Game QA Job Preparation: Get Hired as a Game Tester

1. Introduction: After our original course, I have received a lot of message from students about the next steps. The main question was how to get a job, from where to start and what to do. I've tried to help everyone as much as possible with different tips, steps and support people on every stage of hiring process. That's why I decided to prepare additional course about how to and your first QA job in game testing. So let's see what is inside. This course is tailored for junior QA testers, beta testers, and aspiring game testers aiming to secure their first job. It covers essential aspects from crafting a CV to mastering interviews, ensuring you transform your testing experience into real job opportunities. What are the outcomes of the course? Here, you can learn how to create an attention grabbing game que resume that highlights your skills and experience effectively making you stand out to potential employers. Then discover the best platforms and methods for finding game testing jobs, including websites like Upwork, inkiDN and direct applications to Game Studios. Gain insights into how to build a strong online portfolio featuring your bug reports and test cases, showcasing your ability to identify and report issues effectively. Learn effective application techniques including how to write target cover letters that resonate with prospective employers and address their needs directly. Then prepare for interviews by understanding what to expect and how to present yourself confidently, demonstrating your readiness for a QA role, and explore various career paths available after starting in game QA, such as freelance positions in house roles, automation testing, and leadership opportunities. Why do you need this course? The QA industry is rapidly expanding and offers numerous job opportunities. However, it is also highly competitive, requiring not only testing skills, but also the ability to effectively present one's value to potential employers. Many junior applicants struggle to secure positions not due to lack of skill, but because of unclear CVs, weak portfolios, and untargeted applications. This course addresses these issues, helping candidates improve their chances of finding a job. So how this course is structured. We start with understanding the QA hiring process. You will gain insights into recruitment process specifics to QA roles in the gaming industry. Then we will talk about skills and qualifications employers look for. Here you can learn the case skills and qualifications that employers prioritize when hiring game testers. Next step is writing a strong CV and cover letter. Develop strong CVs and cover letters that send out to potential employers in gaming industry. We are going to take a look where and how to apply for jobs. Identify where to find jobs openings and where effective strategies for applying. Then we are going to cover interviews, assessments, and soft skills. You will learn how to prepare for interviews with strategies for soft skills and assessments that employers commonly use. And the last chapter will be about long term career growth in QA. Here you can learn about various career paths available in QA, including freelance and in house opportunities. By the end of this course, you will have a polished game testing CV. Tailored to real job postings, a reusable cover letter template, and understanding on interview process. Additionally, you can gain confidence needed to apply for freelance and entry level QA roles. Al with a clear path of advancing your QA career. So let's get started as this course emphasizes the importance of industry understanding and self positioning. Begin your journey with a clear understanding of the game testing industry. Gain insights into the game development process and testing methodologies. Learn how to present yourself as a valuable asset to any game development team. Establish a foundation for ongoing career growth in the game QA field. So if you are ready to achieve your dreams, this course is exactly for you. So let's start 2. Hiring process in game testing: Start from the general overview of game testing hiring process. In this presentation, we are going to get an understanding how companies hire game testers and what to expect in the process. Usually game companies follow a structured hiring process for testers. So better understanding of each step can help you to prepare and improve your chances of success. The process may varive from company to company, but the general steps include next. First, job search and application, then screening and initial contact, then technical or game testing assessment, interview HR and technical and offer an boarding. O let's dive deeper into each step. The first one job search and application and the small tip even before we proceed, if you don't meet all the listed requirements, apply anyway. Many companies hire entry level testers based on their potential. Of course, to get a job, you need to start from the job search. You need to utilize various platforms like company websites, LinkedIn Indeed, and game testing platforms to find job posting that fit your skill. Then carefully review job descriptions to ensure your skills and experience align with the requirements specified by employers. After that, customize your civian Cv weather for each position to enhance your chances of securing an interview. Be aware that job offerings may arrive from full time positions to contract or freelance opportunities depending on the company. When the first step is completed, then screening and initial contact happens. Recruiters or HR may review your application and reach out of an initial screening. This is usually a quick call or email to confirm your interest in the role, your availability in location, and basic qualifications. Something like gaming experience, knowledge of QA, and other. Some companies skip this step and go straight to test. This is just a basic step with basic questions, so we don't need to focus our attention here. Step three, technical and game testing assessment. Many companies give a practical test before interviewing. I used to participate in one of them at the start of my career. The common tasks there are finding and reporting back in a test game, writing test cases or test scenarios, analyzing a game for usability or performance issues. The main goal of this is show your attention to detail, analytical thinking, and understanding of QA principles. Usually it takes about 1 hour. So you just play the game and report all the bugs, so the companies can see how many bugs you managed to find, how good you can log them, and your ability to think outside of the box. In my company for entry level, it was just a simple task of finding bugs and reporting them. But for more senior levels, you had to write test cases, test scenarios, and show your prioritization skills. If you manage to pass the task task, the next step is the interview, and usually there are two types of interview HR interview and technical interview. During the HR interview phase, employers are keen to understand how well you can collaborate with others in the team settings and your intrstic motivation for wanting to be a part of gaming industry. It's essential to showcase your interpersonal skills, dedication and problem solving abilities. As this qualifies as a crucial for successful game testing, you need to focus on demonstrating your collaboration skills, passion for games, and your unique approach to problem solving during the interview. In a technical interview for a game testing role, candidates should showcase their understanding of different testing methodologies, ability to design test cases and experience in documenting issues effective. Knowing how to approach testing a game's features and recognizing the importance of user experience are crucial aspects that interviewers look for. A well prepared candidate will understand how to articulate their testing strategies and provide clear examples of past experience related to quality assurance. And the last step is job offer and onboarding. If you pass the interview, you will receive an offer. Salary, contract, benefits, and work scheduw will be discussed. Once hired on boarding in goods, learning company workfloth and tools, getting assigned to a project or a team, and training in specific testing methodologies. In general, navigating the hiring process involves understanding each step from application to onboarding. By preparing thoroughly and continuously improving your skill, you can enhance your chances of success in the competitive field of game testing. 3. Skills of a perfect candidate: That it sounds pretty obvious that you need to have a game testing skills to be hired. But what if I tell you that it's not that straightforward? Game testers should have a variety of different skills, and we can go through them for your better understanding. Why different skills matter in game QA? Firstly, because game testing is more than just playing games. It requires precision, analytical thinking, and teamwork. While hiring, employers usually look for a mix of technical skills, problem solving abilities, and communication skills. Developing these will increase your chances of getting hired and advancing in your career. Let's take a look at core technical skills. Everything starts with understanding of game testing concepts. It covers functional testing, exploratory testing, compatibility testing, and also knowing the basic of bug reporting and test cases. Then we need to have a basic knowledge of testing tools such as Jira, test trail, Dv track, and also a good tester is capable of video capture and logging tools for bug reproduction. And, of course, one of the most important skills is bug identification and reporting. In simple words, it's ability to spot issues like crashes, glitches, and inconsistencies, writing queer structured bug reports that include step to reproduce expected and actual results and other fields. Then another area is attention to detail and analytical thinking. A good candidate has strong observation skills such as ability to catch small but impactful issues, such as incorrect animations or UI misalignments and also testing beyond the obvious, trying different player actions to find hidden bug. Besides that, you need to have a logical and critical thinking because you need to have an understanding how different game mechanics interact. And also, it helps of thinking of edge cases such as what happens if the player skips a cussing medection. Another great skill is communication and teamwork, because writing a bug report is some kind of a communication between QA and developer team. It covers writing reports that developers can quickly understand and reproduce and also using structured formats like postepsEpected versus actual results and attachments and also a teamwork, such as working with developers and other testers. A big part of a teamwork is collaborating with your teammates. As a tester, you should be open to feedback and collaboration, as well as understanding the challenges of developers and game designers to report bug effectively. Another skill is adaptability and fast learning. It is important to have an ability to learn quickly. Every game has unique mechanics, engine, and tools, so it is important to be comfortable learning new system and work los on the job. Also, gamek often works under tight deadlines and shifting priorities. Staying calm under pressure and quickly adjusting to the project changes helps a lot in our job. And another bonus skill that helps you to stand out. It's a passion for games and testing. Employers value tester who understand game design and player experience. Playing a wide range of the game can give you insight into common issues and industry standards. But don't worry. It's more like a bonus skill that helps other people. If you don't have it, you also can develop it. Quick summary and key takeaways. Game testers must possess a range of technical skills to effectively identify and report bugs during gameplay. Critical thinking and problem solving are essential for diagnosing issues with games and ensuring a smooth pair experience. Effective communication skills are required for clean test reporting and collaboration with development team. A willingness to learn and adapt to a new game mechanics or technologies can significantly enhance a tester's effectiveness. 