The best time for video game tester jobs is now because we are in just about a horrible recession.  But you already knew that, the only question you may have is: so what? or what do you mean?  Well, you might be one of the hundreds of people that can benefit by becoming a beta game tester for video games you may possibly enjoy playing.

Sure you won’t be in bed all day playing video games (although you can do that if you’re a volunteer game tester) but you can make some extra cash or beer money if you drink.  In fact in a recession, video games may thrive because people are so frustrated and want to forget about their troubles by playing these games.

If you become a beta test gamer you can cash in on this industry.  You will begin as an ordinary game tester getting paid around 10 dollars per hour, but there are so many opportunities to go up as a game tester.  You basically, are getting your foot in the door of the video gaming industry.

Video Game tester jobs are an important part of the video game process, and they play an important role in the release of a popular video game.  It is a constant loop of testing and patching and testing and fixing to get it to the last level and finally to sell it to you so you can play it inside your living room.

It is very important that the games that are released are fixed of any errors bugs or glitches that would just be ridiculous to have in gameplay.  You know, like game freezing, characters doing strange things, getting stuck, weird teleports or anything of that nature.  You see, video game developers have this fear and apprehension about releasing a game with glitches and it makes sense.

Although Grand Turismo 2, a game for the early playstation actually had some type of error since you were unable to play the last portion of the game.  And despite that, this game actually sold lots of copies, so that’s something I found very interesting, so i don’t know what happened with those guys and their playstation game testing.

So now you might be thinking about a video game testing job and whether this is for you or not.  Well in this bad economy, you might want to try it even if you have a different job already to get some extra cash and break into the industry.  In the past I’ve looked for advice on how to become a game tester and I found lots of dumb things out there.  For instance, it went from suggesting i join a book club (hello, do i look like oprah or something)  to some guy telling me to join his monthly membership site.

But then I found a place to get a step by step guide on how to become a beta tester.

Whenever you think about video games you probably don’t think about girls, although they probably come into the picture if you’re playing something like dead or alive or any game where the girls are in 2 piece swim suits.

But that’s not what i’m going to talk about here (i know, disappointing?) anyway, when you hear the word game tester you probably don’t think of a girl.  At best you probably think about a few young guys in their twenties who like to play video games and wear t-shirts that say I love StarWars or something like that.

This brings up an interesting question: Should girls be video game testers?  Well, that depends on whether women possess the traits necessary to be successful as a video game tester.  And by they way, yes they do exist.

I know a girl that is just a freak about video games and plays them all the time.  She actually blogs about video games too, which is strange because I didn’t know she was good at writing.  Anyway, she inspired me so much that I had to write this post right now.

If I told her she should be a game tester, i would probably tell her to imagine she was like this fancy food tester.  All she had to do to get paid, was visit restaurant after restaurant and taste the food.  And after tasting the food (the new video game) she would report and tell the chefs (the programmer) if the soup had any flies in it (bugs) or if there was anything wrong with the recipe (errors).  Wow that took a lot of my creativity, i usually don’t get this creative.

Anyway, I don’t know if she would be able to handle a job as a video game developing tester.  Girls usually aren’t acustomed to working long hours and she’s a pretty girl that’s kind of spoiled, since people buy her all kinds of video games all the time for any occassion.

Also, you may have to play the same game for span of a few months, and this girl i know tends to not have a big attention span.  She would probably be able to stick with it for 3 weeks tops.

Finally, another issue would be that most girls tend to “spread the word” a lot about all kinds of things.  This would probably come in handy in the marketing stage, but definitely not in the video game testing stage.  In fact, having lots of girls being game tester might increase piracy rates because they might just feel the need to share the current new game she was was given to test.

I mean, there are so many different ways a company can stop piracy with more restrictions and systems, but some girls just can’t keep a secret, you know?  I don’t know if any companies descriminate about hiring women as game testers, but other then the above issues, i’m sure women can be excellent game testers.

Feel free to tell me your own perspective on this, I find it very interesting. And if you’re interested in beta testing games, go ahead and visit this game tester job paradise to find out how you can get the best game tester job.

