The hardest job you’ll ever get in the industry is the first one. However, the second hardest might be when you’re trying to transition from one discipline to another in the AAA space.
This is because the AAA space defines itself by expertise. It’s natural to have your career evolve along a specific ladder, climbing up from Associate to Mid-Level then to Senior before making the commitment to either the pinnacle of your craftsmen track (Principal) or into the Leadership route.
To change roles & the trajectory of your career takes planning, a supportive studio, extra time/work on your end, and a bit of luck. I’ll speak to two types of transition, from QA into Development & Interdepartmental.
Transitioning from Quality Assurance (QA)
The most common type of transition is from Quality Assurance (QA) into Development. This has traditionally been a way to ‘break’ into the industry and generally only occurs with ’embedded’ QA, meaning it needs to be a large enough studio to have their own internal QA pool. ‘External’ QA testers are usually contracted through a publisher, creating a much larger barrier between the development team & QA testers. The wider that gap, the harder it is to make the kinds of connections needed to transition over to development.
The best approach that I’ve seen is when a QA team is large enough to have ’embedded’ testers. Where specific departments have a dedicated QA staff member directly added to their team or nominated as a liaison for the QA department to better track/communicate changes.
In addition to having face-time with that team, what this role often involves into is a pseudo intern position, where the embedded QA tester is handed a variety of development work while doing their QA duties. The goal is that by the end of the project that embedded QA tester has now gained some valuable skills & built strong relationships with that team. The natural transition is an entry role of that given field.
Interdepartmental Transitions
The other type of transition is Interdepartmental, ideally this transition is into an adjacent career path.
I.E. Level Design into Narrative Design, or Gameplay Engineering into Graphics Engineering.
The idea being that there’s already some cross over with the work that you do, you’re simply taking the plunge into doing that other thing full time.
To start down this path, I recommend a few things.
- Volunteer for work – Keep on the lookout for assignments/tasks/bugs that you can do in that space. Maybe it’s a small thing, maybe it’s busy work, whatever it is will help you better understand that role & integrate you into the workflow.
- Continually Document or visibly discuss your contributions – Doing this work invisibly will not reward you with a career change. You need to let folks know, specifically your lead as well as the lead/team you’re contributing to know what you’re doing.
- Be honest with your Lead – Especially if you have a good working relationship with your Lead, let them know that you have aspirations for other roles. They should help facilitate you getting to where you want to be. The goal is to retain good developers even if they are changing roles then to lose them entirely.
- Get to know the team – Spend time with the team you want to join! Don’t be afraid to ask questions if you’re helping out on something, ask to join meetings, and find ways to engage socially. The team will be a vocal supporter of your transition once they know who you are and the value you bring to the table.
- Leverage your previous experience – Whatever your previous field was is an asset. You’ll come to the table with a specific viewpoint that others in your current field may lack. This can be a huge asset for spotting issues early or ensuring all the bases are covered.
If you are transitioning into an entirely different department, it’s going to be less of an organic process. You’ll most likely have to wait for a natural opening to occur on that given team, however you will have a few advantages. #1 You’ll probably know earlier than the public & #2 you’re already an employee, and fit the company culture.
I’d advise:
- Getting to know the team & expressing an interest.
- Getting some kind of portfolio review/feedback from someone on that team.
I’d expect that you’d need to go through the full interview process for that role as your skillset would not be a given/proven based on your current job, but the goal is to have that be a relaxed process if you’ve already gotten to know that team before hand.
Changing roles isn’t for the faint of heart, but it’s also not that uncommon. Rarely do we find ourselves in the dream role/career we started out on, however with some planning, patience & a bit of luck you might find yourself finally doing the thing you always dreamed you would.