4. Common misconceptions about game testing job: Also cover important topic such as common misconceptions about game testing jobs. Let's break some myths and set realistic expectations for aspiring testers. While many people think that game testing simply involves playing video games for fun, the job actually demands a thorough understanding of gameplay mechanics, detailed reporting of box, and active collaboration with developers to enhance game quality. Recognizing the true responsibilities of game testing helps set realistic expectations and prepares new testers for challenges ahead. The myth one game testing is just playing games for fun. In reality, game testing is another work, not casual gaming. Testers follow strict testing guidelines, document bugs, and repeat task multiple times. It might involve stressful deadlines, repetitive testing, and reporting issues in detail. The second myth is anyone who plays game can be a tester. In reality, gaming knowledge helps, but testing requires analytical thinking and structured workflows. Testers need to find, document, and communicate issues clearly. Attention to detail, patience and teamwork are more important than gaming skills. Myth three, you can play any game you want. In reality, testers don't oe the games they work on. You may spend months testing in single level, character or menu system. Some tasks involve testing boring or repetitive parts of the game. Myth four, game testers decide what should be fixed. In reality, testers report issues, but developers and producers decides what get fixed. Some bugs are weft in due to deadlines, budget, or game design decisions. QA must prioritize critical issues and communicate effectively with developers. Myth five. Game testing is an easy job. In reality, game testing can be mental, exhausting and repetitive. It requires long hours, detailed analysis, and handling tight deadlines. Testers often repeat the same test cases hundreds of times to verify fixes. Myth six, you'll get rich as a game tester. In reality, entry level game testing pays less than many other tech jobs. Salaries depends on vocation, experience, and company, but career growth is possible. Testers can advance to Senior K automation or production roles. 5. Visible and hidden job markets: Okay. Now let's talk how to navigate game testing job market, and where to find all the job opportunities. In this topic, we are going to talk about how to find game testing jobs, where to find them, what types of markets there and other questions. So let's start. So you have finished learning of a game testing job, and now you're not sure what to do next. Discovering game testing job requires a strategic approach. You need to utilize both visible and hidden job markets to maximize your opportunities. The visible job market includes job boards and company websites where roles are publicly advertised. In contrast, the hidden job market consists of unlisted positions that can be accessed through networking and referrals. And let's take a look at top job boards for game testers. You might have your local ones in your countries, but let's take a look at general ones. First one is indeed there, you can search for game tester, QA tester and functional tester jobs. Then class a door. You can find jobs there, plus, you can see a company reviews. Then HitmkersGaming specific job board, remote O and we work remotely. It is great for remote QA roles and a work and freelancer. You can get the freence QA project. Then another part of visible job market is company career pages. If there are companies that you're interested in, check their official websites because many studios don't post jobs on third party sites. When you're there, look for career or job page. Some examples are UBSOft EA Games, and CD Project Ret Riot, and other that have their own website. We'll take a look at this a bit later. Now let's talk about hidden market, which is no less important. And the first one is inkidN. You need to optimize your profile with keywords like Game tester, QA, and bug reporting. You can set open to work to notify recruiters. Then you can follow studios and QA managers and use the job search feature and alerts. There are a lot of opportunities in LinkidN. Having a good setup profile can help you to appear in filters when recruiters are searching for new people. Another good point is reaching out to recruiters because directly messaging recruiters can open doors to job opportunities that might not be publicly advertised. Craft a concise and professional message to express your interest and showcase your skills. You can message recruiters or HR representatives directly on Lin kadin. Keep it short, polite and professional. And another good point is networking. It is your secret weapon. Building relationships with the gaming community can significantly enhance your job prospects. Engage with fellow testers and developers through online platforms, create valuable connections and opportunities. You can connect with QA testers, Game Ds, and Indie Studios. You can join these call servers, redid groups, incadNGroups, comment on post questions and offer testing help. Even though it might not seem as effective as applying, it can be a great help. Being visible is very important because just imagine the situation when there is new job opening, a recruiter has to hire a new QA. There are hundreds of people that applied, and having similar name can increase their chances of being chosen. 6. Checking main platforms for applications: Take a look at some of the main boards that we have to find a job. Let's start with Indeed. While using Indeed, just go to indeed.com worldwide to be able to choose the country that you want to work in. Because if you don't do this, it will automatically check your location and propose the jobs only in the countries that you are placed in. Let's imagine that I'm from India and I want to check the jobs that are present in India. So I go to India, I press find jobs, choose Game tester, for example, and I see the list of all possible jobs. It doesn't have a good sorting, so I just going to go through it and see if there's something that suits me. I can see the game tester, internship, which sounds good. But check main details, skills, vocation, job description, roles and responsibilities, and I can see main details. For example, this is a six months duration work from office, and if I'm okay to work from office, this suits me. If I'm not, then that's not a good choice. Here's another game tester, and you can see that there is a lot of them. And basically Gocdor works the same way. So there is no need to show you. But let's take a look at Hitmer. Hitmer is fully dedicated to games, which makes it a bit better choice for us. Okay, let's try to find some tester jobs, which is tester, which is location, for example, USA let's see what we have here. Now, you can see the list of jobs that are present in USA. We can also can try to put their QC. Nothing is here, maybe QA, and there's a bit more jobs for QA. Let's check this job, for example, and see what requirements they have. Okay, so they have three years experience and one year of programming, which is pretty interesting. We can also try to check expertise level. Also, we can try to see if someone is looking for intern and see that there is one position in China. Then maybe there are other positions, another position in China or we can try to use QA. And there are a lot of Q, and let's see if someone is higher in entry level, so there are positions in Frankfurt, Warsaw, and Romania. Let's take a look. And the main skills required are critical thinking, adaptivity, quick to learn, collaboration, and creativity, which is a bit. Let's see if there are higher levels, junior, and there are testers for ARM And what I require are understanding of QA methodologies, test cycles, backtracking, previous Q experience in game testing, and experience with different gaming platforms. And let's take a look at another type of looking for a job is using company's websites. I have here UBSft website. Let's find the career section. Okay, we have careers, and let's see. I'm looking for QA job. I have QA intern, junior QC tester, then maybe I will try with tester, and I can see another types of position have art and tern, I better to use job family as quality management. What about quality control? Another important thing that you can try to play with different namings when you're looking for a job. Either it's tester, QA or QC. Let's look for intern. I have different intern positions. This is office based, not so interested in. Let's see this one hybrid. You can see there all the qualifications that are needed. And you can see here that it's keen interest in the world of mobile games. Ideally have previous experience and other good things. So while looking for a job, feel free to have a list of all the companies, all the websites, and create a log of your applications. This can help you to track all the applications that you applied for and their response. 7. Tips to craft the CV: We are starting the next chapter, and it's time to talk about the CV. Here, we're going to learn how to create a great CV. Your CV is the first impression employers have of you. A well structured CV increases your chances of getting an interview. In our world, many applicants are rejected because of poor formatting or missing K details, and just a general tip, keep it leer, concise, and relevant to game test. Let's check our first session. What to include and what to avoid in your UV. Here is a list of k components of a strong resume. You need to include personal information, summary or objective, skills, experience, education, and projects. For the personal information, include your name, email, link an profile if you have, and a link to your portfolio to establish your online presence. Of course, if you have it. Then you can add a summary or objective of your CV. It is a brief overview of your skills and relevant experience in QA to capture attention. Then one of the most important section is skills. Highlight both technical and soft skills that are pertinent to quality assurance roles. Intersection experience detail previous testing growths, including freelance work and better testing experience that showcase your capabilities. Of course, don't forget about the education. Include any relevant coursework, ITQB or QA courses. And, of course, don't forget about products. Game testing modes, better testing participation. And now let's talk about things that you better avoid in your CV. There is no need to include any unrelated jobs such as waiter or cashier that detracts from your relevant experience and can confuse hiring managers. Imagine that they just do a fuss screening through your resume and this we drag their attention instead of other important things. Try to avoid any generic statements like, I love playing games or I'm passionate about testing aze specificity and fail to showcase your