Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Work Availability
Work Preference
Software
Websites
Quote
Timeline
Digital Resume
Hi, I’m

Colton Childrey

Los Angeles,CA
Colton Childrey

Summary

Detail-oriented and proactive QA Engineer with over 8 years of experience in software and game testing across major companies like Microsoft, Activision, and Meta (via contract). Proven expertise in manual and automated testing, API integration, test planning, bug tracking, and agile development environments. Adept at mentoring teams, designing and executing test cases, and ensuring compliance with quality standards across platforms. Experienced in Unreal Engine, C/C++, and cross-platform QA, with strong knowledge of both mobile and AAA game development cycles.

Overview

12
years of professional experience

Work History

NDA Protected
Los Angeles, CA

QA Team Lead
09.2024 - 01.2025

Job overview

  • Faced challenges in organizing a scalable and effective QA process for a major AAA title under strict NDA requirements and aggressive timelines.
  • Spearheaded the creation of structured test plans and checklists, implemented detailed bug reporting protocols, and conducted daily stand-ups with the QA and dev teams.
  • Enhanced team cohesion by mentoring junior testers and leading collaborative bug triage sessions.
  • Achieved a 35% increase in defect resolution speed, reduced QA turnaround time by 25%, and contributed to meeting all major development milestones with high-quality deliverables.
  • There was a lack of consistent documentation and knowledge sharing among QA members.
  • Established a shared knowledge base using Confluence and ensured all test cases and procedures were centrally documented and regularly updated.
  • Improved onboarding speed for new QA hires by 50% and decreased repeated issues caused by knowledge gaps.
  • Communication gaps between QA, development, and product teams were impacting test coverage.
  • Initiated weekly cross-functional syncs to align test plans with feature rollouts and address priority bugs collaboratively.
  • Increased feature test coverage by 40% and decreased post-release hotfixes by 30%.

Tests Assured
Los Angeles, CA

QA Engineer (Contracted to Meta)
04.2022 - 09.2024

Job overview

  • Meta's API platforms faced intermittent failures across device types and environments, complicating release cycles and user satisfaction.
  • Designed dynamic API test suites with Postman and custom scripts; implemented detailed tracking mechanisms for error rates and integrated them into the CI/CD pipeline.
  • Worked cross-functionally with developers, product owners, and infrastructure teams.
  • Improved overall API performance reliability by 40%, cut average bug resolution time from 72 to 36 hours, and reduced production deployment failures by 60%.
  • Inconsistent test case reuse led to inefficiencies in regression testing.
  • Standardized test cases across services and implemented a version control system for QA scripts.
  • Reduced test duplication by 35% and cut regression testing cycles from three days to one.
  • New product features were often released without comprehensive UAT.
  • Designed and executed structured user acceptance testing plans in collaboration with product managers.
  • Caught 70% of UX-related bugs prior to release, significantly enhancing user satisfaction metrics.

The Coder School
Santa Monica, CA

Coding Instructor
09.2021 - 03.2022

Job overview

  • Students lacked hands-on experience and struggled to translate theory into practical coding outcomes.
  • Introduced project-based learning using Unreal Engine 5 to simulate real-world development scenarios.
  • Delivered personalized instruction and provided one-on-one technical mentoring.
  • Increased student engagement by 60%, improved average course completion rate by 35%, and helped students publish 5+ small-scale UE5 prototypes.
  • Some students had difficulty retaining concepts between sessions.
  • Created recorded video tutorials and reference materials to reinforce lessons.
  • Boosted student retention and comprehension as measured by improved test scores.
  • Students had limited understanding of testing and debugging.
  • Integrated unit testing and basic QA principles into lesson plans to emphasize code quality.
  • Enhanced students' debugging capabilities, reducing support questions by 40%.

Microsoft
Los Angeles, CA

Software Test Engineer
04.2014 - 11.2016

Job overview

  • Manual QA efforts were failing to keep up with fast-paced feature rollouts and multiplatform demands.
  • Created robust test frameworks, automated repetitive regression test cases using Selenium and internal tools, and partnered with developers during daily Agile sprints.
  • Designed simulations to mimic real production conditions.
  • Reduced QA time per build cycle by 30%, detected 45% more bugs in pre-release stages, and played a key role in three successful software launches.
  • Inadequate visibility into test results and defect status led to missed bug fixes.
  • Implemented real-time dashboards and integrated JIRA with reporting tools to visualize progress and coverage.
  • Improved stakeholder confidence and transparency, reducing reporting overhead by 20%.
  • Test coverage was low for edge-case scenarios.
  • Led the effort to build exploratory test plans and stress test environments.
  • Discovered several high-impact bugs pre-launch, preventing critical production outages.

Activision
El Segundo, CA

Software Test Engineer
01.2013 - 02.2014

Job overview

  • Activision's testing processes for AAA titles were inconsistent across different platforms, leading to late-stage bugs and delays.
  • Developed detailed, reusable test cases for all core game systems, created simulation environments for multiplayer testing, and improved cross-platform consistency.
  • Managed and triaged bug reports using JIRA, providing timely feedback to developers.
  • Enhanced testing coverage by 50%, ensured that 90% of major bugs were resolved before gold release, and helped facilitate on-time launches for two major titles.
  • Multiplayer stability was unreliable under high-load conditions.
  • Built high-load simulations and executed performance testing across different network configurations.
  • Resolved multiple latency and synchronization issues, improving multiplayer performance by 45%.
  • QA and development team communication lacked clear escalation processes.
  • Established a structured bug severity classification system and triage process.
  • Reduced critical bug turnaround time by 50% and improved release preparedness.

Education

University of Silicon Valley
San Jose, CA

B.A. from Game Design
01.2029

University Overview

Skills

  • Manual & Automated Testing
  • API & Integration Testing
  • Regression & Smoke Testing
  • Agile & Scrum Methodologies
  • White Box / Gray Box Testing
  • Test Case Design & Execution
  • Mobile & Cross-Platform Testing
  • Unreal Engine Familiarity
  • Test-Driven Development
  • Continuous Integration (CI/CD)
  • Defect Tracking Tools (JIRA, Bugzilla)
  • Functional & System Testing
  • VR/AR Game Testing
  • SDLC Knowledge
  • Performance & Compliance Testing
  • User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
  • C / C Knowledge
  • QA Team Leadership
Availability
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Work Preference

Work Type

Full TimePart TimeContract Work

Work Location

On-SiteRemoteHybrid

Important To Me

Career advancementWork-life balancePaid time off

Software

Unity

Unreal engine

Adobe

Maya

Websites

Quote

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.
George Washington Carver

Timeline

QA Team Lead
NDA Protected
09.2024 - 01.2025
QA Engineer (Contracted to Meta)
Tests Assured
04.2022 - 09.2024
Coding Instructor
The Coder School
09.2021 - 03.2022
Software Test Engineer
Microsoft
04.2014 - 11.2016
Software Test Engineer
Activision
01.2013 - 02.2014
University of Silicon Valley
B.A. from Game Design

Digital Resume

Digital Resume

https://bold.pro/my/colton-childrey

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Colton Childrey