[TRENCHES] Tuesday, October 9, 2012 - Ozymandias

Geth

Ozymandias
http://trenchescomic.com/comic/post/ozymandias

The Duties at the Temple of Heaven

Anonymous

Last year, after graduation, a certain job offer caught my eye: Translator (from an Asian to a non-English European language) for a big company. Since I had majored in the Asian language and liked the company, I applied for the offer. I heard I would need to pass an exam, which I could only take once every two years, so I was advised to study well before taking it.

After a month of fastidious studying, I was eager to take the exam. However, in the final planning stage of the exam, it turned out that the contact person I was working with would soon go on vacation, delaying the schedule for three weeks. So I got back to the books and animated visuals. After those three weeks, I was told that the game company itself was now reorganizing and relocating. It would probably take a month. Again I delved into the books. After a month I received a final e-mail from my contact. The game company had decided to switch head hunting companies, and I was directed to the new one.

The contact from the second head hunting company was finally able to proffer an actual date to take the test. This was after telling me that the game company was now hiring all translators under different terms, i.e. reduced income and no more living arrangements included (the job was abroad). But that didn’t matter. It was still a dream job with my favorite company, and after a year or so, I might convince “my woman” to move abroad with me.

The day of the test came. I had prepared, specifically for this test, for four months now. I read all the guidelines, could make out the context of the extracts and which games they were taken from, and finished the test under the time limit. I was quite happy with the translation..

The following Monday I got back the results. I had failed. No further explanation. Four months of dedication to this thing, and that is all I got as an answer. The head hunter told me I should probably become a game tester and take the test again after two years. Often, I was told, it depends not on the quality of your translation, but on whether or not you minutely follow the guidelines they have stipulated. Only, as an outsider you cannot get access to these guidelines. So the game company wanted me to move abroad to become a game tester, on a wage that was just over half of the already reduced wage of a translator, and still rent my own place in a quite expensive town, and all that in the hopes of possibly passing a very ambiguous test two years later.

I declined, and thank goodness for that, for I have now read enough Tales of the Trenches to know where this was going. Now all I lost was time.

RMS Oceanic

The shading on the final panel is fantastic.

Regarding the story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4qzPbcFiA
Good thing the story teller reached that conclusion as well.

Karl

So wait, he failed a test because he didn't follow guidelines he was never given access to ever.

Jesus wept.

The games industry is terrible.

PaperPritt

Welp, in the game industry's defence, they are hardly the only ones doing that kind of stuff. Well that's not really a defence. I guess my point is : if you hear the words like "there's been a change", it pretty much means you're not going to get the job.

Sgt.Big_Bubbaloola

That story really does sound par for the course. And also that he probably is better off being an out and out translator rather than being one in the games industry.

Neuroskeptic

I think "Watchmen reference" may be the best line in Trenches so far.

zepherin

I know a couple interpretors, and from what I've been told, anything less than %100 is a failure, and in some cases there is interpretation and that needs to be the same as the person who designed and is grading the test or it is a failure.

DiannaoChong

To be fair, that actually gives a hint that the company promotes from within.

I'm kidding, they would of given him a job as game tester then had him translating at half the rate within 2 weeks.

I have run into software companies that run certification examinations like this. pass fail where 60% is pass on multiple choice, but if you fail you have NO CLUE why and are expected to shill out another 200$ at any time to retake(you dont even get a % to know if you are close). I admin such software already for a company for 6 months (I know my way around it), and I am unable to get certified for this software. I partially blame not being able to take standardized tests well, but not knowing where I need to improve or if I was just too nervous and fucked up, fucks me up harder.

Jortalus

Neuroskeptic wrote: »

I think "Watchmen reference" may be the best line in Trenches so far.

Seconded.

Brainleech

A few years ago when I applied for some jobs one of them listed do you speak any other languages? I checked yes and said the ones I am familar with

In the final interview they told me they only wanted native speakers.

Falx

Sounds like what happens when you promote for seniority instead of competence.