true qualifications. And of course, errors in spelling and grammar reflect poor attention to detail, which can be a red flag for employers. And, of course, messy formatting makes your resume difficult to read with too many colors or inconsistent font sizes contributing to a negative impression. Now we're moving to the next section. And here, we're going to see how to highlight your skills for QA jobs. There are two types of skills technical skills and soft skills. Working in a bug tracking tool like Jerra test rail or any other is a part of technical skills, as well as understanding of testing methods and writing queer and structured bug reports, for example. On the other hand, there are soft skills, and the most common example is communication. In our case, communication can be different because you're not talking to the other people verbally, but you also communicate through bug reports and other documentation. Also, in other parts of soft skills are attention to detail and problem solving. Then don't forget to showcase your experience, even if you haven't had a QA job. First of all, you can showcase a participation in beta testing. You can list games you tested and what feedback you provided. Then you can have a personal testing project, something like testing in the games, writing bug reports or documenting issues. Then freelance game testing on the platforms like test, game tester, or at work, and maybe you have any moding or game development experience. This can show your understanding of game mechanics. Then let's talk a bit about formatting and common mistakes. Let's check some essential guidelines for crafting an effective resume. First of all, use professional layout. Use simple phones and ensure proper spacing for a clean professional appearance. Try to limit your resume to one page for beginners and a maximum of two pages for those with more experience. Try to utilize bowed points instead of ncy paragraphs to enhance readability. Also, don't forget to emphasize key skills and accomplishments by making important points both. And also as a general tip, try to save it as a PDF. It can help you avoid formatting issues when submitting. Let's take a quick look on a common CV mistakes and how to avoid them. First mistake is too long or quartered. Try to keep it brief and relevant. Mistake two, vague descriptions. Try to use action words. Mistake three, no proof of skill. Try to include the portfolio or links to bug reports. Mistake four, poor grammar or typos. Always proof read before submitting. An effective TV should include only relevant information that highlights your skills and experience in game testing. Remember to maintain lean formatting, avoid common mistakes, and seek opportunities to gain experience through various channels. 8. Creating the CV from scratch: There are a lot of tools that help you to create your CV. Some of them are free, some of them are paid, but it is also possible to draft a good CV in Google Docs. Let me show you how to do this pretty quick. I will do some small arrangements and start like this. I'll get some area for it to look like one page, and let's just outline some borders. So this will be my resume area. It will be bigger with the time, but that's the start. Here here is my middle, and this is my name. Then I will leave two rows for my contact info. I will merge it horizontally, put here some placeholders for now, crane, then linked in profile in the middle. Then I will get some sections. This will be my summary. Let's make it small bit wrong way to do it smaller. Leave some space. Then the next one will be skills increase under border. The next one is experience. Then we can add portfolio or projects. It's at some lines. We can just copy this and rename it. Education. It's also additional. But be here for now. I don't like basic font, let's change font to some more beautiful. For example, monster Rat. Okay. This is my basic template, and let's start populating it with some information. So let's imagine I'm a junior tester. I just finished the course and had one or two pet projects. Let's imagine this and try to create a resume for myself. I will make it both. I will add additional one here or maybe two. Let's try to see and put here my title. Junior QUA tester. Okay. Now my information, Ukraine, musltstmail.com, and my phone number. Let's make it more appealing. And let's add some link. It is good if I have a portfolio of my box or other things created, so I can just put the link here. And link it in. Let's make small. Okay, I have my basic contact information. So if they are interested, they can contact me. Let's move to summary. Here I'm planning to add some basic details about myself. So I merge it horizontally and I start. The first one is usually the most important one, and it should describe myself. I'm entry level with with practical experience in manual testing on PC, mobile, and browser. Then I'm familiar with bug tracking tools Jira, Trello and Google Sheets. Then let's add some additional details. For example, I'm proficient in manual testing for gameplay, UIUXPerformance, and maybe something else. Okay, let's add one more. For example, that I have practical knowledge in all ZCA documentation. Okay, now let's make it about points. And now we're moving to skills. We definitely need more roles here and we can do it them later. There is a small trick in how you get the skills into your resume by looking at the jobs that you want to get and tailoring your based on this. So let's imagine that I want to become a junior QC tester in UBISft. I open job description and I go to qualifications. I see the qualifications, and I can copy the ones that suit me. I do have strong understanding of game development process and methodology. So I will start with this one. I'm pretty familiar with back tracking, software and test management tools. Okay. Excellent analytical and problem solving skills for sure, but not there, we'll put it give a small gap, and the rest are not that important. Let's add my own skills, sir. Here we add another important skills that we have. For example, manual functional and exploratory game test. We already have a point about backtracking software, so I need to add also a point about the documentation. And then some technical skills, for example, familiar with main game engines, unity unreal. And that's something about communication. But now I have a decent list of skills. It's time to motor experience. Let's add some additional lines here. Let's imagine that I used to work as Indie game Kya volunteer. So this will be my first job. I need to provide a date for it. For example, it was January 2024 until January 2025. Then I add my position. In the place, it was remote. Now I need to provide main activities that I used to do at the job. During this time, I walked 35 unique bogs using Jira. Well, I can add some additional details. For example, I reported critical issues like say W, corruption and other I used to provide some daily updates or weekly updates to my developer team. Okay. Let's add some bullet points here, as well. Good. Let's move to my second project. Let's imagine that I'm still working there. That's also a remote job, and I work as a beta testers specify a project. For example, GT six. Okay. Let's add my responsibilities as a beta tester. I participated in beta testing, for example, using build in reporting portal. Okay. Then I can add the area, and I focused on game completion and missions check. And let's add some details, for example, reported bug or created bug reports for gameplay, for UI, and some feedback. Now we do this and we move to our portfolio. So I paste my link again, And then details what's included. What's here? Portfolio is another topic that we will talk later. Now let's just add how it's going to look in resume. In the portfolio, it is good to add some bug reports and videos that show how you can report bugs and also other documentation, for example, test cases or reports. Y. Okay, we delete this. Now, we come to the education system. Here we can include everything. For example. For example, I studied in Harvard University and I studied there. For example, I was bachelor in finance. And then we had something more important. An add a list of main things that we learned. For example, understanding of core game que concepts. Then getting familiar with backtracking tools. Then developing and then learn how to find the report bug. Doing quick formatting. Okay, and then we are at the additional section. And here we can add any information that might interest our employer. For example, we're available for remote or on site in testing English or if you have any additional language would be a plus. And maybe something about my gaming Nodge. Is just, for example. Okay, now we have our basic information here. Let's see how it works in PDF. So we just highlight the area we need, press. Then what PDF. Look how it looks. Now, I need highlighted cells. A four portrait. Does it fit the entire screen? Yes, it does. Okay, let's expert and see. Okay. Now I see that I have all the lines that I don't want to hell. So let's see how we can extract without. We open formatting and remove red wines and notes. Extract again. Okay, now it looks much better. Let scale it. I have my personal information, summary, skills, experience, portfolio, education. Oh I have mistaken word education. Oh, no. Education. Now I have to save it again. PDF expert. I might also want to add ballot points on the skills, but in general, I like how it works. Good. 9. Tips for QA portfolio: Let's talk about game portfolio for QA because for other disciplines, it is easy to create a portfolio. If you are a three D or two D artist, it is easy to showcase your work. But in the world of QA, it's a bit harder. One part of your portfolio are projects that you used to work on. You showcase them in the CV, in the experience part. But as a beginner, you might not be able to have a good record of projects, so it is good to show your skills in the other way. And let's talk about this way. Let's take a look at K components of the game QA portfolio. Of course, you need to showcase how you write bug reports. A strong K portfolio should include three, five real or simple bug reports that demonstrate your understanding of testing principles. Each report should clearly outline the title, environment, steps to reproduce, expected and actual result, severity, and optionally include a screenshot or a video. The best case is if you add a video example of the bug in the same folder where you have this bug report. Another good point for portfolio is test cases or checklists. It helps demonstrating your ability to write basic test cases because demonstrating your ability to write basic test cases is crucial for QA portfolio. Include scenarios, expected results, and a pass fail com to showcase your testing skills. Effective test cases should clearly outline the scenario and expected outcomes, ensuring that they are easy to understand and execute. You can use standard tools like Excel or Google Sheets to present your test cases professional. Another good thing for your portfolio is exploratory testing session works. They are essential for showcasing your ability to find bugs in a game or feature. Document what you tested, the time spent, and any bugs or insights you discovered during the session. When orging your exploratory testing, include details such as what you tested, the time spent and bugs found. This documentation helps demonstrate your sorrowness and analytical skills. It also can be a video presentation with your commentary during the testing. Also, you can include a mini test plan, but this is very optional because at the beginner level, nobody has expected you to prepare one. But if you decided to do it, it can set you apart by showcasing your planning abilities. Include the scope, test objective, risks, device coverage, and time estimation for a feature. A minutes pan should outline the key elements of your testing strategy, including objectives and risks. Another important thing is tool usage samples, including samples of your tool usage, such as screenshots or videos of Jira Or trello can demonstrate your familiarity with industry standard tools. This adds credibility to your portfolio and shows your readiness for real world QA tasks. Don't forget to include links to share documents or boards to provide evidence of your skills. If you've seen in our original course how to create dashboards for testing, it can be a great help. And now let's talk about organizing your game K portfolio. It is important because a well organized game que portfolio showcases your skills and understanding of testing principles. Use platforms like Notion or Google Size to create a queer structure that highlights your work effectively. Consider using a Google Drive folder for a straightforward organization of your portfolio materials. Name your files querly and categorize them into sections like bug reports, test cases, and search and logs for easy navigation. It doesn't take long to prepare your portfolio, but it can be a great help for recruiters to notice you among a lot of other applicants. So take some time and prepare a great portfolio. 