Video Game Testing Programs: Why They’re Great Programs For Some But Not For Others

Why do game tester job programs that make some people thousands of dollars leave others with a bad experience? And what determines when these programs are or are not right for you.

First, let’s take a look at the traditional job search.

Take a step back and look for ways to search for a traditional job. There are different ways to look for a job when looking for any job, whether it is a secretary, a sales representative or a plumber.

One way is to do it yourself. Search on your own for job openings, write your own resumes, and visit each location (at the expense of gas or public transportation) to apply 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 get a job. This is the traditional way to get a job, 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 search this way may be required by law where you live so you don’t lose your unemployment benefits before you find a new job.

Another is work with an employment agency or temporary employment agency. In this approach, they try to find you a job out of hundreds of potential jobs. They may conduct your one interview or a small number of interviews, from which they collect the necessary information to find the best options for you among all the jobs in their database. They may also offer assistance in writing a master resume for their use, or a set of resumes from which they can select the best one for each type of job and send it to various companies.

Some agencies pay you, while charging the company that needs the workers both what they owe you and additional money to cover their fees. In this scenario, the agency is charging the company that needs staff to provide workers, as well as human resource management and other administrative services.

Alternatively, placement agencies and organizations providing services to the self-employed may charge the job seeker: either a one-time fee for successful placement or regular membership fees. One-time fees are more common among agencies that provide permanent job placement, while membership fees are more common among freelance providers.

For example, self-employed truckers can sign up for services that give them access to hundreds of available shipping contracts to choose from. In this example, the agency aggregates and presents as many available contracts as possible to truckers for a fee; and let truckers accept offers that best fit 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, the service of forwarding calls from customers to drivers, and possibly the use of a specially equipped vehicle to serve as a taxi. The drivers in turn keep the money they collect from their passengers.

How are video game tester jobs different?
The answer is that they are not 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 completely on your own and for free. You can look for opportunities with your own effort as in any other type of work. Contacting companies like Blizzard, EA Software, Konami, Riot Games and others directly on your own will only cost you your own 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 to build their resumes and portfolios on. You won’t have to pay anyone to compete directly against other applicants who can respond faster, with more powerful qualifications, and a better idea of ​​what matters and what doesn’t matter to potential employers.

However, you could work with a video game tester job program. This arrangement works similar to the arrangement with staffing companies and independent agencies for more traditional jobs.

In some agreements, membership for the job seeker is free. When this is the case, the game development company that needs games tested is paying the company that runs the program to provide testers for a pool of applicants. You may or may not be paid the same 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 you receive. In return, the company that operates the program takes care of human resources or other tasks, such as screening potential applicants and only selecting those that they feel are best suited to the interests of the game development company. These companies don’t charge you, because they charge the game development company and that’s who they work for, not you.

Other arrangements are more like independent agencies for taxi drivers, truckers, message specialists, beauticians, etc. You pay a membership fee, and in exchange, you receive services, the most basic of which include making available to you as many jobs for which you can qualify. Others may include: helping you develop and submit your resume, matching you with the best hires, and managing your portfolio for you. You pay them, either a monthly fee or a percentage of what you earn, and they work for you, not the game company.

So why are 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 mismatch between game tester goals and objectives vs. the services and benefits of a program.

Seasoned game testers will often not benefit from a program, but might still benefit from the books or other resources that come with some programs. They must first see if they can get the same books and resources themselves faster, at lower cost, or both. A program would only benefit the experienced game tester if paying a fee just to get these kinds of resources would cost less time and money than going out and looking for the same resources on your own.

If you’re a professional game tester and feel like the jobs offered through these programs are a step down for you, but you still don’t want to search on your own (you might average $11/hr, but you could average $35/hr if you had help to be more competitive), you could always work with traditional employment 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 handle game tester jobs poorly unless they specialize in games. If your qualifications are strong enough and your portfolio stands out well on its own, using a traditional staffing agency is probably still your best bet if you really want to move into a better game development position from one you already have.

If you are new to gaming related jobs or the job market in general, then you would probably benefit from a program. College education programs are best if you are seeking undergraduate training in the field. However, university programs rarely offer job placement at the end of the program. If you’re worried about getting a job once you get your degree, you may want to boost your college education by participating in a freelance video game tester job program during your time off from school. Upgrading your college education with time spent participating in an independent program is probably the best bet for someone new to game development.

Another problem is the way these programs are marketed. Matching workers with jobs for a fee is older than the United States; however, the video game industry has only developed since the advent of the information age. As a result, agencies that match workers to traditional work often advertise themselves by outlining their benefits. There is no need to convince anyone about the concept of a traditional job; they simply need to inform people about the reasons why they might want to use a staffing service instead of looking for a job on their own.

By comparison, game tester job programs should promote both the concept of being a game tester and the concept of using a freelance program to do it. This is sometimes done using persuasive language combined with the best potential income examples that (while accurate) may not reflect the typical results of the average evaluator. Additionally, some websites promoting these programs are not created by the company operating 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. It’s not like someone is running a “scam” per se. The video game tester job program is in the business of matching potential testers with available work, while the affiliate webmaster is in the business of creating as many websites for as many products as they can generate income by promoting.

To ensure that the website you are reading provides you with accurate and quality information, look for: quotes from well-known writers in the gaming industry or trusted sources such as Wikipedia, detailed articles from many pages, recently updated articles (indicating a site that is kept up with the latest information), at least one page that is older (older terms of service or privacy policy shows the site has been around for a while), and so on. Affiliate sites with these characteristics are likely to provide you with information you can trust and make informed decisions; and to advertise and market proven programs, even if other sites promoting the same programs use more generic sales tactics.

What if you’re not interested in college or a permanent career, you just want some easy money?

If this is the case, you should see the types of tasks you choose once you sign up for a video game tester job program. Most programs offer consumer experience (CE, UX, or UXA) assignments 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 carefully read what the assignment entails and the requirements you must meet to receive payment. QA offerings typically pay a lot more, but QA tasks aren’t nearly as easy or 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’d like to make it (and pays enough), don’t pass it up. 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 quality control, of course, is that you pay more when it meets all of your requirements.