I have been on both sides of this fence. My days as a professional tester were extremely tedious at times. Playing games I just couldn't find interesting at all was horrible. The only thing I can think of being worse is answering technical queries all day from complete morons...that's what I do now.
The grass was indeed greener in my testing days. While testing a game generally ruined it for me to the point of never wanting to see it again, the job was indeed way more fulfilling. Sure, I made quite a bit less than I do now, but I was happy. That 20K less a year was meaningless in retrospect. What good is that money to me when I haven't the energy, both physically and mentally, to spend it?
For any tester out there making money doing it, just remember you have it much better than you might think. You may not make enough to drive the cars the developers are driving. You may not make enough to buy the houses the accountants are living in. But you ARE living a great life doing what the rest of us only dream of while we sit in our cubicle and remind a secretary how soaking a mouse in a bucket of disinfectant can be bad (true story).
I would give up every penny I have made to be back at the bet job I ever had. Time to crack open an old game manual and see what my name was worth before I sold it to the highest bidder.
Slashdot Mirror
I have been on both sides of this fence. My days as a professional tester were extremely tedious at times. Playing games I just couldn't find interesting at all was horrible. The only thing I can think of being worse is answering technical queries all day from complete morons...that's what I do now. The grass was indeed greener in my testing days. While testing a game generally ruined it for me to the point of never wanting to see it again, the job was indeed way more fulfilling. Sure, I made quite a bit less than I do now, but I was happy. That 20K less a year was meaningless in retrospect. What good is that money to me when I haven't the energy, both physically and mentally, to spend it? For any tester out there making money doing it, just remember you have it much better than you might think. You may not make enough to drive the cars the developers are driving. You may not make enough to buy the houses the accountants are living in. But you ARE living a great life doing what the rest of us only dream of while we sit in our cubicle and remind a secretary how soaking a mouse in a bucket of disinfectant can be bad (true story). I would give up every penny I have made to be back at the bet job I ever had. Time to crack open an old game manual and see what my name was worth before I sold it to the highest bidder.