10. Building a Portfolio: Usually your CV might not be enough to understand your skills. This why it is good to create a portfolio that can be showcased to the employers. You can include their bug reports that you created, checklist, test cases, and any other relevant documentation that might be interesting for employer. Let me show you how to create a simple portfolio. There are just a few tricks how to do this. Let's go to Google Drive and create a new folder. We call it portfolio. The press Create. Now let's go to this folder and create additional folders. I would like to have a folder for bug reports. Then the folder for test cases, then the folder for checklist. Okay, let's change the view. Let's focus mostly on bug reports. It is good to have a few examples of bug reports. I will create one just to show you how to do this. I create bug report. One, and we will work in this folder. If I used to work on real projects and already have bug reports created, I can use them. But if I have no experience, I can find any bug that I want to report just to showcase my skills. For this, we simply go to YouTube and choose any famous game that we can use. For example, GTA five bugs. Here we have a video, D A five, mission glitches and bugs. Let's check what we have here. And a new running buddy. Yeah, he's more of a protege. Yeah, what? You gonna teach him to be old before his time? A, to never grow up. He seems like a good kid. Micha, look at this. Ah, New city. New set of problems. But the idiots, they stay the same. Yep, I guess. Alright, Cherv, I'll see you later. Ah, you better believe it, buddy. Okay, here we have Invisible helicopter. Let's see what else do we have? Helaer. We are women, and we are free. We're pre and strength for the patriarchy. We are women. You are great. We are willing. You are shot. We are willing. Have no doubt. We are willing. We are free. Shut up. **** up. Okay, this is, this one is not so interesting. And let's check just one more to be sure. Well, da su? He'll prey W which That was him. This one seems not to be the interesting ones. So let's focus on the first one. And where with the We have invisible helicopter here. Let's create a bug report for this one. We go to our drive and create a document. We create Google Sheet, and we start with the name. D five bug report. Now, let's add main elements of bug report. We have summary description, steps to reproduce We have our severity, priority, expected result. We can at actual result. Then we add platform attachments. Then we don't need anything else. So let's first add information. Then we can do formatting. Let's see what exactly we have here. Yeah, he's more of a protege. Yeah, what? You gonna teach him to be old before his time? Yeah, never grow up. He seems like a good kid. So this is a cut scene, and we clearly see that during the cuten the helicopter is invisible. But is it visible? Okay? Oh, okay. It seems to be entirely missing. That's why we see driver falling. That's a good additional information for description. So our summary will be the helicopter is invisible. During the cutscene of the mission. And if you have time to find the name of the mission, it is good. For now, we'll just use xyz as a placeholder name. Then we go to the description and add additional details. Exactly what we saw on the video. During the casting, So we just added additional information. During the casting, helicopter was invisible, but Trevor still managed on board. Right after the casting finished, he fell down like there was no helicopter at all. Now let's add our steps to reproduce. They are very simple. The first step is what the title on the build. And we also usually when we test, we have a build name. Let's call it a version v105. Step two, reach or ward from the buck the mission XYZ. In this situation, we imagine that it happens every time we go this mission, so we don't need to do any additional steps. Observe helicopter at the start of Cats. Now we're moving to severity, and this is a pretty severe bug, but it doesn't break anything. That's why it's medium. For priority, this is happening during the golden path and during the mission. That's why it is a high priority. Expected result, the textures of the helicopter are visible. For the actual result, we just copy paste the summary if there are no additional details needed. For the platform, we assume this is PC specific. And for attachment, we just add the phrase please see in the folder. We will come back to this a bit later. Now let's do quick formatting for better visibility. What I would like to do is to make all borders white. This creates a feeling this is the blank paper. Now, let's create borders of our document. Good. We make main lines. Both We do some merging and let's make sure the text stays in. For some reason, I don't like current wayot. Let's try to do it something that I don't like. We merge this. Let's make it bigger a bit. Okay, now it looks a bit better. Let's come back to our attachments. If we manage to find the video on YouTube, we need to download it. There are a lot of services that allow you to do this. You simply go to YouTube, copy the link, find any YouTube downloader. For example, clip to AI, put the link here, and it appears here. You can choose any quality you want and download the video. I already have it downloaded, so I simply just add it to the folder. So we go back to the folder. Another important note that you need to make sure that you don't add entire video, you just cut the part you need. You also can use any free video editor to do this. So I simply add the video here. Then I just do the same for Bag Report two and Bg Report three. Create the folder. And do it from the scratch. Also, if you don't like the Google Sheet form, you can extract your bug report as a PDF. You just simply highlight the cells you would like to have, press file, then load, PDF from expert, you choose selected sheets, portrait and press Expert. Then you have it like this. Rename it and add to the folder. And that's all you have your first bug report ready to be presented. We come back to portfolio folder, and then you do the same for checklist and test cases. You can actually create a checklist for the same mission or the bug that you used in your bug reports to highlight that you managed to find them during testing your checklist and or test cases. Once you have everything added to your portfolio, it's time to add it to your CV. You press on portfolio and press share. There is general access. You change anyone with the link and leave them as a viewer. Then you copy the link and you go back to your CV. In your CV, you have a portfolio link, and let's change it. We call it my portfolio. We press supply. And now, every time people see your CV, they can click on it and see your portfolio. Not all recruiters are looking at it, and not all recruiters are interested in it. Because a lot of this you will be doing during the practical test where they are planning to evaluate your abilities. But still, this is a great chance to stood out, and you just spend a few hours preparing your portfolio, that can bring a lot of benefits in the future. 11. Writing a good cover letter: Also take a quick look at best practices for writing a coverueter because cover wetter is a very important tool in finding jobs. Wes quickly go through the importance of a cover letter. A cover letter serves as the first impression a potential employer has of a candidate. It provides an opportunity to present oneself in a personalized and direct manner. Setting the tone for application. This initial connection can significantly influence the hiring decision. A well crafted cover letter demonstrates a candidate's motivation for the position, showcasing their attention to detail and unique communication style. These qualities can effectively differentiate candidates, especially when resumes are similar in content. In competitive job markets, a compelling cover letter can break the tie between candidates with similar qualifications. It allows applicants to highlight their strengths and fit for the role in the way that resumes often cannot convey. Let's take a quick look at the structure of a strong cover letter. You started with greeting. You address a real person or a team to create a personal connection right from the start. Then you move to opening. State the role clearly and hook the reader with the relevant strengths or connection to the job. Then body. Showcase your relevant experience by providing specific examples that demonstrate your qualifications. Then we move to tools and value. Here you can highlight your relevant skills and explain how they can add value to the team or organization. And the last part is closing. Conclude with an expression of an enthusiasm for the position, your availability, and its thank you. Here are a few tips for writing a cover letters. Keep it short because when the cover letter is too big, it might tire the reader. Tailor it. Refer to the job post to or a game type. Be specific. Mention projects, tools, and outcomes. Sound human, polite, but not robotic or generic, and avoid repeating your CV line by line. Also, there are a few things that you should always include. Incorporate recent projects or tasks that demonstrate relevant experience. This allows the employer to see your capabilities in action and understand how you can contribute to their team. Mention specific tools you have utilized in your work, such as Jira, Treva or OBS. Employers appreciate knowing that you are familiar with industry standard too. Detail the type of games you have tested or the environment that you worked. For example, browser, mobile or Unity. This specificity helps employer assess your fit for their project. Also, there are a few common mistakes that is better to avoid. Don't make it too vague or too long. Try not to copy paste a generic template. Another mistake is not addressing the actual job responsibilities, and then forgetting to link your portfolio or work samples or even CV and a few best practices to follow. Tailor your content to the job, providing specific examples and quantifiable achievements. Clearly, address the jobs requirements and enhance your application by linking to work samples. Keep it concise and focused. Show general familiarity. Demonstrate your familiarity with various game genres and platforms to show your understanding of the industry. Highlight your testing experience, highlight your experience in reporting bug and testing across different devices to illustrate your practical skills in QA. Then offer to complete a test task to show your initiative and willingness to contribute from the start. Maintain a friendly but professional tone to create a positive impression while remaining respectful. Let's do a quick final check list for Cover wetter submission. You start with greetings, then you come to opening. Quickly state the role you are applying for and include a strong hook. Then body, provide specific examples of your experience and relevant skills. Then tools and value where you highlight tools used and how they contribute to the potential employer's team. Then closing. Convey enthusiasm for the role, state your availability, and sank the reader. After that, make sure you do a proof reading. Check for spelling and grammar errors and ensure querity. Then include the link to your portfolio or relevant work samples, and in the end, ensure the cavar letter is table to the specific job and company. A compelling cover letter should be concise, focused, and tailored to the job at hand. Emphasize how your experience meets employer's needs rather than simply expressing interest. Quality, structure, and personalization are essential to stand out even for junior QA tests. 