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That sucks man...they are tough on returns :(

I think what everyone has to understand is that it's an entry level job(as well as majority are contract positions). You have to "put your time in" just like anywhere else in the job market. Forced "OT" is usually weekend work for maybe a month or two of the project, it sucks but it's normally a question they ask you before even hiring you. If you say "Yes, I am available for OT" then you can't really complain about it. I completely agree on your second paragraph...I literally never play any games now. I am glad you found better job though...it sucks seeing people who don't have a passion for the job stick around. Mostly because it makes them miserable which makes them bad workers which makes their leads try to help which never works. Follow your NDA...no reason to go head to head with EA lawyers over something so silly.

Not the best. If you are new and a contract it's going to be pretty close to minimum wage. Put some years into it and up the ranks it can turn into an ok paying job...smaller companies always pay more though.

I'm going to stop hijacking this guys thread but had to respond to this one. You asked two of the questions that every tester hates to answer, for that you get an upvote. It depends on what studio you work at, most of the time...yea, the offices are pretty nice(if it's a big company mind you). Where I work, the majority are 19-25 age range. No...it is nothing like "playing" video games all day. We actually correct testers when they say 'play'...we don't 'play', we 'test'.

Not really a question and I might be late but I am just so tired of everyone thinking video game testing is a horrible job. It's not. People bitch and complain about sitting on their asses doing pretty much the same shit they will be doing if they were at home. It's a entry level job, you get pretty close to minimum wage unless you're hired on full time. You not only get your foot into the door to work at any video game company in the world, but your not working at fucking Burger King. If you're a driven person and like to watch games evolve through the process of working on it, you'll love this job. 99% of people who bitch about being a tester are lazy and will probably get fired with-in the first couple years of doing it. "Sitting on one game mode for 12 hours a day"...just doesn't happen...edge cases yes..but for the most part your job is to break the game and test functionality. Like Waffskies said, you get really badass perks depending on where you work...I get games for 20$ made by my company(which makes tons of games)...that is literally one little small perk. I will never pay for a game that is 60$...ever again. TL;DR: Being a tester only sucks if your lazy and have no drive to do anything in the industry...if you love games and picking shit apart, you'll find testing extremely thrilling and fun.