ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

How to Get a Job in Video Game Testing

Updated on April 25, 2012

Game Testing

Your Goal: Your goal, if you are reading this, is to get a job working in the fast-paced and ever-changing Electronic Video Game industry.

Why Game Testing: Game Testing, or Quality Assurance as it is known in the industry, is a great jumping off point for getting into a variety of other jobs in Gaming. These include, but are not limited to, Production, Game Design, Systems Design, and Audio Design (plus a heck of a lot more that I'm not going to list!) The Video Game industry is one of the few that hasn't seen a noticeably hit in profits due to the recent global economic downturn. In fact, companies are starting up every day and Game Testing is always part of any successful game business strategy.

Before You Apply: Before you even start to look for the job, make sure you know what you are getting into. Game Testing is not sitting around all day playing games and eating pizza. It is hard work and involves a great deal of documentation, meetings, emails, and interpersonal communication. Game testing is not playing through the game over and over which, while eventually boring, seems like fun in general. In QA, you are actually more likely to find yourself playing the same level or puzzle over and over again until your eyes bleed from exhaustion. That's how you get bugs fixed. Rinse and repeat. It's important to know that before you take the first step to apply.

Where To Apply: Obviously certain areas of the country (United States, but this applies to any country with Gaming companies) are more heavily populated with game companies. Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle are all great cities to look for jobs, but other cities, such as New York, New Orleans, and Austin, also have Gaming presence. When scouting out companies, you need to look for places that will bring you on as a contract employee for a several month stint. You'll find as you look that many large companies (EA, Activision, Sony, etc.) have more offerings for those without experience to get a foot in the door. While it is harder to get full-time employment in QA in these companies, they allow you to get the experience needed to apply to more experience-based QA groups (Zynga, Treyarch, Bungee). Big companies are a great way to rack up test time and get the skills needed to make it long term in the industry.

Important! This is just a basic guide and there are many ways to actively seek out employment in the game industry. Two things you should keep in mind when seeking a job in Gaming, beyond what has already been said, are: 1) Temp Agencies can be a great asset for finding a job. These companies specialize in contracted labor recruitment and have close ties to the video game industry. They also have job listings online so you can browse possible options for what you want to do. 2) It really does matter who you know at least as much as it matters what you know. You'll hear people refer to the Game industry as being very incestuous, in the sense that people almost always reconnect with others with whom they've worked over the years as they move to new companies. Despite the gigantic profit margins in the industry, the total number of employees is relatively small compared to comparabley profitable industries (oil, high tech, etc). Knowing someone at the company where you are applying is a huge boost in the likelyhood of you getting a job. Recommendations from current employers nearly always get calls for interviews before strangers with not internal connections. The lesson here; make friends and network as much as possible using social media like facebook and Linkedin.

Good luck!


working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)