12. Getting game testing experience before employment: Get your first official job, sometimes you need to find a way to gain some experience without employment. And let's take a quick look on this matter. So why experience matters? Many job postings ask for experience, even for entry level roles. The good thing is that you don't need a formal job to gain relevant experience. You can test indie games, join communities, and contribute to projects to build a portfolio. Let's talk about testing indie games. Many Indie developers need testers, but can't afford a full QT. So you can offer to test their game for free in exchange for experience or maybe ask some money for it. You can report box, usability issues and feedback just like in a Aaljob. On g dot and IdidB you can browse Indie games, contact developers. Also many Indie Devs post requests for testing in Games Devs group, I Discord or Twitter. You can also join Beta programs. Many game studios offer beta access for upcoming games. This can let you gain a real testing experience in a structured environment. Focus on reporting detailed issues and not just pay. You can find it on Steam play test or Epic Games Beta. Developers players test games in pre release there. Also, you can check official websites of different big companies. Another way to find an experience is AnoineGame testing communities. Many Anoine communities connect testers with developers. You can learn from experienced testers, get feedback and find projects. You can find it on reedit and in different discord groups. Also, you can contribute to open source projects because open source projects need testers just like commercial games. You can gain experience without needing permission from a company. It shows initiative, problem solving, and real contribution to the industry. Also another great opportunity is freelance. So let's talk about it. 13. Creating Upwork profile: Let's talk about freelance and game testing and about one of its many platforms, Upwork. Upwork is a good way to earn money and find your first job. Let's do a quick profile setup for you so you will be able to earn your first job. I have my old profile that I haven't been using for some time, so it's easy for me to edit it. Let's start with my title. For my title, I will be using some special words. I will call myself a junior game tester. Then I will add some additional details. Bug reporting then BC, mobile, consoles, and then unity. Okay. Looking good. Let's think about our hourly rate because for the start, I don't expect to earn much. So let's start with, for example, 12. Now let's add a profile over. I deal with everything from here and I'm start writing who I am and what I can do. I made in general wine that I junior game tester with hands on experience testing indie games, mobile prototypes, and console games. Now let's add some specialization. So I added some specialization, finding and reporting box, writing reports and test documentation, and exploratory and performance testing. Now, let's give some words to my skills. Let's start with general one manual testing. Then we add bug report tools. Then documentation. Then we'll set some platforms, and some additional details. Good. Let's not make this list too big because people will be tired to read it. And it's a few general lines. There are some basic lines. If you're looking for someone who can test thoroughly, communicate clearly via discord or a Work, support the development with QA, you can rely on me portfolio available below, and I'm happy to start with short test to show how I work. Working good. We small one. Consultation is not something that we're interested in for now. We're moving to portfolio. For portfolio, you just can copy the same portfolio that you are using for CV creation. Let's see what we have here. So you can see the main fields here are project title, your role, project description, skills and deliverables, related upwork job and content. Imagine if you used to work at the project as a beta tester or just as support, you can edit here. Let's imagine that I used to work on GTA six as a beta tester. For the project descriptions, what at next? We had some small project description. For example, I was selected to participate in case beta test. The goal was to identify gameplay, performance, and usability issues and solution and impact here, I tested the game across multiple sessions, looked over 30 important note here, verified issues, and provided detailed feedback. And for skills, we have here, functional testing Okay. Bug reporting. No result found. Bug reports QA Engineering and communication. We can add a link. Most likely, all our bugs are under ADA, so we can just add a link to a GTA six. Okay. Oh Now we have our first project in portfolio. Let's imagine that you haven't worked on any projects and you just want to add a bug report to your portfolio. If it's not an NDA project and you just created a bug report game, you can add a name here. Let's imagine that I just want to showcase my reporting skills, and I add a report for GTA five. So I add here GTA five add bug report. Your role is game. Tester for project description, we simply add exactly what we want to showcase. So here we show that will manage to find an issue or a bug in the game, and we create the bug report, attached it to showcase our skills. Here we add functional testing. Game testing and bug reports. Then we just simply add a video if we have a video of the bug and the document. Press next. Then we scroll down, computed jobs. You don't have control over it. It appears once you complete it, and then we come to skill section. Let me queer it for now so we can start from beginning. The first one is game testing. The most important one. Then we can add quality assurance. Then functional testing. Exploratory testing. Unity, then bug reports, entera, Google Sheets. We also can at manual testing. We save it. Then we can scroll down to certifications. And if you have any certificate, you're free to add it. You can add here also any certifications from Demi. You just add manually, then certification, scroll down and press Add a custom certification. Then you can place a name here, for example, we provider. You dam me. Add here description, add a date, expiration date we don't add. If we have ID in R, we can also add it here. Add a certification. Now I have it here. Here you can add any employment history that you have and any other experience. Also, important things to check on the left side. If you have any video introduction, you can place it here and your availability. For example, I'm available to work more than 30 hours. Then I add languages, verifications, licenses if I have any license, education, and I can link my account here. So that's a basic explanation. So that's a basic overview of your profile on work. 14. Finding jobs on Upwork: Now it's time to see how to look for a job. We simply press and find work and click on. Then we have search for job. So we simply write game tester. Press Enter, and here you can see different jobs. But also you can see that they know from game development. So let's press Advanced Search. We have here all of these words, any of these words, none of these words, the exact phrase. And let's choose game tester in the exact phrase. Press search. Now you can see that all of them are more specialized. Let's add some additional details. For example, I'm interested in entrL positions. Then I don't care that much about price for now. But I do care about payment verified. I want to make sure that I will get paid in the end. So let's take a look at a few works. I do quick search, open it. Okay, for now, let's take a look. First one, Cuba game activities. We need some information about sports in Cuba. Oh, I don't think that it suits me. Android MajunGamePly tester. For our Android MajnGame, we are looking for tester. The game is MajungarPuzzle game. Your task will be to play the game for 1 hour a day for upcoming seven days. Okay, so doesn't look bad, but I want something more deep. Android game testers, network test. I don't have Android, so I won't be a good fit for this one. Okay, this looks like a decent work. Let's see the details. We're looking for a detailed oriented QI tester to manually test our simple web based games. Okay, the games are straightforward, so no extensive technical experience is required. Sounds good. What are my responsibilities? Perform manual testing, compare game functionality and design to provide the specifications, identify and document box or issues in backtracking system. Okay. Re test games after fixes, communication, feedback, testing new features. Okay, requirements, attention to detail, basic understanding, familiarity with backtracking tools, ability to follow test plans, communication skills, and ability to work remotely. This sounds like a requirement for entry position. Preferred, but not required experience with manual testing in game industry. Why work with us, friendly and supportive team environment, flexibility in work hours, and gain experience in game testing with potential for more projects in future. Okay, this one looks like a good job that I might want to apply. But before applying, let's talk about connects. This is an important thing on Upwork. Every month, you get around 200 free connects. Each job requires some amount of them to be spent. For example, this job cost me 20 connects. So after applying, the 20 connects will be deducted from my balance. That's why you need to think carefully when to apply. New jobs appear very often on the upwork, so you just need to find the one that suits you the most and where you think you will be the best fit. So let's try to apply now. 15. Applying to jobs: Okay, now we are trying to apply to this work. We press Apply now. Here, if you are a part of any studio, it will ask you how you would like to apply. Here, I want to apply by myself. Now we come to the terms. My profile rate is 12/hour, but Client's budget is 5-10. If I'm okay, I can lower my expectations, for example, to eight. I'm doing it because I don't have much experience in my profile now. That's why I need to get the reputation