Dan Jacobs

Dan Jacobs is an industry QA veteran with years of experience. A career, starting in the late 90s from one small phone call, has resulted in pre-release testing for the Xbox, QA Management at SEGA and much more. Dan answered questions posed by Confetti and by the students for over an hour and a half, ranging from how he got into the industry to what crunch time is like for testers.

Dan provided us all with a great insight into the industry with plenty of useful advice. I'll start by pointing out that he made sure to let us know that we should buy his book! He awed me in the respect that he was speaking almost entirely from his own experience and he didn't beat around the bush, everything he said was from his experience true and he seems to be a genuinely professional person.

His tips included getting on LinkedIn, getting a website up with your portfolio and taking the time to get on beta tests so we can get some QA experience ready. He encourages that we make CVs and our interviews more interesting - one interviewee came in, in a Stormtrooper outfit. Stand out!

His advice is all covered in his book, and whilst I will say that his time in Confetti was most assuredly intriguing, with advice I won't forget any day soon, I (just as he) urge you to get his book, join his groups on social media websites, and just get out there into beta testing to get vital pre-industry experience.

By Lewis Bradley, Level Gaming student