How to become a videogame tester

The organization of staff differs between organizations; a typical company may employ the following roles associated with testing disciplines:

Game producers are responsible for setting testing deadlines in coordination with marketing and quality assurance.They also manage many items outside of game testing, relating to the overall production of a title. Their approval is typically required for final submission or "gold" status.How to get a job at game

Lead tester, test lead or QA lead is the person responsible for the game working correctly and managing bug lists. A lead tester manages the QA staff. Lead tester works closely with designers and programmers, especially towards the end of the project. Lead tester is responsible for tracking bug reports and managing that they are fixed.[9] They are also responsible that QA teams produce formal and complete reports. This includes discarding duplicate and erroneous bug reports, as well as requesting clarifications. As the game nears alpha and beta stages, lead tester brings more testers into the team, coordinates with external testing teams and works with management and producers. Some companies may prevent the game going gold until lead tester approves it. Lead testers are also typically responsible for compiling representative samples of game footage for submission to regulatory bodies such as the ESRB and PEGI. A lead tester is often an aspiring designer or producer.

Testers are responsible for checking that the game works, is easy to use, has actions that make sense, and contains fun gameplay.Testers need to write accurate and specific bug reports, and if possible providing descriptions of how the bug can be reproduced. Testers may be assigned to a single game during its entire production, or brought onto other projects as demanded by the department's schedule and specific needs.

SDET (Software Development Engineer in Test) or Technical Testers are responisible for building automated test cases and frameworks as well as managing complex test problems such as overall game performance and security. These individuals usually have strong software development skills but with a focus on writing software which exposes defects in other applications. Specific roles and duties will vary between studios. Many games are developed with out any Technical Testers.

You are never going to open the newspaper to the help wanted section and find a job ad that says "video game testers wanted". Why? Because video game companies are able to find people without putting out such ads. The way to get such a job is to actually knock on the doors of the video game company yourself, sell your expertise to them and convince them that you will be a great choice to become their next video game tester.

Don't be intimidated. Companies need new testers all the time. All you have to do is have the courage to walk up to them and ask for what you want.

Obviously it helps if you can show them your love of video games. Here's where your hours and hours of playing on your PC actually comes in handy. Show them your titles, your high scores, the levels you've reached, the characters you've created. Tell them about all the friends you have who play video games right along with you - for video game companies this is a whiff of potential customers for later! In this manner, it should be easy to convince them you are the right sort of person to hire for this job.

The starting salary for a video game tester is in the range of about $10-$15 per hour. If you treat this as a real job, work hard (40-50 hours a week) and turn out awesome reports, you will be soon promoted to making $30 or $40 an hour or more within a year or two. Considering you don't need any advanced qualifications to become a video game tester, and you don't have to do much other than play games all day, this is a fantastic income!

If you love playing video games and would like to find out more on how you get paid to play games, check out the Only4Gamers Guide on how to become a videogame tester. It will help answer a lot of questions and provide you with the step-by-step process to becoming a professional game tester - plus how to get the absolute best game testing jobs with minimum effort.

Just because you have a job that pays you to play games, doesn't mean you have to be unprofessional about it. Always show your employers that you are not a stoned slacker but a reliable hard worker.

Present yourself well. Have your resume printed out when you ask for a job, and make it professional. Dress like you would for any other interview, perhaps better.

Write amazing reports. Take good notes while gaming, and then later type your comments up in a professional manner.

Always give constructive criticism. It's only too easy to say why somebody else's work is bad. What's more difficult is to say how it is bad, how it may be fixed and what can potentially be good about it.

Be organized. This is a real job, and even though you will be working from home you will need real files, folders and reminders for due dates on assignments.

Yes, there will be assignments. It's a lot like homework, except this is what you get paid for. The sooner you come to terms with it, the better your experience will be.

Always remember, you are not playing just to have fun, but also to test the game. Go down routes and paths that you never usually would, try to break the game in as many creative ways as you can, then send a bug report. If you make a game out of this, instead of always being focused on winning, it will go a long way in helping you become a better video game tester.

Basically, there are a number of advantages of becoming a videogame tester. First, you do get paid to play games, which if you are really passionate about can be a fulfilling full time job. In my opinion, the best aspect of videogame testing is that it is an excellent platform for moving on and up in the game industry, be it journalism,graphic design, script writing, character voices and development, software development and more. And if you are a game tester there are a number of perks: I found myself getting a number of cheats, insider info on what games were coming out, getting the opportunity to try out games before they were released etc. The best perk of all is if your lucky you might get access to free games and updated consoles.

Then there is the downside. Not everyone is going to land a job at activision( even though i imagine it is easier than people think). You will have to play boring games for a prolonged period of time. You can't just run through the game as fast as possible but have to search for glitches and send accurate and informed reports. Know that some videodame testing jobs do not allow you to work from home but you might be oblidged to come in to the studio. And you might well( and definately will in the weeks coming up to release time) have to work long hours of overtime. The pay is ok but nothing spectacular. If you can get over this, then you have the formal qualities for a videogame tester.

Best of luck