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The author could have played this completely differently. Instead of thinking of himself as being surrounded by idiots, he could think of himself as a fox in th
by jfasi 12y ago
The author could have played this completely differently. Instead of thinking of himself as being surrounded by idiots, he could think of himself as a fox in the hen house.
Put it another way. He's the only person in the organization who knows what they're doing when it comes to testing. He's in a position where he can have a tremendous positive effect on his organization. If instead of complaining that his fellow testers are incompetent, he could bring a benefit to the organization and pocket part of it.
Here's the script: "Hello Mr. Suit. Notice how I've discovered ten times as many bugs as my compatriots combined in the same amount of time. Why don't you fire ten of them and bump me up to fifty an hour. You'll be saving ninety dollars an hour at the cost of an extra forty-one going to me." Every business-minded manager would at least consider this. Naturally the numbers need to be adjusted, but anyone with a significantly higher output than their colleagues has the opportunity to make this sort of case.
Here's another potential script: "Lemme level with you, Mr. Suit, these guys are all kids who like playing games, while I've got years of experience as a professional tester under my belt. Why don't you replace their manager with me, and I'll train them myself. Ill whip them into shape, their overall bug detection rate will double, and you won't have to pay a penny. Just replace their ineffective manager with me."
Lesson learned: this situation isn't cause for bitching and moaning, it's an opportunity to cut throats.
- angersock 12y agoYou're missing the part where he's in the game industry, and they don't care to do things the right way. Go read the archives; the quality of management in publishing is rather crap.
- patio11 12y agoThis would be my preferred resolution if we assume that decreasing defects is actually a priority for this organization. We have one pretty persuasive piece of evidence to the contrary: their anti-defect strategy is paying college kids $9 an hour to play video games. The company might have come to the conclusion that bugs don't move the bottom line as much as e.g. box art. This counsels either a) getting into box art or b) getting the heck out of dodge.
- Goosey 12y agoHave got to agree. "Follow the money". If something is a priority it will be invested in. Always sucks when your priorities as an employee don't align with the priorities of your employer. Hopefully the author can find a position which aligns better.
- jamesbrownuhh 12y agoIf that were genuinely the company strategy then why would they bother to hire testers _at all?_ It smacks more of "we know that software must be tested, and this looks like testing so this is what we must do" - a recognition of a requirement, but not one which has been adequately implemented and fulfilled. There may have genuinely been nobody there who knew any better.
- chc 12y ago> If that were genuinely the company strategy then why would they bother to hire testers _at all?_ Because they can get kids to do it virtually for free, and it isn't completely without value.
- enraged_camel 12y ago>>Lesson learned: this situation isn't cause for bitching and moaning, it's an opportunity to cut throats. What if one is not a cut-throat, but simply a competent person who wants to be surrounded by people of equal or greater skill so that he or she can learn from them?
- patio11 12y agoGoogle, Twilio, Matasano, Optimizely, Basecamp, and Fog Creek are all hiring, and all pay well enough such that one would be able to afford to play video games after coming home from work. (This is a non-exhaustive list of companies where I've been particularly impressed about ambient levels of competence.)
- Goosey 12y ago"Needless to say, I had a meeting with management that did not end well. I did not mean to come off condescending and egotistical." - Who is to say this wasn't exactly the script that was used in this meeting? It could have been an attempt to be constructive or it could have been bitching and moaning about how crappy the other testers were. Unfortunately we can only speculate.
- drivingmenuts 12y agoThat presumes that the people he was reporting to could actually understand what the hell he was going on about. The reason QA in games is so bloody awful is because none of them have a goddamn clue, they won't pay for people who do have a clue and they're not going to bother learning on their own.