Rob Weber, Quality Designer, champions the tools and automation technology on the FIFA Quality Verification team. When Rob first joined Electronic Arts (EA) in 2008, the culture was very different from where EA is today. After two years at EA, he left the gaming industry for ten years and worked in mobile, backend security API, release engineering, and mobile automation. In 2020, he came back as a Quality Designer on the FIFA QV team.
“The work culture has changed drastically compared to 2008, there is now a lot more emphasis on wellbeing and making sure budgets and resources were adequate to ensure there is a good work-life balance for all team members.”
Innovative cloud gaming solution saves playtesting during the pandemic
As a Quality Designer, Rob led the launch of EA SPORTS™ FIFA along with the Madden NFL 2021 team on Stadia which was EA’s first release on a cloud gaming platform. His learnings from this project led to a collaboration with the User Experience Research (UXR) team to support playtesting remotely through the cloud at the height of the pandemic when we were all advised to stay at home. His solution enabled EA to continue to test games and deliver quality experiences to our players without ever testing on physical consoles.
Rob as a Technical Quality Designer
“Our job is constantly changing and we wear a lot of hats and we fill in where we are needed.”
A Quality Designer instills confidence in the game by delivering a quality experience to our players. The team leaned into Rob’s strength to define his role. “The more we innovate, the more efficient we work, leaving more time to work on improving the quality of our games.'' Being a more technically focused QD role is all about “designing quality of processes and finding opportunities in tools and technology to improve the way we work”. Projects tend to have a timeline of 3-5 years due to the complexity of games while maintaining relevancy with technological trends. “If we planned for work beyond a five year timeline, technology will have surpassed us and the work will become obsolete.”
What made you decide to come back to EA?
“There is a lot of pride and fun working at EA - to get to work on a game that is recognized around the world. I love the people, I love being the solution for others and the culture has been great on the team. We play sports together as a team and the team feels like a family to me. I can’t say this enough, but I do have the best team in the company.”
Explore the many opportunities we have as a Quality Designer and start your career at EA!