In the Life of an Altamate - QA Test Lead (Jin) │ Altagram Game Localization

Here at Altagram we strongly believe, that a business is only as good as its employees. That's why with this series of posts, we wanted to turn attention to the people that drive our company, our Altamates. This week we're continuing with Jin, who will talk to us about his life as a QA Test Lead at Altagram.

Jin has been working as a QA freelancer for us on smaller projects since April 2021. Now, after working on his latest big project, he finally joined our team for good! The former Mining Engineer Graduate has been living in Canada for 15 years now, and knows what's important when it comes to locaclizing. Life as a QA Test Lead is not always an easy one; Meticulously and relentlessly checking every part of a game for localization errors, there is a lot of pressure on the backs of QA Testers and especially their Team Leaders. Their work directly contributes to the success, or failure of a launch. Just like our QA Test Lead Ingrid, Jin is excited to tell us about himself and his role at Altagram.

Being a QA Test Lead

What is the best part of your job?

"Working with all types of different games before consumer release; Before, I was always the end customer enjoying the final product. Now, I am part of the production to help increase the quality of games, that consumers will be enjoying."

What is your personal work style?

"I do not really have a work style as I will do what needs to be done, with whatever tools and choices I have. I optimize my work with the best of my abilities and the resources I have. But if I was able to choose, working from home is nice as I get to be with my cat and significant other, and make food at home. "

How have you personally improved working through Altagram?

"Since I have a job and a purpose in life, and not worry about finances as much, it relieves a lot of stress from my shoulders."

How do you feel about the company's culture?

"The people in the Montreal office have been very accommodating and friendly since the beginning. My experience with the Berlin side of the team was just the same, which was amazing. Everyone was super welcoming!"

What motivates you to work at Altagram?

"The biggest motivation for me is to work on famous video games and contribute my quality work to the project. But also to be a larger part of the company, and to be a positive influence and create good things for the company and myself."

What drives Jin

Whats your favorite game?

"My all-time favorite game must be Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction and StarCraft: Brood War. I grew up with it ever since I was a kid, playing with my father and brother. But as I grew older, I enjoyed Fallout series (especially New Vegas), the Dark Souls series, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Civilization V, Slime Rancher, Need for Speed, and so many others. I love video games from all eras and plan to continue that till the end of time."

If you could be any video game character, who would it be?

"Probably a Paladin in Diablo 2, fully geared. It is not fun being weak :). I’ve loved the idea of using holy magics and honed combat skills."

Has any game ever left an influence on you after you stopped playing?

"When I first got into Dark Souls seriously, it was during when I was depressed and stressed due to university and personal issues. Playing Dark Souls 3 and beating bosses with only my sheer determination and tenacity gave me the proper brain chemicals to get out of my pit of despair. The act of accomplishment really came out during my first Dark Souls 3 run. I ended up with 100% of achievements, played through the hardest New Game (NG) difficulty many times, helping other Ashen Ones (Player's character) with bosses with jolly cooperation and enjoying a nice victory moment with each person. I now have about 1100+ hours in Dark Souls 3, and plan to have more when I can get a new computer to play it at high quality settings, as I was playing at about 30-40 FPS with lowest quality graphics. This is only Dark Souls however, and other games have affected me quite positively as well."

Dark Souls 3

Source: https://www.eurogamer.de/articles/2016-04-06-dark-souls-3-komplettloesung-alle-gebiete-und-bosse

Your favorite quote from a video game?

"In StarCraft: Brood War, the Protoss Corsair when created says “It is a good day to die.” I always found this quote to be awesome and fitting at times (Not literally)."

Protoss, Starcraft

If you're interested in being an Altamate, or working with Jin on the Team, don't hesitate to visit our career page to find current open positions, or to contact us as a freelancer. See you on the team!

References

Dark Souls 3 Retrieved from https://www.eurogamer.de/articles/2016-04-06-dark-souls-3-komplettloesung-alle-gebiete-und-bosse.

Protoss, Starcraft Retrieved from https://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/8kyoow/starcraft_protoss_fan_art/.

In the Life of an Altamate – QA Test Lead (Jin)