Natalie Nguyen, QA Tester and Temporary Content Designer
Marvel Heroes Forums: SpiderNat
Twitter: @Spider_Nat
Before a friend telling her about an opening here at Gazillion, Natalie was a Twitch streamer for two years. She has always had a passion for gaming, and when the opportunity surfaced, she went for it. If you didn’t get a chance to read Will’s interview, we’ll fill you in. Natalie actually didn’t get hired on her first shot, however, she interviewed very well. “I interviewed Natalie and another guy with QA experience – we hired him. She made a big impression, and when he left, I called her. I brought her in, no need to interview her again. She is now our longest tenured tester in QA.” Her frequent participation in open and closed betas gave her the upper hand, and she’s now working a temporary content design position.
Everyone has a different view of the culture here at Gazillion, and how it helps them do the best they can. “Generally QA is really supportive. To best understand the game, you have to ask questions and be comfortable doing so, or you end up with the wrong point-of-view of how something should be designed. That creates great team dynamic – we’re not out there to shove anyone under the bus for not catching a bug. It doesn’t make sense to work solo – we want confirmation of catching bugs and working together to fix the game.”
If you want to get into QA, Natalie really stresses that you should have a big place in your heart for video games, and a big voice. Communication and teamwork is key in this industry. “[The game] started in somebody’s brain, and had to be iterated for a long time, pushed into code, into a visual product for us to see, and then into consumer’s hands, which is what we see. It’s a long process and if you don’t enjoy every moment of that, it’ll all just seem pointless, painful and difficult. The best thing to have besides [the passion] is impeccable communication skills. If you don’t ask questions or describe what you’re seeing well, it will disrupt the process. You won’t be an asset to your team, or to the people who will be playing [the game.]”
