Getting video game tester jobs is no easy task. Truth be told, it can be damn near impossible for beginners, especially for those whom don't know a thing about video game testing. So, the big question is: how can a professional video game tester, game review, make landing jobs easier? Well, he can start by reading a few game testing tips.
Tip 1: Start Networking With Others!
Believe it or not, the success of your video game tester career may heavily rely on your network of contacts. What is a network? Basically, it's a group of people that you know within your industry that can help you progress in your career.
Will any type of network help you advance in your testing career? No, unfortunately.
In order for your network to be able to actually help you, it has to be filled with reliable contacts from the gaming industry. If your "network" is only made up of friends and family, how do you expect to land any video game tester jobs? With that, game review, being said, begin to network with as many people in the gaming industry as humanly possible. Concept artists,, game review, graphics designers, audio specialists, programmers, developers, testers, and anyone else that has a career related to video games, game review, .
The more people you know in the video game, game review, industry, the more strings you can ultimately pull, game review, .
What can your network do for you? Plenty of things. The biggest of which is, game review, putting in a good word for you when you submit an application for a testing job. Having a man on the inside is definitely a great way to ensure that you get high paying assignments. Aside from that, they can also let you in on job openings and any big news that is being hidden from the public.
All in all, a reliable network is a great resource that no video game tester should be without.
Second Tip: Stop Sitting Around & Get Yourself Out There!
There are not going to be any "video game tester wanted" ads in the paper, so you'll have to get out of the old "newspaper job search" mindset. You have to realize, game review, that game developers,, game review, game, game review, review, are indeed looking for game testers, but they aren't searching high and low for, game review, them.
Why not? Because they know that the game testers will come to them, that's why.
If they were to advertise the fact that, game review, they need testers, they would likely be swarmed with gamer, not game tester, applications. What's the difference? Well, a gamer application is submitted by a person who just wants to play video games all day long and get paid for it. A game tester application is submitted by a professional video game tester who knows that he will be paid to complete a job, period.
Whether he has fun or not is of little concern; the fact in the matter is that he is being paid to test a video game, not just to play it. As you can clearly see, developers want game tester, game review, applications and nothing else; which is precisely why they don't widely, game review, advertise their job openings.
Since the companies & developers aren't actively searching for you, what do you think you should do? Look for them of course! Therefore, if you want a video game tester, game review, job, you must head directly to the developers and apply for one.
It doesn't sound that tough, does it? Well as usual, it's much, game review, easier said than done.
To get a developer to give you for a testing job, you have to convince them that you are indeed a qualified video game tester. How can, game review, you do that? By simply telling them about your experience in the video game industry. Let them know about the games you've played, online communities you are apart of (MMORPGs, websites, clubs, forums, etc), accomplishments you've made, and what consoles you own & play regularly.
Also, if, game review, you have a blog/website that covers video game related news, such as cheats, hints, tips, glitches, reviews, previews, etc. make sure that they know about it. Remember, any and all experience with video games will help your cause, so don't be shy. The more experience you've got, the better off you'll be.
Showing posts with label game tester. Show all posts
Showing posts with label game tester. Show all posts
2010/02/03
2010/02/02
Video Game Tester Job Openings - 2 Quick Tips for Faster Employment
Getting video game tester job openings is no easy task. Truth be told, it can be damn near impossible for beginners, especially for those whom don't know a thing about video game testing. So, the big, game review, question is: how can a professional video game tester make landing jobs easier? Well, he can start by reading a few game testing tips.Tip 1: Start Networking With Others!Believe it or not, the success of your video game tester career may heavily rely on your network of contacts. What is a network? Basically, it's a group of people that you know within your industry that can help you progress in your career.
Will any type of network help you advance in your testing career? No, unfortunately. In order for your, game review, network to be able to actually help you, it has to be filled with reliable contacts, game review, from the gaming industry. If your "network" is only made up of friends and family, how do you expect to land any video game tester job openings? With that being said, begin to network with, game review, as many people in the gaming industry as humanly possible. Concept artists, graphics designers, audio, game review, specialists, programmers, developers, testers,, game review, and anyone else that has a career related to video games.
The, game review, more, game review, people you know in the video game industry, the more strings you can ultimately pull.What can your network do for you? Plenty of things. The biggest of which is putting in a good word for you when you submit an application, game review, for a testing job. Having a man on the inside is definitely a great way to ensure that you get high paying assignments. Aside from that, they can also let you in on job openings and any big news that is being hidden from the public.
