Regardless I have no questions for now. I eagerly await the next post Darius!

“You also have to be friendly and helpful, but not so humble that nobody recognizes your achievements.”

I’d definitely love to hear some details about this one, because it seems like a pretty fine line.

* QA is a great place to address, because you foot is still only half in the door. You’re probably on contract for 2+1d3 months and after that you’re out the door… unless you make a good enough impression that you can transition to a more permanent role first. Is there a “how to” guide for this particular step (as opposed to all the steps that got you into QA in the first place)?

* Obviously, being productive at work is a good thing. However, if you’re not careful you can end up stepping on other people’s toes a bit (I’ve met some programmers who are protective enough of their code that they would balk at letting anyone from QA within a ten-foot radius of Visual Studio). How do you find the line between being helpful versus pushy?

* Here’s a big one for entry-level workers: your first promotion, to mid-level. First, how do you know when you’re ready? (“You just know” doesn’t cut it — EVERYONE thinks they’re ready long before they really are.) Second, when you ARE ready, what then? Do you wait (possibly forever) for your manager to come to you? Do you raise the issue with them, and if so, how do you do so without coming off as arrogant (or being concerned more with pay and titles than shipping the damn game)? What are some common ways you’ll be turned down (“you’re not ready” versus “it’s been a bad year, there’s no money”) and what do you do about them (jump ship to a new company? Swallow your pride and stick it out? How forceful should you get here?).

* Given your personal experience, it might also be appropriate to talk about starting your own company. I’d assume there’s a whole other set of advanced networking skills you need when you start your own indie studio — both to attract employees, and also to get the attention of publishers (or developers, if you’re one of those weird people who makes middleware ;)