How to Be a Professional Game Tester

Spend hours playing video games as a kid? Try a career in game testing.

For some people, playing a video game is like breathing—it's natural and comfortable. If this is the way playing video games feels to you, then becoming a professional video game tester may be the right career choice. Professional video game testers step in at the end phase of the game production process to catch and help fix software glitches (a.k.a. bugs) in the game. To do this, they play through the games.

Instructions

1. Become familiar with the basics of computer technology, programming, graphic design and effective communication. As a game tester, education in these areas will give you an understanding of why the designers put a game together a certain way and how the company may fix glitches best. A college degree isn't necessary for game testing, but you at least need to take classes in these areas.

2. Review the video game market. Rent or purchase the popular games you find, and play through them to get an idea of the type of games you'll most likely test. Identify common characteristics in these games such as specific animation types. Play games for many different systems.

3. Prepare your game testing resume. Because you are just getting started in the field and most likely won't have previous experience as a game tester, the content of your resume should focus on the work related to game testing rather than previous game testing positions. For example, if you wrote game designs as a college project or took computer animation courses, list those. Identify clearly the specific systems you've used, as well as any programming languages with which you are familiar.

4. Use your resume to apply for open game tester positions in the quality assurance (QA) departments of video game publishing companies or independent testing labs. According to Tom Sloper of sloperama.com, it's better to apply for positions that aren't publicly advertised (this usually requires looking through the jobs section of publishers' websites), because the number of applicants for publicly advertised positions is so much greater.

5. Move to the area in which you have the most job prospects; some regions have activity in video game development. You can do this before you start your position search, but you also can choose a location based on the hits you get on your resume.

6. Go to interviews at companies or labs that have shown interest in your resume. When you get an offer from a company you like, negotiate your contract terms and get to work.

Tips & Warnings

• In your interviews, remember that video game testing really is a serious position, as companies depend on your technological and communication skills to find and report mistakes; you will not just sit around fiddling with a controller all day, and you won't always play games you enjoy. Be prepared to act professionally and work as a contributor to a team.

References

• Sloperama.com: Lesson #5: Testers—The Unsung Heroes of Games
• Gametester.com: Frequently Asked Questions