Game Testers

admin answers:

First of all, you’ll need to be at least 18 & have a High School diploma (or a GED) before you can even get your foot in the door.

Second, you’ll want to search for a Quality Assurance (the technical name for a game tester) position… Or even intern positions, if you want to get deeper into the industry. Ideally, check out http://www.gamejobs.com here as most of the open industry positions are posted here. Otherwise, check company websites in the corporate area (it’s usually a small link on the site, look hard for it).

Atari ( http://www.atari.com ) doesn’t post job listings on their website, but Bungie ( http://www.bungie.net ) post job listings publicly on their front page.

Third, you’ll most likely want to get yourself to California where the majority of game studios are located… Or look at a company that you’re interested & try moving there. Just be aware that most companies will only hire people who live nearby as they don’t give anybody in the QA department a relocation allowance.

Fourth… Be prepared to have your life sucked from you! Quality Assurance can be a very demanding job! Expect to spend up to 80 hours a week at your desk, especially during “crunch time” (near release dates) where you may be practically living at your desk.

Finally, Don’t expect a long-term career here… Most entry-level QA testing may only be for 3 months. Unless you can impress your superiors, you may be out the door after that.

Hope that helps you out… Although you’ll more likely get depressed for the lack of QA positions at the moment. Just keep on searching periodically & you’ll likely find something!

Best of Luck!

admin answers:

Not to easly if im not mistaken there is college courses u have to take to help identify gliches on the games u test and sense that job is like the most wanted job ud have to compete if any openings just so happen and if im not mistaken u would have to live close to a company that does the games u dont get it at home

admin answers:

I don’t think there are many side jobs in game testing that are real.

I have only seen a couple positions that could be this way in several years.

I think it would be easier to win the lottery.

Go check out the game testing jobs
http://www.powerupgames.com/jobs

admin answers:

Ha ha. Don’t bother. Do you know how many people apply for this type of stuff? Millions. Look, I understand you might think I’m just trying to bring you down, but seriously, don’t try. Its a real job and all, just very unlikely that you’ll get a job as one.

A friend of mine became a beta tester and he said at first it was fun, but eventually they set him testing boring computer programs that were never released, and he quit. Nowadays companies don’t pay video game testers because there are so many gamers willing to try these games for free. If you want my opinion, just get some odd jobs around town.

admin answers:

Luckily, all the education you need to be a video game tester is a High School Diploma or equivalent.

With that said, it is good to have good communication skills, good team skills, to know about technology and how games are put together. Foreign language, etc are all good education to have on your resume and you could use in a game testing position.

I know of hundreds of people hired to be game testers that didn’t have any additional college education. I have helped over 1000 people get into the industry through becoming a video game tester. I developed training and education for people to become video game testers.
It has been made into online self paced training on the PowerUp Games Website.

Http://PowerUpGames.com

So in High School, Take these types of courses. While in High School, consider http://PowerUpGames.com, It has a certification course for Game Testing at a lot cheaper price than a single college course. Try Game testing to see if you like the industry. If you like it, you may want to go onto a 2 year degree or a 4 year degree depending on where you want to be in the industry in 5 years or 10 years. You can always use Game Testing as a summer job to help financially get you through college.

The reason people get more education is that it is becoming competitive to get a game testing position. The better your resume and cover letter and references and portfolio…. The better your chances.

Now lets talk about some other answers you may need to know about…

Let’s talk about Location. Some locations in the US have few jobs in the Game Industry.
The question is, if you can’t find a job in your area, are you willing to go to where the jobs are?

So 1) find the websites that tell you where the publishers are… I think the IGDA website will.
2) Find the Publishers that are in your state. Apply.

If a close publisher will not hire you, you will have to go to the main Video Game Hubs in the US.

Now lets talk about what some people consider to be video game testing….
Stay as home game testing should be considered an Urban Legend. Winning the lottery would be easier than finding this as real employment. If it was real, what percentage of the US or world population would like this as a job or career? 40% or more? How many billion people is that…

You can also seek beta testing gigs where you get a copy of the software or promotional items you can sell on ebay. Just use Google and sign up for the beta programs.

There are also usability studies… The most famous is here http://www.microsoft.com/playtest/defaul… Again, they may pay you or give you something,
you usually have to travel to where they are.

Let’s talk about Age…
If you are younger than 14, hiring minor laws will keep you working for anyone but family and friends.

If you are under 18, only the developers and publishers that do NOT require a NDA (Non-disclosure Agreement) will consider you.

Becoming a game tester is do-able but sometimes you need someone to show you the way.
Of the people offering help, this will help you avoid SCAMS…
Never pay for a subscription to find a game testing job. They are usually scams. To see if they are…
Email them and see how long takes them to respond to a specific question.
Make sure you get 2-3 phone numbers of people who have been with them for 6 months or more
and call them to see if they think it was worth it. Ask these people 2-3 specific questions about what they got for the money, how helpful was the staff, what jobs they applied for etc…

Here is Nintendo info on getting hired…
Www.nintendo.com/corp/tester.jsp info on getting hired with Nintendo.

To increase your chances of getting a career game testing position…
Become familiar with what game testing is, terminology, etc and build out a good cover letter and resume.

Get some good experience and be able to talk about what you did in with the knowledge and terminology you have learned about Game Testing.

Become familiar with the basics of game testing so after you land a position, you can keep it.
(there are some companies that will hire 10 game testers knowing that after 2-3 days, they will know the best of the group and will lay off the rest. It is cheaper than doing a deep interview process)

Remember, there will be several hundred people applying to any game testing position and you have to get your resume to the top for a phone interview and past the face to face interview so you can get the position and show that you know what it is and that you know what you need to do to become a Game tester.

Have someone in the Game Industry review your resume and cover letter. Get someone who was a game tester or even better, someone who has hired game testers.

If you want help completing the above steps, please investigate our Training at PowerUpGames.com