The memoirs of a (ex) Tester - Bullfrogs on Parade (part 3)

The mood of the place which was already a little bleak got worse after that Star Wars trip. The project was slipping and there was concern that there weren’t enough bugs being found. This put a lot pressure both on Darren and the testers. Another round of layoffs, this time of all the testers that worked on Dungeon Keeper 2 didn’t help morale. One by one the testers working on our game left, The three month contractors like Jake didn’t get their contacts renewed while the temps left for various reasons. To keep the numbers up, they were replaced by the permanent members of staff who had previously been working on Dungeon Keeper 2. I of course was a temp and like most temps I had zero job security but I was performing well and was hopeful of getting a contract of some kind. This seemed to be slow in forthcoming however and with hindsight it is clear that they were using this as a carrot to get me to do the job and not complain. Whether they had any intention of keeping me on after Football Manager was finished is debatable but given the fact that they tired this tactic on most of the testers it seems very unlikely..   

As the project was winding down I could see that there was a chance of being let go and as a pragmatic type I went to the hiring manager and explained to him that it would be foolish to let me go as I was the top performer testing wise for the game (true) and my perfect attendance/punctuality record (also true). This I thought was a reasonable argument to make but in doing I learnt a valuable lesson. People in the gaming industry can be petty. By questioning his authority I had marked myself as a target. This was made clear the following week when I was late one day. Now people came in late all the time with no comment but on this occasion I was sent into an office for a chewing out by both the hiring manager and the general manager. It was clear that my cards were marked. 

Another lesson I leant at the time was that the industry as a whole was very nepotistic. I will talk about nepotism in more detail later but I got my first taste of it here when we got a new manager in (The old one had left to join Peter Molyneux at Lionhead). This guy almost immediately hired a bunch of friends who came in and took all of the best computers and desks. The hiring manager (sorry I forget his name) also somehow managed to find employment for his girlfriend at a time when they were letting people go left right and centre I find this behaviour despicable and I wonder how gaming is supposed to attract the best talent when this kinda of thing is going on. 

By late August I was the only temp left at the place. Football Manager was pretty much finished and I was wondering which project I would be moving onto. Bullfrog was also moving to new offices in in a merge with the rest of Electronic Arts. Although the workplace has lost a lot of its shine over the previous couple of months I was still liking it and was keen to continue. There was also talk of getting some training which got me excited. But this wasn’t to be as I would soon find out.

I had asked for a day off and had it approved. However the day before Darren disavowed any knowledge of having grant the holiday when I reminded him. This meant I had to work that night and get a train to my destination at four in the morning. Why I put up with that I don’t know. I certainly wouldn’t do so now.

The inevitable happen one day when I made a mistake in my testing early one morning.  It took a few hours but I was summoned to the hiring manager’s office. It turns out that the mistake I made was just the excuse he needed to inform me that Friday would be my last day. I was disappointed but I can’t say I didn’t see it coming. The hiring manager showed what he thought of me by escorting me out of the building at the end of the shift. I wouldn’t have minded but I had been invited to play a Rainbow Six multiplayer matchup. 

As an aside, I did get to see a copy of FA Premier League Football Manager 2000 in the shops a few months later. The open up the box and my joy at seeing my name in the credits was diminished at seeing that the permanent guys, who only worked on it for a couple of weeks, received higher billing that the temp guys who had spent months on it.   

So that was that. After seven months I was jobless. It was clear that I wanted games testing to be my career and my time at Bullfrog had taught me so much and had provided me with a platform to do so. It is a shame it ended on a sour note but I look upon it as if they had done me a favour. The move to would have meant a long commute and one I couldn’t really afford. I also doubt I would have been able to deal with the large amounts of internal politics which was present throughout the testing department. So in the end you could say I left at the right time. 

But it was with a heavy heart I left the Bullfrog offices for the last time in august 1999. I had no idea where I was going to end up but I knew what I wanted to do with my life. The previous seven months had been a unique experience and I wanted to continue it somehow. I knew that somewhere out there was a company willing to hire me I just had to find it.