All in all, a reliable network is a great resource that no video game tester should be without. Second Tip: Stop Sitting Around & Get Yourself Out There!There are not going to be any "video game tester, game review, wanted" ads in the paper, so you'll have to get out of the old "newspaper job search" mindset. You have to realize that game developers are indeed looking for game testers,, game review, but they aren't searching high and low for them. Why not? Because they know that the game testers will come to them, that's why.
If they were to advertise the fact that, game review, they need, game review, testers, they would likely be swarmed with gamer, not game tester, applications. What's the difference? Well, a gamer application is submitted by a person who just wants to play video games all day long and get paid for it. A game tester application is submitted by a professional video game tester who knows that he will be paid to complete a job, period. Whether he has fun or not is of little concern;, game review, the fact in the matter is that he is being paid, game review, to test a video game, not just to play it.
As you can clearly see, developers want game tester applications and nothing else; which is precisely why they don't widely advertise their job openings.Since the companies & developers aren't actively searching for you, what do you think you should do? Look for them of course! Therefore, if you want a video game tester job, you must head directly to the developers and apply for one. It doesn't sound that tough, does it? Well as usual, it's much easier said than done.To get a developer to give you for a testing job, you have, game review, to convince them that you are indeed a qualified video game tester.
How can you do that? By simply telling them about your experience in the video game industry. Let them know about the games you've played, online communities you are apart of (MMORPGs, websites, clubs,, game review, forums, etc), accomplishments you've made, and what consoles you own & play regularly. Also, if you have a blog/website that covers video game related news, such as cheats, hints,, game review, tips, glitches,, game review, reviews, previews, etc. make sure that they know about it.
Remember, any and all experience with video games will help your cause, so don't be shy. The more experience you've got, the better off you'll be.
Will any type of network help you advance in your testing career? No, unfortunately. In order for your, game review, network to be able to actually help you, it has to be filled with reliable contacts, game review, from the gaming industry. If your "network" is only made up of friends and family, how do you expect to land any video game tester job openings? With that being said, begin to network with, game review, as many people in the gaming industry as humanly possible. Concept artists, graphics designers, audio, game review, specialists, programmers, developers, testers,, game review, and anyone else that has a career related to video games.
The, game review, more, game review, people you know in the video game industry, the more strings you can ultimately pull.What can your network do for you? Plenty of things. The biggest of which is putting in a good word for you when you submit an application, game review, for a testing job. Having a man on the inside is definitely a great way to ensure that you get high paying assignments. Aside from that, they can also let you in on job openings and any big news that is being hidden from the public.
All in all, a reliable network is a great resource that no video game tester should be without. Second Tip: Stop Sitting Around & Get Yourself Out There!There are not going to be any "video game tester, game review, wanted" ads in the paper, so you'll have to get out of the old "newspaper job search" mindset. You have to realize that game developers are indeed looking for game testers,, game review, but they aren't searching high and low for them. Why not? Because they know that the game testers will come to them, that's why.
If they were to advertise the fact that, game review, they need, game review, testers, they would likely be swarmed with gamer, not game tester, applications. What's the difference? Well, a gamer application is submitted by a person who just wants to play video games all day long and get paid for it. A game tester application is submitted by a professional video game tester who knows that he will be paid to complete a job, period. Whether he has fun or not is of little concern;, game review, the fact in the matter is that he is being paid, game review, to test a video game, not just to play it.
As you can clearly see, developers want game tester applications and nothing else; which is precisely why they don't widely advertise their job openings.Since the companies & developers aren't actively searching for you, what do you think you should do? Look for them of course! Therefore, if you want a video game tester job, you must head directly to the developers and apply for one. It doesn't sound that tough, does it? Well as usual, it's much easier said than done.To get a developer to give you for a testing job, you have, game review, to convince them that you are indeed a qualified video game tester.
How can you do that? By simply telling them about your experience in the video game industry. Let them know about the games you've played, online communities you are apart of (MMORPGs, websites, clubs,, game review, forums, etc), accomplishments you've made, and what consoles you own & play regularly. Also, if you have a blog/website that covers video game related news, such as cheats, hints,, game review, tips, glitches,, game review, reviews, previews, etc. make sure that they know about it.
Remember, any and all experience with video games will help your cause, so don't be shy. The more experience you've got, the better off you'll be.
2010/01/02
The Game Tester
It's not easy to be a hardcore gamer. It's hard. Wouldn't it be easier if you had a job in the, game review, videogames business?, game review, Think about it: working for a software company, being able to play games during office hours,, game review, with people who share your passion. Free games, industry parties, lots of fun and good money.
Well, think again; working in the PC Games business is nothing like that. Chances are you'll end up dealing with people who just care about the financial success of the, game review, company, with marketing executives who don't give adamn whether the game is good or not because "We'll put two-million bucks behind it and it'll sell like donuts", with programmers who cannot understand why an arcade-style racing game cannot have the intricacies of a complex simulator.
