quality assurance tester

software engineer

senior quality assurance tester

senior manager

quality assurance analyst

Activision Blizzard

From my experience working at the Activision QA MN branch, I have had a lot of fun as well as experienced a lot of adversity. 

Entry level positions are all contract based, and with most contracts, temporary. Advancement opportunity is severely limited. It often feels as if it is not based on qualifications but whether or not management likes your personality.

The hourly rate is very low as with most entry level jobs, which is understandable. However as it is contract, there is no chance for pay increase in relation to how well the job is done. So, someone who performs to the best of their ability is always going to be paid the same as someone who performs the bare minimum. So, treat the job for what it is. Temporary and used for experience. 

As it is a contract job, I have met a lot of new and interesting people who have come through the job. Coworkers are almost always friendly towards each other and finding new friends is fairly easy. Most people who work here are all into the video game scene so it is easy to spark new conversations.

Direct management is always within reach as they are on the testing floor near the other testers at all times. An open door policy with higher management is in place making conversing with management very simple. Management is, for the most part, very helpful and nice towards testers. Of course, there's always going to be some abrasion, but that's something that comes with all jobs. HR is also always close by and more than willing to help which is very nice.

Now, one part I do have to warn about, is the hours. Seeing as the primary products are video games, the hours are based on the needs of the public playing the game as well as the needs of the development team working on the game. So very little regards are shown towards the average tester's free time. Hours range from around 9 hours all the way up to 14 hours on the high end depending on the time of year. During crunch time the average shift normally lasts 12 hours with rare chances to reach 14+ hours depending on project needs. 

The number of days a week the average tester is expected to work is 6 to 7 days. Although it is possible to work for 2-3 months straight without a day off, steps are taken to make sure the longest span of work is at max 10-13 days. This however does not always happen as the schedule is not set in stone until the day of. So, plans will, more often than not, fall through. 

Overall, I feel working at the Minnesota branch of Activision QA was a fun experience. I learned a lot and would love to work there again. But, the low wage, grueling hours, temp/contract vs employee differences, and the lack of advancement opportunities are a very big setback.

One of the worst companies I've worked for and Quality Assurance is the epitome of a thankless job.

The pay is terrible. They posted 7.5 billion dollars in 2018 and just recently increased tester salaries to a whole $12 an hour. There are signs at retail positions in my area for $14 - $15.

That is how little the company values QA. Metrics are the name of the game yet QA employees are not rewarded for meeting miles stones with number of bugs submitted. Oh our bosses get reamed out when a critical showstopper is missed, who then in turn ream us out as a group, but catch something egregious just before a major games expo...Pat on the head and a "good job" 

Developers talk down to us in comments, insult our intelligence, and treat us as a nessecary evil.

Burn out is common, turn over is huge. Good workers are rewarded with more responsibility for no extra pay. This adds to resentment, burn out and quitting. Bad workers are common and not fired nearly fast enough because you still need a crew to sail your ship even if the majority of them are useless.

Don't come here thinking this is your "foot-in-the-door" like some many naive kids I see. You will never get out of QA. The CEO or some executive will never come over and see you doodling during your break and be so impressed by your subpar weeb drawings that you are elevated to a character artist. QA is where dreams and dreamers go to die.

You could make lead, or project lead maybe. But the company has routinely laid off large groups of QA positions when profits didn't meet their unrealistic expectations. So even if you make it to a high position in QA, get too high and you're laid off after the project is released. This is their idea of cutting the grass.

 Meanwhile we routinely get emails about another director or producer position being created for some person who's most likely a friend of a friend of an executive.

Do yourself a favor and don't work for this company. No rewards monetary or otherwise, and no life work balance.

QA testing at Activision involves some video game playing but mostly involves searching and writing bugs as well as marking off testing in lists and verifying bug fixes. It's an office job involving video games more than a job about playing video games. This job requires a lot of flexibility as communication from other offices can be sparse and unclear which can lead to a lot of waiting to be able to do things. What we are doing can be changed at a moment's notice. The overall organization can feel scattered and all over the place. 

What's more is, because our testing office is nearly constantly hiring, newer people always outnumber people who have been here a while. Many people pick up the job quite quickly, but the imbalance of new people unsure of how to do things leads to a lot of mistakes and things falling through the cracks. In many ways, it feels like more experienced testers still do the bulk of the work despite the ginormous team we have on staff. 

I have met a lot of really good people doing this job, some of which are the best coworkers I've ever had, but that doesn't make up for the daily frustrations of this job. We had been on crunch for 4 months (12hr days 6 days a week) and that wore everyone down substantially and eliminates any healthy work/home balance. There are some opportunities for advancement, but for the average tester, there is no hope of moving up even if you do a lot of the work people above you do already. Especially with the quantity of new people this can mean having more responsibilities and doing a lot more leading without a pay raise or moving up.

As an easily replaceable quality assurance tester in the gaming industry, you will never be left wondering about your job security. You will see many groups of new testers appear and disappear at about the same pace.

Expect constant surprise overtime and crunch times. You will not be able to have a life outside of work after the hard pace of the workflow and the demands.

Employees are often like-minded and completely fun to talk to. Get used to this and take advantage of the lap as it will be your only outlet.

Testing unreleased products is great, and it's very rewarding to see people's first look at something you've been working on for months.

Treatment from low-level superiors is often lacking, expect to be treated as if you are in day care. Seniors constantly seem to have something to prove, and that 'something' is that they are better than you in all respects - right or wrong. You will not trust the full picture or even a third of the required information.

In stark contrast, leadership is often much more relaxed and easy to get along with.

