If you love the thrill and joy you get from playing video games, beating a level, shouting in victory when you win, then you will absolutely
not want to get a job in video game tester. Now you may be asking, but Sarah, if people like video games, why not get paid for it? Well first, let me tell you about a time when I first had an "opportunity" to be a video game tester.
I stumbled across an ad for getting paid to play video games a while back when I was searching the web. I recall the ad featuring pictures of people smiling and cheering with video game controllers in their hands. It also said things like, "Make make money doing what you love!" "It's easy money!" "Make thousands of dollars a month!" ext. So I sign up for it, but thought it was a little suspicious. After signing up they asked me to pay for some soft of software and manuals I will need for this job. That's when I decided not to proceed with "applying" for this job. Mainly because I was broke at the time.
Afterward I received emails everyday asking me to purchase the product to I could "start my career with my dream job". I later found out that they were not a legit company for various reasons. Which brings me to my first reason of why video game tester is a bad chose for a gamer:
Video game testing scams
There are a lot of ads on the internet that advertise about how being a being a video game tester is easy and fun. Then they ask you to pay for their supplies so they can ship it to you. If you came across and ad like that, you should know right away that it is a scam. Real jobs won't require you to pay for anything if they are going to hire you. You just have to met their qualifications. So don't be fooled.
It's not for everyone who plays video games
You will need to have the patience and willingness to do receptive tasks and looking for bugs. You must also have average to above average hand-eye coordination. They're not looking for teenagers who goof around and procrastinate when testing the games. It has to be taken seriously while being observant. You must also be a good team player and can interact with other people, take criticism, and is willing to work with members of the team if it will help to solve the problem.
It takes the fun out of playing
I think this is the most important reason of all. The job of being a video game tester will have so much repetitive testing it will must likely bore you to tears. I know I would be anyway. You'll have to play the same level in the game repeatedly looking for any problems. A video games tester often is required to play non-stop, sometimes 24 hours without a break, as a final check.
So if you really like playing video games, feeling the adrenaline rush and triumph of beating the level and don't want it to change, I advise you to not take this job. Then again, being a video game tester is a great way to gain experience in the gaming industry. If you think this is something that might interests you and you're a team player, by all means, go ahead and sign up. Just make sure it's legit.
