Being an Ordinary QA: Self‑Recognition, Professional Skills, and Mindset in Game Testing

Many people know the saying that life has three stages: realizing that parents are ordinary, you are ordinary, and your children are ordinary. The author uses this to emphasize that becoming a competent, ordinary QA—whether a newcomer or a veteran—is essential for anyone working on the front lines of game testing.

01. Preface – The author reflects on the gap between idealism and reality in the current job market, noting challenges such as the "internet winter," difficulty finding jobs, and the need to become a solid QA professional.

02. Self‑Recognition of an Ordinary QA

1. Rowing against the current – QA must continuously improve, avoid stagnation, and quickly learn testing tools, environments, and project rhythms.

2. Not a tool – QA should not be a mere execution machine; they must participate in development, understand requirements early (testing left shift), and engage in post‑release monitoring (testing right shift).

3. Speak up – Effective communication and the courage to voice concerns improve team trust and personal influence.

03. Professional Skills of an Ordinary QA

1. Testing quality and risk control – Emphasizes thorough requirement analysis, realistic test scheduling, early risk assessment, and systematic test execution across development, rollout, and regression phases.

2. Knowledge sharing – Encourages documenting test cases, reports, processes, tools, and incident analyses, and preserving them for future team members.

3. Game experience – Understanding the game’s systems and mechanics enhances testing efficiency and cross‑functional collaboration.

04. Mindset Adjustment

1. Handling workload pressure – Suggests breaking tasks into small goals, prioritizing, and using relaxation techniques to maintain mental health.

2. Dealing with incidents – Advocates objective acceptance, rapid response, post‑mortem analysis, and learning to prevent recurrence.

3. Team atmosphere – Highlights the importance of adapting to changes, maintaining positive relationships, and viewing the team as a unified whole.

05. Final Thoughts – The author concludes that ordinary QA work, though often unglamorous, is valuable; self‑appreciation and recognizing the “greatness in ordinariness” are key to long‑term growth.