first. Okay, schedule a rate increase. This is a good practice to increase your rate over time. So let's choose at least six months and how much of a percent, 10% should be good. Now we come to a cover letter. This is very important detail because this is something that interviewer will be looking at. Of course, besides my portfolio and projects, it shouldn't be long because I don't want to read long, and it should have all the needed details. So let's start with type Hello. I will add just basic details. I am a game tester with that I have hands on experience in manually testing web based and browser games. Then I need to cover additional requirements. Let's cover the one that I can follow test plans and compare functionality against design specs. In this phrase, I show that I have experience in identifying UI and game logic errors and also I have experience in cross browser compatibility issues by following detailed test plans and comparing functionality against design specs. If you have a portfolio, it is good to add some reference to it. Let's move to other requirements. We show our ability to use backtracking tools like Jira and Trail. Here we cover additional requirement that I'm able to provide detailed test reports, detailed bug reports with all necessary information and support team by testing fixes and some additional general details. Then I add a general phrase that I'm highly detailed oriented, responsive in communication, and able to follow established process while offering feedback when appropriate. And another important tip. Not everyone is using it, but proposing a call is a great help. Here you show that you're not afraid of talking and you can provide more valuable information about your experience. Then let's move to the question. Describe your recent experience with similar projects. I will add a few phrases, but we won't stop here for long. Two. For example, I added a line that in my most recent QA project, I work with a small team to test set of three web based minigames built using HTML five and UNIT WebGL. My role was to manually test each game across different browser from Firefox edge and screenshot resolutions to ensure all features functioned as intended and matched to provide design specifications. It is good to add any additional details that happened on this project that is useful for employer. Then we have attachment field, and here you can attach some example of your works. And then we have a new section that is called profile highlights. For example, if you have some projects that fits the description and you used to work on them and already have it in your portfolio, you can press ED and just simply choose it. Then you just submit the proposal. After pressing it, the connects will be deducted from your balance and the employer will see your application. 16. Mastering HR Interview: So we are moving on, and we are at the stage when you have your CV, you wrote a good cover letter, you applied to the position, and you've got a reply that you're invited to the HR interview. This is the first step of the hiring process. So let's take a closer look. Let's have a small introduction to HR questions in game testing interviews. HR questions are crucial in assessing a candidate's fit within a team and their ability to communicate effectively. Understanding these questions can significantly improve your chances of success in interviews. Why HR questions matter? They are not about technical skill. They are about fit, attitude and communication. Interviewers want to know, will you be reliable? Can you work in a team, and will you handle the feedback well? Let's try to go through K HR questions. HR question one. Tell me about yourself. They are testing your communication and relevance. Don't tell your wife's story. Focus on how your background fits the role. For example, I came from a background in tech support and recently completed a QA course focused on game testing. I've been passionate about games since I was a kid, and now I'm combining that passion with structured testing. I better tested several Indie games, and I enjoy reporting backs and improving the player experience. Question two, why do you want to work in game testing? They want to see passion and realistic expectations, not just I love games. As answer, you can use I've always loved games, but I also enjoy structure, problem solving, and documentation. Game testing is a perfect combination of creativity and technical thinking for me. I get satisfaction from improving products and ensuring quality. I want to grow and QA and contribute to a better player experiences. Don't just say I want to play games all day. That's a big red flag. HR question number three, what are your strengths? Want strengths that are relevant to QA and show yourself aware. As a reply, you can use I'm highly detailed oriented. I notice small inconsistencies others might miss. I'm also good at written communication, which helps me write clear bug report. Lastly, I'm adaptable. I worked on different genres and platform, and I enjoy learning new tools quickly. Question number four, what are your weaknesses? They don't want perfection. They want honesty and self improvement. At first, I used to over explain bug report, including unnecessary screenshot and on descriptions. I realized that quality and conciseness matter. I worked on improving by following bug reporting guidelines more closely and reviewing how senior testers write reports. You can use any other weaknesses, but don't be too harsh on yourself. Question five, how do you handle feedback or criticism? They want to know how you can take constructive feedback and use it professionally. And this reply is very good. I see feedback as a tool for growth. In one better test, I initially labeled too many bugs as high priority. A senior tester gave me a feedback and I adjusted how I evaluate severity. It helped me improve and better understand the testing process. Question number six, how do you deal with stress or deadoins? They just want to know if you will stay calm during crunch time. I try to stay organized. When dedoins are tight, I break tasks into smaller chunks and prioritize based on impact. In a recent testing project, we have a one day turnaround. I focused on gameplay areas first and did UI testing glass. Question seven, do you prefer working alone or in a team? This is a pretty tricky question, and they want to know if you're flexible and good at collaboration. As a good reply, you can use I'm comfortable working independently. I can manage tasks and stay focused, but I also enjoy team environments where we share big findings and help each other improve test coverage. In one test cycle, our team spotted partns faster by sharing updates daily. In this case, you show an ability to work alone as well as working in the team. Question number eight, where do you see yourself in 23 years? Also I want to know if you're here for a one run and want to grow. And a good reply is, I would like to grow into a QA analyst or lead test role. Right now, I'm focused on building strong foundational skills, but I also enjoy mentoring and documentation. I'm open to learn more about automation or test planning in the future. Question nine, why should we hire you? They want to hear confidence without arrogance? Just prove you fit because they bring a mix of testing experience, curiosity, and communication skills. I'm not just passionate. I already tested indie titles, written bug reports, and worked with deaf to improve games. I'm ready to contribute from day one and grow with your team. So let's do a quick summary and preparation tips. Practice answers out loud. Use real examples when possible. Be honest, but focused on growth. Keep answers relevant to game testing and research the company before the interview. All these tips will improve your confidence and ability to pass the interview. Also, please don't treat these nine questions as the only standard questions on any interview because they may art from company to company. I just wanted to give you a basic overview of the expectations from HR interview. So let's move on. 17. Practical task during hiring process: Of companies has a practice to ask people to do a testing challenge to assess their skills. Let's cover this topic in this presentation. Here we'll see how to confidently approach real world QA tasks during interviews. Game testing assessments are designed to evaluate your practical skills in identifying bugs and reporting them effectively. Understanding the expectation can help you approach these challenges with confidence and clarity. Why are they used? Just because employers want to know, can you find bug in a limited time? Are your reports queer and useful? Do you understand how to prioritize issues, and can you test methodologically and stay organized? Let's take a look at common types of practical assessments. Game testing. It is about conducting a trial of a small game or demo, identifying any bug or issues present during the play. Test cases. Here, you will be asked to develop comprehensive test cases that align with the specified requirements to ensure sort of evaluation. Then bug logging. Here, they want to see how you can utilize a design template or software such as Jira to systematically log and track bugs discovered during testing. Bug review. Analyze existing bugs, providing suggestions for improvement based on severity and frequency of occurrence. Also, here you might be asked to prioritize them. Verbal explanation. Explain how you would test a specific feature, providing all possible details. Let's check a quick example. You receive a downloadable game or web mobile build. Instructions. Test this game and submit your bug reports within 1 hour. A bug report template or Google Sheets. Some companies will give you specific focus areas. Focus on main menu settings and one. Others, let you explore free. So step one, read instructions carefully. Look for platform, scope, file formats, what they want to see. Ask for clarifications if anything is unclear. Step two, test methodologically. Divide the game logically, menus, controls, visuals, gameplay. Test across multiple paths, not just happy pass. Use a notepad or spreadsheet to track findings. Step three, prioritize time. Don't spend 30 minutes reproducing one bug. Aim to report five, ten meaning issues with details. If you find a critical crusher blocker, report that first. Let's do a quick recap of bug reporting essentials. A well structured bug report is crucial for effective communication between testers and developers. It should clearly outline the issue, including steps to reproduce, expected results and any relevant environment details to facilitate quick resolution. Follow the usual template and don't forget about main elements, title, environment, step to reproduce, actual result, expected result, attachments, and severity and priority. To write effective bug reports, always use clear and concise language. Avoid dragon that might confuse the reader. Additionally, ensure that each report focuses on a single issue to maintain quality and facilitate easier tracking. But I'm sure that you already know all these details from our original course. Let's talk about preparation and evaluation. Interviewers are looking for candidates who can not only identify bugs but also articulate their findings clearly. They value critical thinking and the ability to prioritize issues effectively as the skills are essential in real world testing scenarios. Many candidates fail to provide clear reproduction steps which can led to confusion and miscommunication. Additionally, submitting reports that lack organization or querity can significantly impact their impression. Bleave on interviewers. Familiarity with backtracking tools like Jira or Bag Zia can give you an edge during assessment. Additionally, using collaborative tools by Google Sheets can help streamline your reporting process and improve organization. They will assess your ability to catch obvious and non obvious bug, structure reports clearly, prioritize effectively, follow written instructions, think critically and explore creatively. To excel in assessment, practice with various games and familiarize yourself with different bug reporting formats. MC tests can help you build confidence and improve your time management skills during real assessment. In summary, practical tests are a crucial part of the game que interview process, and preparation is the key. By focusing on querity, structure, and effective communication, candidates can significantly improve their chances of success. 