IXL is looking to hire a rockstar content QA analyst! What exactly does a content QA analyst do? Read our Q&A with IXLer Jeremy Mejia below to find out what he loves about the job, his favorite summertime activities, and more!
The Basics
Name and title: Jeremy Mejia, Quality Assurance Analyst—Content
Has been at IXL for: 4.5 years
Hometown and current city: Grew up in Orange County, Calif. Currently lives in Oakland, Calif.
Life at IXL
Why did you join IXL?
I always had a passion for education—I’d been tutoring since high school and I come from a family of teachers. I got a degree in cognitive science, and every time we had to do any math, a lot of the other students would freak out. I thought about how important it is to get kids comfortable with math at an early age, but I did not think I was cut out to be an elementary school teacher, so I wasn’t really sure what I could do to help. The exciting thing about IXL was that I could lend my skills to a product that would help kids hopefully avoid math anxiety.
What do you do at IXL? Give us a taste of what a typical day at work is like for you.
In my role as a content quality assurance (QA) analyst, my focus is on the skills themselves and the questions that are generated. The product analysts decide how the problems should be generated and how to control the difficulty, and then we QA analysts make sure that everything is being displayed correctly across multiple browsers and platforms. We also keep an eye out to make sure that the questions and explanations are accurate, as well as look for edge cases. Content QA analysts work across all subjects, including math, language arts, and the upcoming science and social studies products.
What do you like about working at IXL?
I really like the people I work with. In our recruiting process, we go out of our way to find people that are easy to get along with. A lot of people at IXL hang out with each other outside of work – I have people I go rock climbing with or get a drink with [see photo, right].
What qualities does it take to do your job?
I have a perfectionist mindset so picking something apart and finding flaws has always been fun for me—though maybe not so fun for all of my friends! I used to do a lot of proofreading for friends, and have always liked puzzles and finding flaws in the system. So it’s fun to take that annoying, nitpicky behavior and use it to make things better, which is really satisfying. To be a content QA analyst, you also need to be familiar with the content and be able to identify content flaws, such as whether something is explained poorly or inaccurately. You don’t have to be an expert, but you have to be comfortable with the subjects we offer!
Life beyond IXL
What do you like to do in your free time
I’ve been really into rock climbing lately, and I wish I was doing more of it. Music is a huge thing for me—I play music, I go to shows, I collect music, I go to karaoke a lot. I was in a few bands in high school, including a Weezer cover band called Freezer [see photo, right]. I’m quite into movies and have a weak spot for really bad horror movies, like “The Children” (1980). I’ve also been traveling more, both internationally and domestically. My last couple of trips, I went to Wyoming and the Dakotas to see the Badlands, Teddy Roosevelt National Park, Black Hills, Mount Rushmore, and Devil’s Tower.
What’s your favorite thing about summer?
I really enjoy the really long days at the higher latitudes. I went to school in England, and in late June there was enough sunlight to see until 10:30 p.m. So people could hang out, have a barbeque, sit in the backyard—it was nice to have the light and be able to have it for that long. I also really love county fairs. I went to the Humboldt County Fair every year as a kid—it was small and rural but endearing. These days for a local one, I go to the Alameda County Fair.
Just for Fun
What’s your favorite smell?
I spent a lot of time outdoors as a kid, about 2 months out of the year I was camping in the redwoods, so the smell of the woods and the outdoors is really comforting to me [see photo, right]. Also, really old books have a great musty scent. The weirdest thing is I like the smell of band-aids!
You invented a time machine! Where and when do you travel to first?
I’m a huge fan of any movie with time travel, and I’ve learned that traveling to the future will let you see all the new technology, but you’d just be the idiot walking around. The point of time travel is to create paradoxes, so the first thing I would do is go back in time and either mess with myself or give myself a high five!
Interested in joining IXL as a content quality assurance analyst? Read our job description and apply today! To learn more about our culture and see what employees have to say about working at IXL, check out the video below!
