4 hours ago, CaptainVG said:

Something is bothering me and I just don't get it. What exactly do game testers learn from the job? All they are ever going to do is report bugs, test the games for bugs and then just walk away so what exactly are game testers learning here?

 

What do programmers learn from their job? All they ever do is implement features, create software architecture and fix bugs.

3 hours ago, CaptainVG said:

But game testers, where can you learn further? Bugs are just bugs and there will never be a game that is bug free. You just point the bugs that are very major and then move on to the next game.

You can't know which bugs are major and which are minor if you can't find them.

Even if you know a bug exists, it's a lot more difficult to fix something if you can't reliably reproduce it (i.e. you prefer to have detailed steps for reproducing a bug, both for finding the bug and verifying fixes).

Finding bugs can also be done in a number of ways. Managing automated tests is quite different than doing pure manual testing. Even for testing, someone with a decade of experience finding bugs can draw on a lot of knowledge when it comes to which bugs might exist, and see patterns others miss.

Knowledge and experience with different kinds of bugs and testing can be a huge factor -- platform certification testing is quite different from localization testing or network related testing.

QA is a job in which you can improve your skills, just like any other field. You probably won't gain a lot of programming skills from doing QA, but then again you probably don't get a lot of programming skills from making art assets, either.

Basically, you can have good testers, and you can have bad testers. This means that, as a tester, there are things you can learn and improve.

On 10/21/2018 at 7:45 AM, CaptainVG said:

Something is bothering me and I just don't get it. What exactly do game testers learn from the job? All they are ever going to do is report bugs, test the games for bugs and then just walk away so what exactly are game testers learning here?

Who says they have to learn anything? From the perspective of the game developer/publisher, they don't care if they learn nothing, as long as they can do the job.

If the game tester wants to improve themselves, there are several career paths they might take. A technically minded tester might ask to see the code problems associated with their testing and gradually transition to being a developer. A design-oriented tester might look at aspects of gameplay that aren't necessarily bugs, but just don't play that well. A tester with good people skills might look to become a test team lead or even move to a management position. 

Or maybe testing is just a paycheck to them and they do their work and go home.

There's nothing wrong with any of that. Different people have different priorities in life.

You learn how to trigger common bugs, you learn where bugs might be hiding, you learn what information to include in a report, you learn what to seek, etc.
If you stay in a single company, then this knowledge may lean towards their games (you may find patterns that indicate possible bugs but only because you know how Rick on the 20th floor codes (it's always Rick, isn't it?)), but at least some of it is always globally applicable.
The task of a tester is to keep finding new bugs, they get fixed, and then the tester tests again to confirm.

Through conversations with artists, programmers, musicians, and designers the testers learn which of these fields is most interesting to the tester for his or her future, and how to apply said field in the context of video games.  Through conversation, you may find out why certain design choices were made etc., and these discussions will make you a better designer in the future than if you just sat and played games, or a better programmer in the future because you got some good in-house advice etc.


L. Spiro

I have encountered some really good testers in my non-games jobs.

A good tester was really helpful to the team. I have also seen them advance through the ranks.

The best testers I've known went beyond the testing script that they got:

* They spoke to customers ( they learned customer relations / focus groups )

* They insisted on testing in better "field conditions" (they improved the testing scripts)

* They got involved to the point where they were given outside tasks (they learned the company they were working in, and network themselves)

I've seen testers transition to other jobs such as:

• Developers
• Operational Officers
• Salespeople / Marketing / PR
• Testing managers

That said, if you are allready sure you want to be any of these thing, just go ahead and start learning them. It will be quicker. But if you are not sure what you want, the barrier for entry as a tester is lower. So it is a good job to get exposed to the industry. Although I probably wouldn't recommend a full on degree in S/W testing. It should be an entry level job.