Some more news from the folks at Bethesda software. One of the lucky guys doing quality assurance testing has answered some questions which were posted at the Bethesda blog. Nothing new is revealed about Fallout 3, but it is nice to hear from someone who plays games for a living. 

What’s your job at Bethesda?
I am a Quality Assurance tester here at Bethesda. I have the dream job of sitting around playing games all day.

What other games have you worked on?
I started out working on Oblivion for the Playstation 3, and I also got to work some with Shivering Isles. Since then I’ve mostly been working on Fallout 3, with the exception of a couple weeks that I helped out on AMF Bowling: Pinbusters for the Wii.

What is the best part about working as a tester? The worst part?
The worst part of being a tester is how repetitive it can get. Most people rarely spend more than 100 hours or so on a game, but as a tester we have to spend literally thousands of hours on the same game before it’s released. That quest that was really fun the first time through seems a lot less interesting when you’re playing it again for the 20th time.

The best part is everything else. I love getting to see the changes a game goes through over the course of the development. It’s also very entertaining seeing some of the crazy bugs that pop up along the way.

How did you get into the industry? Do you have any tips for breaking in?
I used to spend a lot of time checking and re-checking all of the local game studios for job openings. After a few years of not seeing much in the way of game jobs, I happened to notice listings for QA interns with a couple of the local companies. I immediately put together both a resume and a cover letter and sent them out for several different jobs. I was lucky enough to get asked in for an interview. I think my experience with beta testing and my programming background helped me get the position.

I got pretty lucky, so the only tip I can offer for breaking in to the industry is to not give up and keep searching and applying for any jobs. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t get in right away, be persistent.