So why in the hell would anybody want to learn about game testing? Well, there are actually several mind boggling reasons for it.  One is because I recommended it, and i do so to anyone who is interested in video games and or sleeps with an xbox next to him.  I know some people that did that even though they had teddy bears, but those bears just don’t do it anymore.  Anyway here are some reason to learn about video game testing:

1. Because You like video games: duh! You would never have found this such website if you didn’t put something inside a search engine that had the words video game, game tester, video game tester or some type of similar combination.  You obviously enjoy playing video games so much that you are  thinking about making it part of a career or at least an interesting job.  But don’t get it twisted, being  a beta test gamer doesn’t mean its all pretty pretty princesses.  Its a real job with real competition and you want to come out on top.  I won’t tell you its your dream job where you play video games in your underwear all day without leaving your house and you just play for entertainment because that’s just not the way it works.  This is a business like any other and if you are a paid game tester you need to deliver real results to the company that you’re working with.

2. You may also want to learn to understand this business:  The whole video game industry is a gigantic puzzle or at least it can seem that way when you first begin because you just don’t have the experiences necessary and the knowledge of how things work to put everything neatly together inside your head.  Once you get your foot in the door, you’ll have plenty of learning opportunities where you will learn lots of the behind the scenes stuff in the gaming industry.  You will never look at the same way again.  You’ll see how the funness comes out of a video game that took many people’s abilities and talents to create, design, and even test for gameplay, graphics, and glitches.

3. You may want to become a beta game tester as part of your master plan to become a video game designer, programmer, or high position in game development.  Starting as a video game tester allows you to have extra valuable experiences that will serve you once you get into that career.  You might also come across some very important people in that industry and word can get out of how you’re such a bad ass game tester and dependable worker to work on a project.  If you get really involved with the people who are insiders you may get to places you never thought you could have before.

4. Maybe you just want to test video games because you don’t want to sell insurance.  Hell, when worse comes to worse, with the tedious parts of game testing I would still prefer that job over selling insurance.  Who wants to be out cold calling door to door and getting those things slammed in your face?  Not me, and hopefully not you.  If you are one of those people that likes getting doors slammed in their faces, congratulations you are unique and should stop reading this right now. Good luck.

For the rest of you who are interested in getting a video game tester job. Tony has you covered, in a step by step fashion he guides you through the entire process of securing that position you want as a game tester.  No BS just the real deal.  Go here to learn more about video game testing.

So we all know that being a game tester does not require you to get a college degree.  But what if you’re a real school type of person?  You were born to go to school and you have to go to make you feel like an adult.  Its either that or someone forced you into it right?  Alright, you might just be going if you want to get a good job, Grown ups always ran that line while you were growing up right?

Well, going to college isn’t that bad at all.  So you want to major in the video game related fields?  You want a career out of it? Where should you be looking?    Here are  a few career paths that you can go after you get some education:

Video Game Producer- these guys have to be educated in order to do their job, which is basically to run an entire operation.  They are the people that bring it all together and see the big picture.  The whole forest and not just a tree…. you get it.  They have to be organized and have some type of programming knowledge so they can effectively pick the right people for the tasks that must be done.  And it just so happens that you can start building the knowledge base and experience for this career by starting as a game tester.

Computer Programmer- these guys are all about coding and the building blocks that make up a video game.  You can become one of them by going through their college rituals.  It can also involve lots of mathematics as well.  Some skill can be learned by working as a game dev tester, although to become one of them you really have to know your stuff.  Things like C++ programming, using Java and XNA will do wonders for your learning.  Just keep at it and you’ll be done in no time.

Writer/Artist- The writers are the creative writing people that will make up the storyline for gameplay.  You can become one of them simply by focusing on this area.  Artists, however do the graphics and animation of the gameplay (which are freakin important) and that’s most likely for the art majors.

Designer- The designer is basically an idea junkie.  They just talk to everyone like writers and artists and try to pull together common elements to provide the best gameplay possible.  They do consult the programmer as well and its their job to get the creation phase rolling so that a video game could be further developed and then later tested and released.