The mood of the place which was already a little bleak got worse after that Star Wars trip. The project was slipping and there was concern that there weren’t enough bugs being found. This put a lot pressure both on Darren and the testers. Another round of layoffs, this time of all the testers that worked on Dungeon Keeper 2 didn’t help morale. One by one the testers working on our game left, The three month contractors like Jake didn’t get their contacts renewed while the temps left for various reasons. To keep the numbers up, they were replaced by the permanent members of staff who had previously been working on Dungeon Keeper 2. I of course was a temp and like most temps I had zero job security but I was performing well and was hopeful of getting a contract of some kind. This seemed to be slow in forthcoming however and with hindsight it is clear that they were using this as a carrot to get me to do the job and not complain. Whether they had any intention of keeping me on after Football Manager was finished is debatable but given the fact that they tired this tactic on most of the testers it seems very unlikely..   

As the project was winding down I could see that there was a chance of being let go and as a pragmatic type I went to the hiring manager and explained to him that it would be foolish to let me go as I was the top performer testing wise for the game (true) and my perfect attendance/punctuality record (also true). This I thought was a reasonable argument to make but in doing I learnt a valuable lesson. People in the gaming industry can be petty. By questioning his authority I had marked myself as a target. This was made clear the following week when I was late one day. Now people came in late all the time with no comment but on this occasion I was sent into an office for a chewing out by both the hiring manager and the general manager. It was clear that my cards were marked. 

Another lesson I leant at the time was that the industry as a whole was very nepotistic. I will talk about nepotism in more detail later but I got my first taste of it here when we got a new manager in (The old one had left to join Peter Molyneux at Lionhead). This guy almost immediately hired a bunch of friends who came in and took all of the best computers and desks. The hiring manager (sorry I forget his name) also somehow managed to find employment for his girlfriend at a time when they were letting people go left right and centre I find this behaviour despicable and I wonder how gaming is supposed to attract the best talent when this kinda of thing is going on. 

By late August I was the only temp left at the place. Football Manager was pretty much finished and I was wondering which project I would be moving onto. Bullfrog was also moving to new offices in in a merge with the rest of Electronic Arts. Although the workplace has lost a lot of its shine over the previous couple of months I was still liking it and was keen to continue. There was also talk of getting some training which got me excited. But this wasn’t to be as I would soon find out.

I had asked for a day off and had it approved. However the day before Darren disavowed any knowledge of having grant the holiday when I reminded him. This meant I had to work that night and get a train to my destination at four in the morning. Why I put up with that I don’t know. I certainly wouldn’t do so now.

The inevitable happen one day when I made a mistake in my testing early one morning.  It took a few hours but I was summoned to the hiring manager’s office. It turns out that the mistake I made was just the excuse he needed to inform me that Friday would be my last day. I was disappointed but I can’t say I didn’t see it coming. The hiring manager showed what he thought of me by escorting me out of the building at the end of the shift. I wouldn’t have minded but I had been invited to play a Rainbow Six multiplayer matchup. 

As an aside, I did get to see a copy of FA Premier League Football Manager 2000 in the shops a few months later. The open up the box and my joy at seeing my name in the credits was diminished at seeing that the permanent guys, who only worked on it for a couple of weeks, received higher billing that the temp guys who had spent months on it.   

So that was that. After seven months I was jobless. It was clear that I wanted games testing to be my career and my time at Bullfrog had taught me so much and had provided me with a platform to do so. It is a shame it ended on a sour note but I look upon it as if they had done me a favour. The move to would have meant a long commute and one I couldn’t really afford. I also doubt I would have been able to deal with the large amounts of internal politics which was present throughout the testing department. So in the end you could say I left at the right time. 

But it was with a heavy heart I left the Bullfrog offices for the last time in august 1999. I had no idea where I was going to end up but I knew what I wanted to do with my life. The previous seven months had been a unique experience and I wanted to continue it somehow. I knew that somewhere out there was a company willing to hire me I just had to find it.

Cool story.
 
I can see how there would be a prevalence of passive aggresiveness in the gaming industry. I assume most who work there have an aversion to open conflict.

They sound like a piss-poor company (or at least en years ago) to work for. I wouldn't mind hearing some of the more job specific things you had to do. What does testing entail? How did you make a mistake? Its interesting stuff; I'd have thought tester's were the ones pouring on the criticism (don't developers/publishers want insight) instead of being callously watched over.

Yep! Nice inside story... 
 
And how are you faring now? Doing what you like?