18. Common technical interview questions: You have managed to reach a stage of technical interview. This is one of the most important parts of hiring process. Let's take a closer look on how to successfully pass it. Let's take a look at main parts of the technical interview and why it is so important. This section covers essential interview questions that aspiring game testers should prepare for. Understanding these questions can help candidates demonstrate their knowledge and skills effectively. One of the parts of the interview is theoretical and fundamentals. Theoretical knowledge is crucial for understanding the principles of game testing. This foundation helps tester apply best practices in real world scenarios. Then there is a section of practical testing skills and real world QA. Why this section is so important. They want to check it because real world scenarios enhance problem solving capabilities. Then hands on experience bridges the gap between theory and practice. Collaboration with the teams improves overall quality assurance. Continuous learning is vital for adapting to the new testing technologies. Then there is a part about bug reporting and tools. The bug reporting process is crucial for maintaining quality. They want to see how you can utilize effective tools to streamline the bug reporting flow. Adopt a standardized format for capturing bugs to ensure querity, regularly review and prioritize reported bugs for timely resolution and encourage team collaboration to enhance the bug fixing process. Then we have hardware and compatibility questions. It highlights the importance of assessing hardware requirements for successful integration, evaluating of compatibility across different devices and platforms, and strategies for testing hardware compatibility effective and then it is game logic and scenario thinking. Game logic involves the underlying and mechanics that drive gameplay dynamics. Scenario thinking refers to envisioning various outcomes or paths in the gaming context. Both concepts are essential for creating engaging and immersive player experience. Effective use of game logic enhances strategic decision making for players. And of course, problem solving and QA thinking. They want to check, understanding the importance of problem solving and quality assurance, identifying common problems in QA process and their implications, implementing effective strategies for troubleshooting and improving QA outcomes, and encouraging a mindset shift towards proactive problem identification. So let's start with theoretical and fundamental parts. The question is, what's the difference between functional and non functional testing in games? The answer is simple. Functional testing checks if feature works while non functional testing verifies performance. Example, in a racing game, verifying car control work functional. Checking frame rate at high speed is non functional. Question what's regression testing and why is it important in games? Answer, regression testing ensures new features or fixes haven't broken existing functionality. As an example, after adding multiplayer chat, retest the project to check for new bugs. Question, what is the difference between a bug, glitch, and exploit? Answer, a bug is a flow that causes incorrect behavior. Glitch usually temporary visual Odis. Exploit a bug used to gain unfair advantage. Example, duplication glitch in inventory is a glitch. Using it repeatedly to form, it is exploit. Question. What is a test case versus a test scenario? Answer, test case has specific steps and expected result. Test scenario, it is a high level condition to test. Scenario test saving system, test case, save game after boss fight, reward and confirm boss remains defeated. Then explain the software testing life cycle in content of games. The answer is requirements analysis, test planning, test case creation, test execution, defect logging, re test and regression, test closure and reporting. For example, you get a new mission feature. First, qualified design, plan coverage, write test cases, write tests, execute box test and report. Now let's move to the next section, practical testing skills and real world QA. For example, you have a question, how would you test a game's pause functionality? The answer is pause in various states during combat wording, et cetera. Then ensure time sensitive events freeze, resume smoothly, and check UI and audio behavior. For example, pause during erase, resume, check if timer continues properly. Don't try to limit yourself to a few things. When you asked about how you would test a feature, try to think about as many scenarios as possible. Don't just tell a few and wait for the reaction. How would you test games word features? The answer is save a checkpoints during quest or vow health. Od and verify environment and stats match. Try corrupt and partial saves. For example, save during grain in RPG, reword, verify weather, character location, and inventory. Then the question, how do you test character customization? The answer is check of spiders options work. That's the basic test, then say all different character styles and test behavior in cat sins and multiplayer. So as you see, the answer is not just simple, I will try to use Oskins, but it covers more deep functionality. For example, create to character, start game, verify that height is correct across levels and probably cattin. Describe a time you found the critical bug others missed. Here, the answer may var based on your experience. But as a general answer, testing tutorial sequence, other skipped He cases, I tested rewarding mid tutorial. Result, gamestoped due to event not resetting proper. Then a good question and pretty popular. How would you test multiplayer feature? Testing multiplayer features requires a structured approach that includes functional testing, network condition testing, synchronization checks, and user experience validation across multiple device or clients. I break this process into several key areas. Host client synchronization, test that game states in correctly between all players, test on different Internet speeds, Wi Fi, three G, four G, connect and disconnect at different points in match. Test and game voice and text chat, test combination. BC Xbox Android, join create game rooms. A pair should see the same thing at the same time. It's code replication. Verify real time score updates, try using duplicate accounts, repay joining living. Okay. Now moving to the next section, bug reporting and tools. The question, what makes a good bug report? The answer is simple. Clear title, environment, rapper steps, actual expected result, severity, and attachment. The bet example is game crash. The good example is crash when switching without during matchmaking with k and video. How do you report a bug that only happens occasionally? This is a tricky question. The answer is in good system info and all context. Last action states, add possible triggers, use video logs if possible, and *** it as intermittent. For example, occurs two out of ten times when loading from safe after dying. Simple question. What backtracking tools have you used? The answer is Jira, monkeys, testrea Trello Asana, Google Sheets. I typically use Jira with custom fields for a production rate and expected outcome. That's another popular question. What's the difference between severity and priority in bug reporting? Severity is how bad the bug is priority, how soon it should be fixed. Very often, people ask for examples when the severity is high and priority is low and vice verse. Here are a few examples for you. High severity, low priority, crash on credit screen. No matter what, crash is always high severity, and credit scene is a rare place that makes it low priority. For low severity and high priority, we have typo in main menu title. Typos are low severity issues, but main title makes it high priority. What's exploratory testing? The answer is it's unscripted testing using intuition, knowledge, and creativity to discover bugs that scripted cases might miss. For example, I once found a clipping issue by jumping repeatedly near a broken wall. How do you document your testing if there is no back tracking system? The answer is, I use spreadsheet, shared documents or notion to track test sessions. I work test cases, issues found, device info, and status updates. Queer documentation, keep the team aligned even without formal tools. Now is hardware and compatibility questions. What devices have you tested games on? Here you can answer from your practice. PC, consoles, mobiles. How do you test on different screen resolution? The answer is use device Farms and emulators. Adjust in game settings, use different monitors if possible, and check your eye scaling aspect ratio and performance. For example, widescreen heights part of HD. How do you test compatibility with different controllers? The answer is connect Xbox, Ps, and generic controllers. Test K bindings, rumble, disconnect, reconnect behavior UI. For example, unplug controller mid Boss fight, reconnect, verify controls resume instantly. How do you test battery usage on mobile? The answer is use device tools, for example, Android Studio Profiler, check temperature and test during one play sessions. For example, after 20 minutes on Android, device heats up significantly and we can flag it as a performance issue. How do you handle testing low end versus high end devices? The answer is run on o device or use QO testing platforms. Focus on frame rate, wartime, memory usage, and responsiveness. And now we're moving to game logic and scenario thinking. Is a very good question. How would you test a game with procedurally generated levels? The answer is repeat runs to spot patterns. Look for the dance, overlaps, unfair spawns, and validate seed logic if available. As an example, Dungeon game spawns unlikable enemies too early. It is a balance issue. What's the difference between a balance issue and a bug? The answer is bug is unintended behavior. Balance feature is working, but not fair or not fun. Example, Bs regenerates 100% health instantly. It's a bug. And when boss deals too much damage, it's a balance issue. How do you test achievements or trophies? The answer is perform each trigger condition, confirm walk UI shows, verify, persistence after restart, H case, and walk achievements during the crash or save error. How would you test localization in a game? The answer is switch languages, book for you a cut off, compare translations, check cultural appropriateness. Example, German text overflows buttons due to one words. How do you test time based mechanics? For example, daily quest. The answer is, manipulate devised system clock. If it's all, wait for actual reset, test edge times. For example, 11:59 P.M. And now, problem solving and QA thinking. How would you test a level editor tool inside the game? The answer is create safe road maps, stress test with many elements, check export and import of levels and test invalid actions. For example, placing enemies outside of the map. Ade says your reported back isn't real. What do you do? The answer is you should stay calm, provide reproduction steps, logs, and video proof. Ask for clarification and test together if needed. What do you do if a build is very unstable? The answer is log crash box clearly, focus on testing what you can, prioritize blocker issues, and communicate early with the dev team. The team should know as soon as possible that build is unstable. What metrics or og do you check when testing performance? The answer is FPS, memory usage, CPU and GPU Wade. You can use vacate for Android, XCode console is, and dev console ox for PC. What's the most complex bug you ever investigate? Testing network sync and a multiplayer shooter. Reports of Ghost ballots, used packet logging, video proof, reproduction on two devices. Result found a delay in cliencing on slow Wi Fi networks. These are examples of some basic questions that might happen to you. As usual, they may vary from company to company, but I'm trying to give you a general overview of the way of thinking and answering these questions. I hope it helps. 