Get people making decisions about hiring policy and other important things that actually have no idea what they're doing.

twesterm

Call me a cynic, but the guy failed the test because he failed the test, not because of some conspiracy. The recruiter could have just been trying to find a nice way to say study better, read up on industry (as in, this isn't a college test, actually do your research) or he could have just been hearing what he wanted to hear.

If they're hiring for an entry level job, they aren't going to make it impossible for entry level people to get into the job.

KoopahTroopah

I love this comic. I saw the final panel coming when I read the title but it was still awesome.

eddizhere

Would've been better if it was "35 minutes ago."

God, I'm insufferable

Gaslight

So the question everybody is ignoring:

Why is Q there?

Dratatoo

Brainleech wrote: »

A few years ago when I applied for some jobs one of them listed do you speak any other languages? I checked yes and said the ones I am familar with

In the final interview they told me they only wanted native speakers.

To me these hiring tests sound like some kind of mind twisting contraption engineered within the realm of Wes Craven’s Wishmaster - even if you win, you loose. Reading the trenches makes me wonder, if anything low tier IT or buro related is worth "learning" or being hired for.

Ori Klein

Pretty standard dick move. They don't want a translator. Or someone already has protection on the job. They want a slave. They want to force mr. slave onto QA slavery. And they're filtering down people stupid or desperate enough to send to the wood chipper to churn.
A QA slave job posting wouldn't get as many suckers as "translator" and otherwise relegated tasks that they get QA people to do at half the price or whatever.

RMS Oceanic

Gaslight wrote: »

So the question everybody is ignoring:

Why is Q there?

To tell the testers he performed the rollback and they should brace for impact?

McGuffin

DiannaoChong wrote: »

I'm kidding, they would of given him a job as game tester then had him translating at half the rate within 2 weeks.
.....
I partially blame not being able to take standardized tests well, but not knowing where I need to improve or if I was just too nervous and fucked up, fucks me up harder.

Ahem...Umm...well, someone's got to do it. :oops: It's "would have given him a job", or "would've given him a job" :?

Griswold

Jortalus wrote: »

Neuroskeptic wrote: »

I think "Watchmen reference" may be the best line in Trenches so far.

Seconded.

How quickly we forget "I call it Fuckworld"

Commander Zoom

McGuffin wrote: »

Ahem...Umm...well, someone's got to do it. :oops: It's "would have given him a job", or "would've given him a job" :?

Thank you.
This bit of functional semi-literacy has become my bane of late. I see it everywhere.
Seriously, what's the deal? Why has this become so (apparently) common? Am I being oversensitive, or are Kids These Days no longer being taught to think about what they're actually saying, so long as it sounds more or less correct?

TychoCelchuuu

Commander Zoom wrote: »

Commander Zoom wrote: »

McGuffin wrote: »

Ahem...Umm...well, someone's got to do it. :oops: It's "would have given him a job", or "would've given him a job" :?

Thank you.
This bit of functional semi-literacy has become my bane of late. I see it everywhere.
Seriously, what's the deal? Why has this become so (apparently) common? Am I being oversensitive, or are Kids These Days no longer being taught to think about what they're actually saying, so long as it sounds more or less correct?

I'm pretty sure people have been semi-literate since writing rules were invented. Some people are better at writing than others. People have been making mistakes since language was formalized enough to have rules.

Opty

would've sounds like would of. That's it.

Asharad

The comic has looked really fantastic lately.

Apolloin

I must admit I'm sort of surprised that the QA team is talking to players at all, let alone making decisions. Everywhere I've worked Customer Management is handled either by the Publisher or by the Developer - sometimes both organisations have their own department for it.

GojiraX

Karl wrote: »

So wait, he failed a test because he didn't follow guidelines he was never given access to ever.

Jesus wept.

The games industry is terrible.

Replace "test" with "interview" and that's job searching for you. At least he got some kind of offer out of it, albeit peanuts.