Video game testing is essential to gaming companies who rely on testers to find bugs and offer input about improving the game. You might think that game testers just play and get paid for it; this is only half of the story. In reality, testers must be good writers and have an analytical brain. After playing a game for a couple of hours, testers write reports describing their experiences in detail.
These reports must be professionally composed and must read with clarity. Game programmers rely on the reports to find bugs and glitches, so they must be accurate and specific as well. This is real work. Although a college education is not officially required, having some background in technical writing can certainly help you excel as a video game tester. If you are serious about making video game testing a career, it is worth enrolling in a technical writing course at your local community college. Besides, technical writing skills are handy for any job in any field you might have in the future.
Testing is usually performed on an independent contractor basis. This means that you are your own boss, to some degree. Although being your own boss is exciting and offers a great deal of flexibility, it also implies a great deal of responsibility. You need to set your own schedule, and keep track of your pay outs to make sure you can pay your bills.
Testing gigs are paid per project, not per hour. This means that your skills will determine how much money you can make, since the faster you can complete a project, the more projects you can do in a given space of time. Of course, you need to become very good at catching bugs and glitches and reporting them thoroughly. Doing so will earn you a good reputation with a game company, so they will be more likely to hire you on future projects. If you are really good, a company might make you their go-to gamer, and you will have your assignments lined up. This means that you will need to do less work to find new projects.
When you first start out as a video game tester, it is a good idea to take your time and do an excellent job identifying as many bugs and glitches as possible. Write reports with impeccable spelling and grammar. Your goal is to really impress the game companies. The extra time this takes means that you might well be earning less than minimum wage at the beginning, so it helps if you have other sources of income. But making this initial investment will build a great first impression in the minds of the companies for whom you contract. As you plod along, diligently writing excellent reports, you will learn how to get faster and faster at quality testing and reporting. This will give you an edge over your competition, helping you to pick up more gigs.
Although, in many ways, video game testing is hard work, at least it is work you will enjoy. That is, of course, assuming that you already like to play games and pick them apart. There are pitfalls and pains associated with being self-employed. You will not be receiving benefits from the companies that farm out work to you, and you will need to make your own schedule and pay your own taxes. But there is something about having no bosses that really is extremely rewarding. And remember, at least 50% of your job is playing games. It does not get much better than that.