Still, you'll get some free games plus a decent salary.Still interested? Good.
The easiest way to get a chance to work in the videogames industry is to start as a game tester. Mind you - the job is actually tougher and less exciting, game review, than you think. While it is true that you'll spend most of your day playing games, you must bear in mind that this means testing to death the same game again, game review, and again, since the earliest days of development until it's finished, and this can get really boring.
The game tester starts working as soon as either the graphic engine or some of the AI routines are ready (and even earlier, game review, in some occasions: sometimes testers have to check the game design documents in order to make sure that there aren't weaknesses in the game structure.) It means checking the graphics and the control system or testing the, game review, AI routines, moving around coloured dots (it's often the case with sports games) or extremely unappealing chunks of graphics around the screen to check how the code reacts, game review, , game review, .
Reporting bugs is not an easy or exciting task either. You need to assess the exact circumstances (if any) of a bug taking place and its consequences on the game. More often than not this means playing the same bit of the game again and again and again until you are, game review, able to repeat the same bug whenever you want to (or better: whenever the programmers ask you to) or until you're sure that it was a one-off bug, something which happens in situations which cannot be repeated.
If you don't like PCs, you'll probably find an absolute nightmare having to cope with all the compatibility issues (does the game work fine with all the graphic accelerator cards? And what about the sound cards? And the joypads/joysticks?) but you'll get used to it in a matter of weeks.
Other downsides of the job is that office hours can range from your usual 9-5 to a very stressful round-the-clock when you're, game review, under deadlines and you don't have any guarantee that you'll be mentioned in the credits unless, game review, you're one of the lead testers. (Let's face it; you want your friends to know that YOU were part of the team who made that, game review, brilliant game, don't you?) Put in the frustration coming from, game review, dealing with programmers and/or artists who don't know what does make a good game (the industry has many such people.
..) and you'll get an even worse picture of the job.
Being a game tester is not all that bad, though. It's the perfect way to get into the biz for, game review, many different reasons: the first one and more obvious being that you'll be constantly in touch with both the programmers and artists. In a few weeks' time you'll understand problems concerning polygons (polys, for friends...), frame-rate and its relationships with the responsiveness and precision of the control system, how to address RAM-related problems and much, much more.
Hold on - let me make myself clear: you will NOT become a programmer but you will understand which compromises you must have in the game in order to have, game review, it work in its best possible, game review, form, given the capabilities of the system it is working on and the skills and talents of the developers.
Another obvious plus of the job is the money. In Europe, an internal tester is usually paid somewhere between US$15,000 to US$23,000, assuming he's employed full-time. However, some companies have part-time testing jobs, so that you don't have to leave school to be a tester.
The real highlight of being, game review, a game tester is that in, game review, many occasions, game review, you'll be required to play an active role in the making of the game: rather than limiting your task to just testing existing code, sometimes testers are asked, game review, to suggest alternative solutions to problems in either playability or game structure, game review, . It often happens that, during the development stages, the game feels and plays differently from what it should according to the game design document.
It could be the control system which is too complex, the physics, game review, model, the AI or any other element of the game which doesn't, game review, work as well as it, game review, should. The testers' main task, game review, is to flag any problems arising but they are often asked to give their precious input in order to improve the game.
It sometimes happens that the most critic and capable testers move onto design positions, which is a much more rewarding (both in terms of financial success and, game review, self-fulfilment) job with many more responsabilities.
Another way to climb the ranks of the company is to become Quality Assurance Manager, supervising and directing the work of several testers for one or more titles. Therefore, starting, game review, as a game tester can take you to higher floors while making many interesting contacts in the industry. The perfect game tester can express himself quite well in both written and oral form, knows how to work in a team and know games inside out - both new and classic titles. Needless to say, to do this you must play a lot: explore all the possibilities of a title, do things, game review, the developers couldn't think you, game review, would do (such as killing a friendly character, throwing away a useful item, going out of the track in a racing game or standing in particular areas where you're not supposed to stay) and see what happens.
Be curious while playing, and be critic.
If you have what it takes ring the bell; this industry needs you. Don't let the first negative replies write the word END to your career in this industry. Keep trying until a door opens, then put your foot in. Start writing your cover letter now (keep it short, nobody likes lengthy cover letters)) and be ready for the interview. Sooner or later you'll have your chance, so don't waste it.
Mary works in US for a media company, occasionally writing for the biggest PC Games, game review, Reviews portal, and drinking too much coffee.
