Paid Video Game Testing - 3 Tips To Land Your First Job

By Author: Sean Saunders
Total Articles: 118
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Many people think that all a game tester does is play games and have loads of fun. It's true that they do play games, but they rarely ever have LOADS of fun. Starting a career as a professional video game tester takes more than just the ability to play video games. A game tester has to have experience, work hard, and have a remarkable amount of patience. Game testers would love it if they were paid to only play games day in and day out; but unfortunately, that isn't how it works. A video game tester gets paid to test games, not to play them.

Read These Very Useful & Extremely Powerful Video Game Tester Tips. They should help you land more jobs as a video game tester.

Tip #1: Looking through newspapers and classified ads in the hopes of finding job openings is a lost cause. It simply will not happen, period. Although game developers need testers on a regular basis, they are not advertising it. Why don't they? Because the professional video game testers will find them, that's why. Therefore, instead of waiting for them to find you, you have to go out and find them.

Game testing jobs are not going ...
... to fall into your lap, so don't simply sit around as though they might. You have to get yourself out there and make your way directly to the companies and game developers. Make sure that they know who you are, what you do, and why you are so great at what you do.

It's vital that you present a strong case for each developer and gaming company you apply to. You have to convince them that you are indeed video game tester material and absolutely nothing will get in your way of testing the hell out of a video game. The best way to do this is to let them know of every game accomplishment you've ever had, every console you own, every game you've played, any video game related websites you are a part of, any references you have, and anything else that could possibly impress them enough to give you a job.

You have to remember not to be embarrassed about your time with video games. Other people may have mocked you and said "you play games too much", but they weren't preparing for a career as a video game tester, were they? With that being said, don't be ashamed of gloating about how much experience you really have with video games.

Tip #2: Begin working on your network of contacts. Your network can be made up of virtually anyone who knows anything about video games. Obviously, the more successful your contacts are, the better; but that doesn't mean you should ignore the little guys. You never know who can pull what strings and be able help you the most.

Generally speaking, any person who hangs around video games is someone you want to add to your "network"; other testers, audio specialists, developers, customer support specialists, game artists, programmers, etc. These people can keep you up to date on job openings, new game developments, or they can just put in a good word for you come application time.

All in all, a reliable network is an indispensable tool for a video game tester; so be sure to devote a portion of your time to increasing the size of your network. You won't regret it.

Tip #3: A career as a professional video game tester is no less serious than a career as a doctor. Although the careers are at the two opposite ends of the job spectrum, they are still careers in which a person is paid to complete tasks. A doctor's job is to fix people and a video game tester's job is to fix video games. Both get paid for what they do and how well they actually do it, period.

It doesn't take a genius to realize that video game testers have much more fun than other professions, but that doesn't mean it is all fun and games. Believe it or not, there is actual work involved with being a game tester. Yes, contrary to what you might have heard, there is work involved with game testing.

What type of work? Well, nothing back breaking; mostly just filling out bug reports and questionnaires. Alright, so it's not quite as involved as a doctor's or a surgeon's work. The point is that video game testers do more than just play games.

So, do you still want to be a professional video game tester? Duh! Of course you do. This is a dream job and you'd be a complete nut not to want a career in video game testing. With that being said, go back and read through the tips above one more time and then get ready to start your very own Video Game Tester Career!
Do you think you've got what it takes to be a video game tester? Are you ready to test games and not just play them? If you honestly think you're ready, visit http://www.GameTestingParadise.com and find out how you can get started testing video games today!