of Fate” episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, or you can watch the entire video over that the Internet Archive.  If you are having problems getting your testers to perform, [...]

Cockroach.  Just the word makes your skin crawl.  It evokes an image of filth, of creepy crawlies creating a crunchy mobile carpet flowing along the floor evading the light.
Palmetto bug.  Sounds nice.  Gentle.  You wouldn’t think it is the same thing as a cockroach…but it is. A few years ago, some Florida residents got sick [...]

This was a triumph: Grand Theft Auto 4 displays credits for the testing leads in the cinematic intro.

It is fairly sad when Mark Rein feels that this is the case:
MR: Oh, sure. That’s not uncommon. We did that with Gears of War. A lot of guys do that. A day-one patch is almost a necessity these days!
The interview

You can find an online version of the PC Zone article about game quality here.

If you’re looking for work in the game industry and come across a site called iGameTester.com (not linked so as to not associate my site with them), you’ll want to stay far away.
Your first hint should be that the site is filled with generic images of gamers, and ridiculous claims of getting $100 an hour [...]

Theoretically I’m in PC Zone Magazine #186.
If anyone reading this happens to live in the UK and can confirm/scan/mail me a copy (for which you will be generously compensated to the tune of 10 American Dollars above whatever it is that it costs to buy and ship).
I’m sure that if you read this magazine [...]