Well, think again; working in the PC Games business is nothing like that. Chances are you'll end up dealing with people who just care about the financial success of the, game review, company, with marketing executives who don't give adamn whether the game is good or not because "We'll put two-million bucks behind it and it'll sell like donuts", with programmers who cannot understand why an arcade-style racing game cannot have the intricacies of a complex simulator.
Still, you'll get some free games plus a decent salary.Still interested? Good.
The easiest way to get a chance to work in the videogames industry is to start as a game tester. Mind you - the job is actually tougher and less exciting, game review, than you think. While it is true that you'll spend most of your day playing games, you must bear in mind that this means testing to death the same game again, game review, and again, since the earliest days of development until it's finished, and this can get really boring.
The game tester starts working as soon as either the graphic engine or some of the AI routines are ready (and even earlier, game review, in some occasions: sometimes testers have to check the game design documents in order to make sure that there aren't weaknesses in the game structure.) It means checking the graphics and the control system or testing the, game review, AI routines, moving around coloured dots (it's often the case with sports games) or extremely unappealing chunks of graphics around the screen to check how the code reacts, game review, , game review, .
Reporting bugs is not an easy or exciting task either. You need to assess the exact circumstances (if any) of a bug taking place and its consequences on the game. More often than not this means playing the same bit of the game again and again and again until you are, game review, able to repeat the same bug whenever you want to (or better: whenever the programmers ask you to) or until you're sure that it was a one-off bug, something which happens in situations which cannot be repeated.
If you don't like PCs, you'll probably find an absolute nightmare having to cope with all the compatibility issues (does the game work fine with all the graphic accelerator cards? And what about the sound cards? And the joypads/joysticks?) but you'll get used to it in a matter of weeks.
Other downsides of the job is that office hours can range from your usual 9-5 to a very stressful round-the-clock when you're, game review, under deadlines and you don't have any guarantee that you'll be mentioned in the credits unless, game review, you're one of the lead testers. (Let's face it; you want your friends to know that YOU were part of the team who made that, game review, brilliant game, don't you?) Put in the frustration coming from, game review, dealing with programmers and/or artists who don't know what does make a good game (the industry has many such people.
..) and you'll get an even worse picture of the job.
Being a game tester is not all that bad, though. It's the perfect way to get into the biz for, game review, many different reasons: the first one and more obvious being that you'll be constantly in touch with both the programmers and artists. In a few weeks' time you'll understand problems concerning polygons (polys, for friends...), frame-rate and its relationships with the responsiveness and precision of the control system, how to address RAM-related problems and much, much more.
Hold on - let me make myself clear: you will NOT become a programmer but you will understand which compromises you must have in the game in order to have, game review, it work in its best possible, game review, form, given the capabilities of the system it is working on and the skills and talents of the developers.
Another obvious plus of the job is the money. In Europe, an internal tester is usually paid somewhere between US$15,000 to US$23,000, assuming he's employed full-time. However, some companies have part-time testing jobs, so that you don't have to leave school to be a tester.
The real highlight of being, game review, a game tester is that in, game review, many occasions, game review, you'll be required to play an active role in the making of the game: rather than limiting your task to just testing existing code, sometimes testers are asked, game review, to suggest alternative solutions to problems in either playability or game structure, game review, . It often happens that, during the development stages, the game feels and plays differently from what it should according to the game design document.
It could be the control system which is too complex, the physics, game review, model, the AI or any other element of the game which doesn't, game review, work as well as it, game review, should. The testers' main task, game review, is to flag any problems arising but they are often asked to give their precious input in order to improve the game.
It sometimes happens that the most critic and capable testers move onto design positions, which is a much more rewarding (both in terms of financial success and, game review, self-fulfilment) job with many more responsabilities.
Another way to climb the ranks of the company is to become Quality Assurance Manager, supervising and directing the work of several testers for one or more titles. Therefore, starting, game review, as a game tester can take you to higher floors while making many interesting contacts in the industry. The perfect game tester can express himself quite well in both written and oral form, knows how to work in a team and know games inside out - both new and classic titles. Needless to say, to do this you must play a lot: explore all the possibilities of a title, do things, game review, the developers couldn't think you, game review, would do (such as killing a friendly character, throwing away a useful item, going out of the track in a racing game or standing in particular areas where you're not supposed to stay) and see what happens.
Be curious while playing, and be critic.
If you have what it takes ring the bell; this industry needs you. Don't let the first negative replies write the word END to your career in this industry. Keep trying until a door opens, then put your foot in. Start writing your cover letter now (keep it short, nobody likes lengthy cover letters)) and be ready for the interview. Sooner or later you'll have your chance, so don't waste it.
Mary works in US for a media company, occasionally writing for the biggest PC Games, game review, Reviews portal, and drinking too much coffee.
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