How Does One Become a Game Tester?

Rick the Red asks: "This is similar to other stories about game development. I'm a software tester, and I just saw this job posting: 'Jobs just do NOT get any better than this! We have multiple openings at one of the world's most successful software companies for experienced game testers of varying skill levels! Platforms and tools are not important. If you love video games and have at least 6 months experience you CANNOT miss this awesome opportunity!' OK, I'm an experienced software tester, and I have video game experience of varying skill levels, but I have zero professional game tester experience. Damn! So, how does one get experience if the jobs all require experience? I know, it's the age-old question, but are there any game-testing-specific answers?"

Comments

Voice Of Experience.

[immanis]

I was a game tester for Sony Computer Entertainment of America (989 Studios). My work credits included Crash Bandicoot Warped, Spyro the Dragon, Medevil, and Syphon Filter, among endless counts of PlayStation Underground and Pack-In disks.

Being a game tester is a great job if you are single, or if you have no bills, or if you have no ambition to be financially successful. We got paid $10.00 an hour (in the San Francisco Bay Area, that amounts to jack and squat), and we worked anything between 40 and 80 hours a week. If we did not like the hours, or the work, or the way we were treated, tough luck, because there were a hundred people waiting at the door to take our place.

I got in because I knew someone on the inside who put my name on the top. This was how most people who worked there got their jobs. I had an interview, in which I was advised by my insider friend not to wear a "Dope" t-shirt like the previous candidate. The interview was simple, so I thought until I worked there for a while.

I had the pleasure of working with some of the most unbelievable human beings on the planet. You prolly think I mean that in a good way. But between the guy who fell asleep at his console every day, the guy with mysterious scalp problems, the racist, the interestingly unstable 'nam vet, the people who could not find their asses with both hands and a map, and of course, the guy whose young life was forever changed (arguably ruined) by a 6 year old who had beat him at Street Fighter 8 years earlier (he dedicated his life to being the best Street Fighter player there was. He was a ranked California champion - do they have such things???) - well, these people were unbeleivable. Not that they were all insane. I met some great people, and have some very fond memories of that time.

We had a bomb threat my very first day. One day, someone fired a shot through one of the windows at us.

Now, most people have said "For the love of god, don't do it!" I think I can temper my response somewhat. It's a fun job that has it's down times. People think it's all about playing. Sometimes it is. Sometimes, you spend the day plugging in every joystick you have in the house and pressing X-O-UP rapidly because someone yesterday got it to crash that way but they don't remember which controller it was. Sometimes you get to see games pre-alpha before the world. Sometimes you spend a whole weekend with nothing to test other than a PSU disk with nothing but video. Sometimes you test games like Jersey Devil, which make the bile raise up to your throat every time you see the damn main character. And then sometimes, you play through a game so much, that by the time it comes out on the market, you can visit a friend's house and kick their arse without looking.

To sum up - you get in by knowing someone (or getting very lucky). You stay in by enduring the sweatshop mentality and living with the crazies. And if you hang in there for a long time, put in your due, get a sharp head about you, you might just land the coveted Perm Tester position and the 36k yearly that comes with it.