Stepping Up

Work as hard, as skillfully, and as efficiently as you can, make as many friends as possible, assist your lead in any way you can think of, and eventually, if things go your way, they just might move you one rung higher.

While sometimes, people do get brought straight up from tester to lead tester, it's more likely that your first promotion will be to lead tester's assistant. Different offices have different titles for that position; some call it "assistant lead," some say "senior tester," and sometimes the senior tester is above the leads. But, whatever they decide to call you, you'll be your lead tester's right hand.

Let's talk about what that does and doesn't mean.

It means you'll have to know your lead's job about as well as he or she does. If your lead's away from his or her desk, whether at a meeting, busy with another project, or home sick, you'll need to be able to keep things going in his or her place. Get your lead's cell phone, home email, and other contact information right off the bat, and make sure they have yours. More importantly, make it a point to learn everything your lead does for the project, so that you can handle it if called upon to do so.

It means most of your work, day to day, will be handling your lead's overflow. Leads have to juggle reams of paperwork, maintain their team's equipment, monitor their testers' assignments, draft plans for future testing, and so on. Anything the lead doesn't have time for will most likely be assigned to you. Some of it may be assigned on a case-by-case basis, and some of it may become your responsibility daily. That's why it's good to be ready for anything.

It means you'll have to be the most reliable person on the lead's team. Be the first one there in the morning, and stay, if at all possible, until your lead turns you loose at night. Complete tasks promptly, effectively, and with a smile. A reliable assistant is a reputable assistant, one likely to move up further when openings appear. An unreliable assistant, not so much.

It also means you'll need to know your title backwards and forwards. Leads don't always have enough time in the day to learn the exact layout of each map, the new features of each build, or the names of every NPC. Since chances are you'll have a bit more free time than they do, use it to expand your knowledge of the game, so that you can answer any testers' questions (or the lead's questions) about it.

It doesn't mean you'll be running things your way, at least not right off the bat. You might be acting lead while the lead is unavailable, but don't take that to mean you're in charge. Stick to what the lead would do, and if the need comes up for an important judgment call, notify the lead as soon as possible and defer it to them when they get back. Make sure you keep the lead in the loop on everything; tester assignments, questions from higher-ups or other departments, equipment needs, and so on.

Eventually, if you build up a strong enough rapport with the lead, he or she might come to trust you enough to let you make bigger decisions. If so, respect that trust, continue to keep him or her in the loop, and if you have any recommendations on how the team might do things better, go ahead and suggest them.

If you end up in a dispute with your lead over how to run things, make your case, but then respect his or her verdict; remember, your main job is to handle your lead's overflow, not to make policy decisions. If you feel strongly enough about a subject that you want to appeal the lead's verdict, there's only one proper way to do it: Request to the lead that the both of you take it to the lead's supervisor and get a ruling. It's a reasonable request; the lead isn't obligated to agree to that, but they should.

Do not go to the supervisor over the lead's head. That's a surefire way to earn a reputation as a backstabber, and can severely damage working relationships and morale. Whatever point you might have to make isn't likely to be worth that.

Conversely, if you're friends with another lead — this is another reason to make friends everywhere — it's generally kosher to talk them about issues with your lead, and ask them for help. Just don't overdo that; as much as possible, keep any disagreements you might have one-on-one between yourself and your lead. That means leaving the testers out of it too, whenever you can; it's usually bad for morale if they see their supervisors in conflict.

Most leads and higher-ups you'll work with are reasonable people — and remember that reasonable people can disagree. Only once in my career have I worked with a completely unreasonable higher-up, and if you come across one of those, my best advice is to do your best job, make sure people can see it, and that'll give you some clout when push comes to shove.

See what I meant earlier, about how office politics get cloudier the higher up you go? Thankfully, most of your job as an assistant won't be about that. Just work to keep your lead happy, do what's asked of you, and you'll enjoy a few new perks, such as:

- Higher pay, usually.
- Related to that, more of a chance for overtime hours. Also usually.
- Your first taste of power in your office. Depending on the office, the rank-and-file testers may or may not technically count as your subordinates now. It can be awkward suddenly having authority over your friends and co-workers. Use whatever power you have carefully and wisely, and always treat subordinates with basic courtesy and the respect they've earned.

(A note here on the difference between courtesy and respect: Courtesy is free. Everyone should always be treated kindly and fairly; that's courtesy. Respect is what you earn for yourself; it's a combination of appreciation for what you do and admiration for the way you do it. And the way to get people to follow you willingly is to earn respect, and to show respect in return for the good things they do.)

One more perk as an assistant: You'll likely gain access to people you wouldn't have met as a tester. People like producers, marketing executives, customer service reps, and so on. Take the chance to make more friends and contacts, and learn all you can about what they do. Don't bombard them with questions, but show interest in their work, and most will be happy to show it off for you. Some of them may ask you for help; ask your lead before you take the time to help them, sure, but if you're not busy, chances are the lead will say yes. And that's great for you; as I'll go over in detail later, favors are part of the foundation for great career moves.

That's all the time I've got for today. Next time, we'll talk about being a lead.