Why video game tester job shows that make some people thousands of dollars leave others with a bad experience. And what determines when these shows are and aren’t right for you.
First, let’s take a look at finding a traditional job.
Take a step back and find ways to find a traditional job. There are different ways to look for work when looking for any job, be it a secretary, sales representative, or plumber.
One way is to do it yourself. Search on your own for open positions, write your own resumes, and visit each location (at the expense of gas or public transportation) to apply for and attend interviews. At the end of the process, you keep your entire paycheck, you don’t pay anyone else anything to get a job, and you don’t owe anyone anything once you have a job. This is the traditional way of obtaining employment, and in many situations it is still the best method today. One consideration if you collect unemployment benefits from a previous job, doing at least part of your job searching this way may be a requirement of the law where you live so you don’t lose your unemployment benefits before finding a new job.
Another is working with an employment agency or a temporary employment agency. In this approach, they try to find a job for you among hundreds of potential jobs. They can conduct your one interview or a small number of interviews, from which they collect the information necessary to find the best matches for you across all the jobs in your database. They can also offer assistance in writing a master resume for your use, or a set of resumes from which they can select the best one for each type of job to send to various companies.
Some agencies pay you, while charging the company that needs workers both what is owed and additional money to cover their fees. In this scenario, the agency is charging the company that needs staff for providing workers, as well as for human resource management and other administrative services.
Alternatively, placement agencies and organizations serving freelancers may charge the job seeker: a one-time successful placement fee or regular membership fees. One-time fees are more common among agencies offering permanent job placement, while membership fees are more common among freelance providers.
For example, independent truckers can subscribe to services that give them access to hundreds of available shipping contracts from which they can select. In this example, the agency adds and presents as many available contracts as possible to truckers for one fee; and let truckers accept the offers that best suit their personal, scheduling and financial goals. Taxi drivers may have a similar arrangement with a dispatch agency that charges a regular fee for the use of a brand name, the diversion of customers calling the drivers, and possibly the use of a specially equipped vehicle to serve as a cab. Drivers, in turn, keep the money they collect from their passengers.
How are jobs as a video game tester different?
The answer is that they are no different.
With game tester jobs, your options are the same.
You can do it by yourself. Using your own experience, education and training, you can search for employment on your own and for free. You can search for opportunities using your own effort as with any other type of job. Contacting companies like Blizzard, EA Software, Konami, Riot Games, and others directly on your own will only cost you time and resources. All you need to do is compete directly with other possibly more experienced game testers; some of whom may already understand what hiring managers will be looking for, be familiar with these companies, and have a broader set of experiences from which to build their resumes and portfolios. You won’t have to pay anyone to compete directly with other applicants who can respond faster, with more powerful qualifications, and a better idea of what matters and what doesn’t for prospective employers.
Or, you could work with a video game tester job program. This arrangement works in a similar way to the arrangement with staffing companies and independent agencies for more traditional jobs.
In some arrangements, membership for the job seeker is free. When this is the case, the game development company that needs the tested games pays the company running the program to provide testers for a pool of applicants. You may or may not receive the same pay as when you work directly for the game development company. In any case, if your membership is free it is because the game development company pays money to the program in addition to the money it receives. In return, the company operating the program takes care of human resources or other tasks, such as screening potential candidates and only selecting those they believe are best suited to the interests of the game development company. These companies do not charge you, because they charge the game development company and that is what they work for, not for you.
Other arrangements are more like independent agencies for taxi drivers, truckers, message specialists, beauticians, etc. You pay a membership fee and in return receive services, the most basic of which include making available to you all the jobs you may qualify for. Others may include: helping you develop and present your resume, matching you with the best contracts, and managing your portfolio for you. You pay them, either a monthly fee or a percentage of what you earn, and they are working for you, not the gaming company.
So why are video game tester job programs great for some but not for others?
And how do I know when such a program is right for me?
The main reason is the discrepancy between the goals and objectives of the game tester vs. the services and benefits of a program.
Experienced game testers will often not benefit from a program, but could still benefit from the books or other resources that some programs come with. They must first check to see if they can get the same books and resources themselves faster, cheaper, or both. A program would only benefit the seasoned game tester if paying a fee just to obtain these types of resources cost less time and money than going out and searching for the same resources on your own.
If you are a professional game tester and feel that the jobs offered through these programs are a step back for you, but you still don’t want to search on your own (maybe you average $ 11 / hr. But it could average $ 35 / hr If I had help to be more competitive), I could always work with traditional staffing agencies. This is best if you are trying to move from an existing full-time game tester position to a better one, or if you are open to other types of employment as well. The downside is that they can mishandle video game testing jobs unless they specialize in games. If your qualifications are strong enough and your portfolio is holding up well on its own, using a traditional staffing agency is probably still your best option if you really want to move into a better game development position than one you already have.
If you are new to gaming-related jobs or the job market in general, you would probably benefit from a program. College education programs are best if you are looking for undergraduate training in the field. However, college programs rarely offer job placement at the end of the program. If you are really concerned about getting a job once you earn your degree, you may want to further your college education by participating in a freelance video game tester job program during your time off from school. Increasing your college education with time spent participating in an independent program is probably the best option for someone new to game development.
Another problem is the way these programs are marketed. Matching workers to jobs for a fee is older than the United States; however, the video game industry only developed since the advent of the information age. As a result, agencies that link workers to traditional work generally promote themselves by describing their benefits in a straightforward way. You don’t need to convince anyone about the concept of traditional work; they simply need to inform people of the reasons why they may want to use a staffing service instead of seeking employment on their own.
By comparison, video game tester job programs should promote both the concept of being a video game tester and the concept of using a separate program to do so. This is sometimes done using persuasive language combined with the best potential earning examples that (although accurate) may not reflect the typical results of the average rater. Also, some websites promoting these programs are not created by the company that operates the program, but by third-party internet marketers who simply create a website using the most favorable and persuasive information before moving on to another site promoting a product. different. Not that someone is running a “scam” per se. The video game tester job program is dedicated to matching potential testers with available work, while the affiliate webmaster is dedicated to creating as many websites for as many products as they can generate income through promotion.
To ensure that the website you are reading provides you with accurate and quality information, look for: quotes from renowned writers in the gaming industry or trusted sources such as Wikipedia, many in-depth paginated articles, recently updated articles (indicating a site that is kept with the most recent information), at least one page is older (an older privacy policy or terms of service shows the site has been around for a while), and so on. Affiliate sites with these characteristics are likely to provide you with information that you can trust and that you can make wise decisions about; and to advertise and market proven programs, even if other sites promoting the same programs use more generic sales tactics.
What if you are not interested in college or a permanent career, you just want some easy money?
If this is the case, you should look at the types of assignments you choose once you sign up for a video game tester job program. Most programs offer consumer experience assignments (CE, UX, or UXA), as well as quality assurance (QA) assignments, even if your website primarily talks about QA. However, when selecting, applying for, and accepting assignments, be sure to read carefully what the assignment entails and the requirements you must meet in order to receive payment. QA offers generally pay a lot more, but QA assignments aren’t that easy or that much fun. QA testing is very tedious, can be frustrating at times, and requires a more committed mindset. Of course, if you see a QA offer that sounds like you would like to make (and you pay enough), don’t overlook it. Just understand that QA assignments aren’t as easy as CE, UX, and UXA assignments, especially if your mindset is easy money. The advantage of QA, of course, is that you pay more when you meet all of your requirements.