So there you go, five career paths you can contemplate on your way to work in video game testing and development.  And the best way is to start as beta game tester. ta da! There you go, once again you have won.  You can actually go to college just like your parents told you to and play video games all day just like they told you not to.  Half and half, that’s all you need.  Now you’re all cool and balanced.  Thats right.

If you want to get started as a game tester find out the best strategies and steps to take to winning as a beta game tester

In other words, there are certain stages that a video game tester would have to go through to earn in the higher range of the earnings scale.  In the beginning you start all the way at the bottom, usually as a beta game tester or quality assurance game tester. 

These are the two lower stages of video game testing.  Later you can graduate to becoming an Alpha game tester, these are the more higher end game testers that get paid more and are hired by the big game developing companies. 

A person can start out in beta testing or QA game testing and with some determination and hardwork reach a higher position like Alpha Game Testing.  In alpha game testing, the game tester will test the games that are developed very early on and the type of testing they will do is bug testing for big bugs that would just devastate the entire game if they happened. 

After the alpha game testers get their jobs done, then they may pass the games on to the beta testers and Quality Assurance testers.  By the time that a game reaches the Quality Assurance testers the games are very much complete and only the details of gameplay, sound and graphics need to be tested because the major bugs must have already been detected. 

To move up from a beta tester or quality assurance tester to an alpha tester it may require more than just a willingness to play video games.  You may need to take the extra step such as actually getting some type of video game related education.  Since you will be dealing with major bugs in the system of a video game you have to know your stuff.  This is why these guys get paid more than a person who only does basic gameplay game testing.

You will also need some experience, which naturally comes if you began your game testing career as a beta game tester.  This is where you are introduced to the wonderful world of video gaming.  And most useful to you will be the habit of acting quickly on the things you learn. 

For instance if you learn of a glitch you must take action quickly and report it in detail and this will always make you look good.  You have to go in with the right mindset of getting problems solved and taking action and you’ll go far with that.

Anyway, video game testing can be tedious at times when you do the same thing over and over trying to find the exact error, but at the same time it is a very competitive job.  You have to do all the right things to end up in the best position that you can. 

Its even more competitive in the sense that some guys even test video games online for free as volunteers.  Of course if you prepare yourself adequately, you would do a much better job than any volunteer out there that just likes playing, because you need more than that.

Visit this video game testing page to find the right information to get you your first game tester job.

So what does a game testing job usually pay?  You can make up to 80 or 100 dollars per hour, but don’t count on starting up that high.  You may be able to work to that level by filling up your resume with assignments and projects you work on and build up your experience.  After a few years you can get there if you always do your best.  Although, you’ll probably start at around 10 buck an hour or so. 

Remember that as a video game tester you will be playing games not necessarily for fun, but to do the favor (kinda but not really cause you get paid) to the game companies of testing their new developing games for gameplay, graphic, and sound errors.  You’ll be a glitch expert and bug detective.  Its important that you take good notes so that you can tell the guy that will be fixing the bug exactly how it happened.  This can be so that the glitch can be replicated at command and therefore being able to fix it. 

What type of games need testing? all kinds of games need testing: adventure, rpg, action, racing, you name it.  Since all games can have programming or other holes, they all must be tested by a human game testers.  In other words, being a game tester involves actual skillz and its not just about drinking soda all day and playing yourself silly (okay, maybe it can be). 

Be sure you can use a computer easily.  We’re talking about email, downloading software, installations, and even using instant messenger if required.  Just basic stuff.

You’ll be learning lots of insider information and about the process that needs to happen to bring a video game to life.  You’ll have knowledge that most people never find out at all.  And it doesn’t matter if you’re good at math or any other subject you failed at school.  Or maybe youwere a straight a student, good for you, this works either way.

One of the bright sides of being in the game testing field is that you may get to play games that other people will never play.  For instance, you may play and beta test a game that you find a huge glitch on, and if that glitch is too hard to fix, the game will probably not be released. Therefore, you’ll be part of the less than 1 percent of the population who actually got to play that game.  Many times a company may also let you keep all kinds of games as well.

Check out This website to learn the exact steps you need to get the most pay for video game testing.