19. (Bonus) Soft skills mindset: Game testing is all about games and technical skills, but let's also give some credit to soft skills. They are no less important, and let's take a quick look. So let's go through main reasons why soft skills are important in game testing. So skills are essential in game testing as they facilitate effective communication and collaboration with teams. A QA professional who excels in soft skills can navigate the complexities of the game development, ensuring that issues are addressed promptly and efficiently. Why it's important? Because you are a bridge between design, development, and players. Equit communication ensures bugs get fixed and feedback is understood. Here are a few best practices. Use precise language in bug reports. Avoid vague terms like word or glitch. Give constructive feedback. Focus on the issue, not the person. Be active in team discussion, ask questions, clarify features, confirm assumptions. Let's talk about how written communication can be effective. In practice, write queer and concise bug titles and descriptions. Use Markdown, bot points or templates when available. Always describe reposteps in a way others can easily follow. There is a good tip. Think like someone who's never seen the bug before, will they know what to do just by reading your report. Communication is a big part of workflow in Agile teams. There are stand ups. You should give queer and quick updates. Yesterday, I tested the shop screen. Today, I will verify currency and bug. During this sprint planning, ask for clarifications if needed. Offer feedback from the player's perspective. And on retrospective, here inside respectully. I noticed we often miss testing on over end Android. Maybe we can rotate device testing. Let's talk about collaboration and adaptability in game development. Effective teamwork is crucial in game development as it fosters a collaborative atmosphere where ideas can flourish. By respecting each other's contribution and sharing both success and challenges, team can create a more cohesive and productive work environment. And let's talk about adaptability. In the fast paced world of game development, adaptability is a key to navigating unexpected changes and challenges. Embracing new tools and workflows with a positive attitude AoQAtester to remain effective and contribute to the team success even under pressure. There are a lot of good people working in game development, and a lot of them are very passionate about what they do. So in general, when you work in game dev, it's like finding a new family and making a lot of new friends. 20. Handling rejections and Final steps: Here we are at the final steps. Let's talk about navigating rejections, negotiating salaries, and planning for long term success. Let's start with handling rejection and improving applications. This is one of the important things. Rejection is normal. Rejection are a natural part of any job search process, especially in competitive industries like game development. Even experienced professionals get turned down. The key is to view it as a feedback, not a failure. Many studios get dozens or even hundreds of applications per row. You need to normalize the process emotionally. Don't tie yourself worth to an application. Take a short break after ejections if needed, but keep applying. Treat each no as practice for the next yes. Learn from every application. Create an application tracker with company name, data applied, response received feedback, if any, and status, interview, ghosted or rejected. Over time, patterns will emerge. You will see where you are getting traction. Ask for a feedback after rejection. If you reach the interview stage, send a polite email. Thank you for the opportunity to interview for a QR role. If possible, I would appreciate any feedback that could help me improve in future applications. Some companies won't respond, but when they do, it's available inside. Improve your application strategy. They every CV and cover letter to the job description. Use keywords, remove unrelated jobs unless they show relevant skill. Something like communication and problem solving. Add a portfolio section, include links to test cases, bug reports or personal projects. Keep way out clean, consistent fund, boas and wide space. Now let's talk about salary, contracts and career paths. Let's go through main contract terms for your better understanding. Contracts vary depending on the country, employer, and the role. Learn toasm carefully. Important thing is NDA, non disclosure agreement. You agree not to share sensitive information about the game or company. Contract duration. There might be fixed term 3-6 months, for example, or permanent. Fixed term is common influence and contract role. Payment terms. You need to make sure in the contract there are rates, hourly monthly or per milestone methods that you will be paid and currency. Also check payment frequency and weight payment penalties, if any, work hours and overtime. You need to clarify expectations. Are evenings or weekends expected is overtime paid. This is very important moment because a lot of game development studios do overtime. Intellectual properties courses. Anything you create as a part of the job likely belongs to the studio. Beware of overly broad courses that apply to work you do outside the job, termination courses. How can either party end the contract? Is there a notice period? For example, we found a new job. This works from the other side as well. For example, employer told you that they want to stop the contract, but you will still be working during the notice period. Now, let's talk about pay and when and how to negotiate it. Timing, only negotiate after receiving a formal offer. Before negotiating, make sure you did a research. Use sites like Gosador dot I and local QA groups to estimate fair compensation. Know your value. Consider your experience, location, and skills. Don't undersell your portfolio in previous projects. How to ask, be respectful and use evidence. Thank you for the offer. Based on my QA experience, the responsibilities listed and industry benchmark in the region, I was hoping to discuss a rate closer to X amount. Is it open for a discussion? And you can receive the answer yes or no. When negotiating a job offer, it's not just about salary. Employers often have flexibility on other benefits that can improve your quality of life or make the role more attractive, especially in QA roles, where base salary might be modest. For example, flexible work hours. This can be especially valuable if you have other commitments, studies, family, side projects. Being able to start earlier or later or break your day into chunks can boost your work life balance. Then remote work options. Post COVID, many QA roles are hybrid or fully removed. If location flexibility matters to you, this is a major benefit to request. Then pay training or conference budget. Continuous learning helps your career and the company. Ask whether the employer offers compensation for QA certifications, online courses, or conferences like GDC or Test C, and also equipment. If you are working as a contractor and using your own hardware, for example, PC or controller, you can request a stipend or reimbursement. It's reasonable since they are necessary for delivering your work. Let's talk about red flags in contracts, unpaid trial work. Professional studios pay for testers or give brief tasks. Avoid draws asking for full days of unpaid work unless you need it for portfolio, then no deliverables listed. Your responsibilities should be clear, something like numbers of hours per week or bug reporting expectations. Vague or missing end dates. Corify how long you are expected to work and how renewal happens. Ownership overreach. If the IP code says the company owns everything you make, even outside of work hours, ask for revision because this might be very dangerous. Late payment patterns. If forums or GSA door reviews mentioned show payments, be cautious. And now, this is not part of a topic, but let's also talk about long term career growth in QA. What are the next steps after Junior QA? Build a strong foundation, but testing a variety of genres and platforms. Start taking initiative, volunteer to write test plans, lead back traer sessions, or support on boarding new testers. Develop a specialization. Become the go to person for regression testing, for example, U validation or build verification. Then moving to mid level and senior roles. Take ownership of an entire game feature system or release cycle from planning to post launch. Become a communication bridge between QA and other departments. Begin refining internal processes. Propose improvements to bug reporting template, sprint QA checklist or how builds are reviewed. Mentor junior testers, run QA standups, and advocate for quality in meetings. Then there are also additional specialization. For example, automation QA. You can learn basic programming and automation tools like llenium Abiom or unit test framework to start automating repetitive test cases. Another type of QA work is compliance. You can study platform specification requirements and participate in submission preparation. All the consoles have their own requirements, and QA team need a specialist to have a full understanding of how it works and also leadership roles. Move into roles such as QA lead, QA manager, or even producer assistant. Like I did. This involves people management, task distribution, and setting testing priorities. And final advice. Stay updated on game dev trends. Read Gamastra follow QA blocks, and analyze release game critically. Update your portfolio with real world examples. Test plans, Bwrite ups and release retrospectives. Join QA Discord servers, QA groups on Linkedin, and participate in game gems. Be patient. QA career growth, take time and persistence, focus on learning over titles and always ask, how can I make this process or product better? I really hope that this course can help you to find your first job. The world of gay development is very interesting. A lot of passionate people work there. A lot of cool and interesting projects, and this is a great feeling when you see a result of your work being released to players and they like it. In case you have any questions left, feel free to reach me here in messages or in Linkedin. So good luck in your journey.