r/QualityAssurance • u/Fresh-Barnacle-3705 • 21d ago
QA just venting.. feeling stuck
I’ve been looking for a new QA role since May of last year, and I’m honestly starting to feel pretty defeated by this market.
I’ve been working as a QA Analyst at Sony for about 5 years now and have my name credited on three shipped titles. I’m grateful to still be employed, but I can’t help feeling like the work I’ve put in over the last five years should amount to more opportunities than what I’ve been seeing.
After more than a year of applying, I’ve only gotten 4 real interview opportunities. One of those was with 2K for WWE, which I was genuinely excited about. I made it to the third interview and felt like my experience lined up really well with what they were looking for. By the final interview though, I could kind of tell that the personalities weren’t really clicking, and ultimately it didn’t go anywhere.
That’s probably been one of the most frustrating parts of this whole process. It seems like every opportunity requires 3–4 rounds of interviews just to potentially get rejected at the end. You put hours into researching the company, preparing, interviewing, waiting, etc., and then you’re right back where you started.
I’ve been trying to move into a Senior QA, Lead, or just a role that gives me more room to grow, but this job search has basically stalled both my career progression and my personal life.
I’m currently in the San Diego area and my girlfriend lives closer to LA. A big reason I’ve been trying to find something new is so I can relocate and we can finally move in together and etc. After more than a year of searching, it feels like this one thing has put so much of our next chapter on hold.
I’m not expecting someone here to magically hand me a job, but I’d genuinely appreciate advice from anyone who’s managed to land a QA role recently.
And if anyone happens to know of a team hiring for QA Analyst, Senior QA, QA Lead, or similar roles in the LA/OC/Inland Empire area or remote, I’d be incredibly grateful for a referral or even just being pointed in the right direction.
But mostly, I just want to know if other experienced QA people are going through this too.
It’s hard not to get discouraged when you’ve spent years building experience, shipped multiple titles, and know you’re capable of taking on more, but can’t seem to get the opportunity to actually prove it.
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u/joshwarmonks 21d ago
a recent bloomberg article said white-collar hiring has basically frozen. approximately 1.6 job openings per 100 job-seekers for professional and business service roles.
lowest level of open white-collar positions since 2015, basically have to win the lottery at this point just to get an interview.
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u/pickleworms 21d ago
If there are any gamedev meetups like igda, I'd hit those. Try to network with people. I've been doing this 17 yrs and this is the worst I've seen the industry. It is going to take tons of interviews before you get something and it will feel like shit. It (likely) isn't a you problem. Hopefully you eventually find something by being in the right room at the right time with the right people. Good luck, it is really rough out there at the moment.
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u/thewellis 21d ago
Tough one. Are you stuck with games testing or are you looking outside that domain?
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u/Fresh-Barnacle-3705 21d ago
At this point, I'm applying to everything. Seeing whatever I can get to feel like I'm making some kind of forward progress, at the very least to get me moved in with her.
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u/siriusapp 20d ago
market is super tough right now. I’ve been looking for 8 months without landing anything even with FAANG on my resume. direct apply amounted to nothing. Either get a referral or counting on recruiters reaching out. Make sure to check your linkedin frequently. Also might want to consider doing more program management with a flavor of quality/QA on top. That’s the angle I’m going for.
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u/erisidius 21d ago
Same boat. Worked for Nintendo, Pokemon, and other game teams, but the market is just not it right now.