The truth about being a beta game tester

Many students dream of being a beta tester or a game tester, someone who plays games for a living. Sounds like the best job, right? You are someone who likes to play games, so what could be better than sitting in a comfortable chair, drinking soda and playing while you get paid? There are hundreds of websites and ads that try to attract unsuspecting students to programs and schools to become game testers, and there is even a television focused on that. It is such an easy bait that many students buy the dream, hoping to finish what seems like a perfect job.

Unfortunately, as many game developers will tell you, pro beta tests or game tests are not all that seems so good. Quality Assurance, or QA, as it is called in the industry, comes with many negative aspects that students do not consider while pursuing the pink image in their minds. I have worked with many excellent people who are game testers, and while it may be a good career for some, for most of my students, I advise them not to be a good choice. These are some reasons for this, and there are some better options to which I tend to direct students.

The first major drawback is that work is not really as fun as it seems; On the contrary, it is quite tedious. Students who imagine game tests imagine that it is similar to when they have their friends to play some games: sit down, play some games here and there, and try newer games when they leave. Working in QA is nothing like this. The main objective of quality assurance is to find errors and problems in the game, such as game failures, image failures or incorrect behavior. To find these mistakes, QA has to play the game over and over again. For example, if you were working on Call of Duty, when the first level was ready to play, you would play through it. Then you would play again. And again. You would try to do something slightly different each time, waiting for the game to crash. You will probably end up playing the same level literally hundreds of times. This is far from the optimistic image that most people have of testers and has a feeling much closer to work on the assembly line.

The second main drawback of being in QA is a low salary. Of all the careers in games covered by the Game Developer Magazine industry salary survey conducted each year, quality control consistently ranks the lowest, with more than $ 26,000 less than the next lowest discipline. Even leaders and experienced quality control personnel do not receive a large payment. While money is not everything, this is a major inconvenience when considering which path in the games.

The final drawback is that a career in quality control has limited upward mobility. Some quality control testers make progress in other professional careers such as design or production, but most quality control testers are trapped in quality control for the duration of their career, no matter how skilled they become. It makes it very difficult to move on to another discipline, and since everyone wants to be quality control testers, there isn’t much bargaining power to move to other companies either.

So what should a player do? In my professional counseling sessions with students and parents, I often advise them to consider a career in quality control only after considering other paths first. While I have worked with many excellent people in quality control, if you can become a designer, artist or engineer, then you will be paid more, enjoy greater autonomy in your work and have better mobility in your career.

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