This is not where your dreams of becoming a videogame developer will begin. This is where your dreams will go to die. To be crushed and siphoned from you to oil the great AAA machine.

I worked in Distribution, which is literally the hardest work you could do at the company. Unloading trucks in 100+ degree weather, with someone higher up than you, watching you, always telling you to work harder and faster. Extremely disrespectful.  Got almost no representation with my complaints, and I don't even think my complaints were reviewed.  I will never come back to this place ever. Just not worth killing yourself, working, to make someone else rich.  Management and office people seem to look down upon those who actually do the hard work, and are extremely ungrateful.  
A specific incident, is when I first started there, I was listening to my ipod in the breakroom, and the Production supervisor makes a big stink about not having electronics at work, which was totally understandable.  Later that day, I see him on his phone, which since he's a supervisor, he's allowed to have, but here's the kick, he was on Facebook. Not anywhere related to work, yet he gets away with it.

The only good thing that I got out of this job, was making friends with the people I directly worked with on a daily basis. I hope they find better jobs as well as myself. I also got forklift certified, but it conveniently only applies towards their company.


The people in charge of this company obviously have never heard the term:  Never tell somebody to do something you aren't willing to do yourself.

Most days would be spent answering calls and e-mails sent by customers needing help.  When there were neither calls nor e-mails, we could enjoy a few minutes playing any game the company made.

The best part of the job was the challenge that comes with solving a person's problem.  A lot of the information was easily found on our website, so it was mostly a matter of sorting through it all.

The workplace was enjoyable.  Being between the programmers and "the suits" of the company was enjoyable to get a taste of both serious sides of video games.  When a game was being developed, we occasionally got to do a little Quality Assurance of the game, which is not as easy or as "fun" as it sounds to the average listener.  It was not about "playing" the game as much as it was about trying to "break" the game.

There are only two really negative parts to the job.  When you're on a team were everyone has the same high expectations of their work, you get so much done that there are no e-mails left and you have to agree to wait your turn for a call.  If even one person decides to be a slacker, it can slow everything down to a crawl.  Also, the internship never grew in a paying job.  When I would interview for a position, I would, instead, be offered another chance at the internship.

Work usually runs from 9 AM to 5 AM during winter and early spring. From late spring the hours run anywhere from 7 AM to 12 AM. 

Days are usually long and stressful. The beginning of the day consists of me reviewing over my emails from developers, productions, management and outsource QA. From there I sort out what has been completed the day prior and hand out any test case that still needs to be done to my QA testers as well as go over any major issues that still needs further investigation. At the end of the day, I go over all issues that were submitted to developers and email any major issues as a priority to management and production. 

I've learned to manage my work as well as my testers and be able to prioritize the importance of what issues need to be addressed first as opposed to less sever issues.

Management was great to work with. Being formed QA testers themselves, they knew what everyone was going through so they were never too hard on the employees.

Testers and fellow QA Leads were all a pleasure to work with. Everyone was always helpful and willing to give advice on work.

The hardest part of the job is the stress of having a deadline. 

What I miss the most is the camaraderie I built with my fellow employees.

Working at Activision Blizzard's Austin campus was a great experience, the atmosphere was like being with a family.

Blizzard's always been overwhelmingly accepting to all woks of life.

With how fun, friendly and accepting the fellow employees are, it almost makes up for the work load and the slightly lower pay compared to other like jobs.

Working for a video game company; as Customer Service, you do interact with an interesting customer base. Being gamers, we're far more passionate about our games and interactions. Customer interactions tend to lean harder to both ends of the spectrum. You'll face as many un-fun contacts as the run of the mill every day contacts; great and impressionable contacts can be far and few between. Burn-out can be a real issue. Stress in the workplace is an on-going problem.

When choosing the Austin campus, if you're wanting to work your way up the chain to non-Customer Service jobs. Making the step to Irvine is a great challenge and in some cases is impossible. Being so secluded from Head Quarters, networking can be a major challenge. Don't see Customer Service as 'getting your foot in the door'.

I took a job here as a tester to get my foot in the door after moving to California and previously working as an assistant producer at another game studio.  Once hired you are only looked up as your position and previous work experience means nothing. The quality assurance testers are the lowest of the low and were referred to as the monsters in the basement. Overtime would be required without notice and the pay was so poor, nobody minded working the overtime. Moving up or getting hired on full time felt like complete luck and the vast majority of quality assurance testers were kept as temp employees for years non stop. My goal after working here was to move up in the industry till I was an executive, because I wanted to change the industry for the better and treat all my employees fairly and with respect. I would still approve of the CEO because he does make smart business decisions, I just think he doesn't know or care about how his lower employees are treated.

Blizzard is a company I could see myself working for my whole life, but only if I was able to find a better type of job within the company as well as better pay.  This is a video game company and the atmosphere matches what you'd expect.  It's very laid back and people can be themselves. In fact, it's encouraged.  The only two things that drove me away are the pay and the type of work I was doing.  I was a customer service representative.  Most of the time, you only get to talk to customers that are upset about something, so you need to be someone with a very strong willingness to help, but also very thick skin.  The pay was also fairly typical for customer service.  You'd only be able to earn a decent salary if you managed to work your way up the ladder to a senior or management role, but you'd have to compete with a lot of other people to do so. There are other departments available, but many of them require the best of the best.  You can get there, but it'll be a lot of work.

I'd love to go back eventually.  I got my 5 year sword, but I really wanted that 10 year shield!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Quality assurance tester 6 salaries reported	$19.88 per hour
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