Interviews and Advice

1. Preparing for the Interview

Preparing for the interview is all about PREPARING. Some key things to do ahead of an interview include:

• Research on the company:

• Get to know their core products, use any and all software, applications or games you can ahead of time.

• Spend time on their website, research their company mission and values.

• Draft a list of questions you want to ask.

• Research the role and think about the kinds of questions they may ask you about your experience that shows you are ready for the role and prepare answers in advance.

• Identify scenarios where you used the required job skills in action in a previous role.

We'll return to James Turnage-Lannan, Content Producer on the Unity Education team, to learn how he prepared for his very first QA Testing role:

"About 2-3 years after High School and a handful of retail jobs I coasted between, I found a job posting for a QA Games Tester position. The job posting listed requirements like:

• Must love playing video games

• Must have an attention to detail

• Must have good writing and communication skills

• Must work well with others

I filled out the application and about two weeks later I received a call back with an interest to interview me. I was excited yet terrified. This was a huge step in the direction towards my dream job in the video game industry but I had absolutely no training or idea on what it really meant to be a QA Tester. Leading up to the interview, I did my research and found articles and videos that helped paint a picture of what the job would be like, and that only made me even more terrified. A majority of the research led me to believe that being a QA Tester was a nightmare. The research told me that I’d be working long hours, forced to play the same level of a game every single day for months on end, and I would eventually be laid off after the game went gold (ready for release) and not be asked to return. Despite learning all of that, I knew I still wanted the job.The day of the interview came around and I made the effort to look presentable and arrived 30 minutes early. I was nervous as ever and was already fearing the worst due to my lack of experience or training. I had to quickly push the nerves out of my system as interview time quickly approached. I met with the interviewer and we walked into a small enclosed room for the interview. Questions I was asked:

• Introduction (he lead with his role, who the company was/what they did)

• Could you talk to me about your job experience?

• What makes you interested in this role?

• Tell me about your gaming experience. How invested are you in them?

• Tell me about a time you've encountered a bug in a game

• Can you write down the steps you took to experience that bug? (on a piece of paper)

• Logistics (working hours, expectations, pay, etc.)

After what seemed like a lifetime of questions, the interview was over and I was thanked for my time and walked out of the building for what I thought would be the first and last time. About 3 days later I received a call back with a job offer as a contract QA Tester!"

2. Congratulations!

Congratulations again on completing this pathway. Good luck as you start your journey as a Software Tester and you show the world you key software tester skills!

Visual of software testers’ key skills created by Ministry of Testing member sjwatsonuk

Photo credit: Ministry of Testing

3. Final Community Share!

One final request! As you start your job search and placement journey please return here and help those who are starting this journey after you. Please use our commenting features or post in the Unity Learners Connect group and share your job search and interviewing experiences, offer advice from what you've learned, and help the next cohort of QA Tester job seekers as they get started!