How to Create Experience

Last article I recommended a few things you can do for free to make your resume look a ton better especially if you have no previous game tester experience. Now I'll expand on a few of my favorite ones.

#1 Start a game review blog
Sure there are tons of review blogs out there, but where is yours? There's always a new way to breakdown a video game and areas you can concentrate on that others have looked over. How about reviewing only fps games and comparing how each weapon feels? How about comparing only the enemies in each game to see which one has better AI? Talking as a game designer, I'd love it if there was a website I could go to and find out this info with a few clicks. It would save me tons of time and money and I'd probably look who the author of this wonderous site is and thank him starting a conversation that can lead to a job opening! Also if you get a good amount of traffic, publishers will send you games to review for free!

#2 Make YouTube videos about video games
What is the quickest way to learn about an old or new video game that doesn't involve reading? YouTube! Everyone uses it and a simple link on your resume can take a would be employer to your entertaining and informative video. Did you know testers often have to capture video of the bugs they find so developers can fix them? Studios also love someone who can create videos for promotion or the publisher to show off their work.

#3 Become an active member of a game's message board
You've all come across one or registered on one at some point. Just about every major bug on a AAA game has been mentioned on these boards. Users will create huge wishlists for the next iteration of the game and the developers do check even if they don't speak up all the time.  If your an active member chances are a developer could have come across your post giving you a speaking point if you ever get your foot in the door for an interview.

#4 Become an expert on anything related to video games
This is similar to #1 but can be about anything your passionate about! Start a second Twitter account and website just about the Batman video games. Man I'm loving Arkham City! Chances are the official Warner Bros Twitter account and the developers will take notice and start following and responding to you. Hell, DC Comics can take notice too giving you another window of opportunity.  On a related note, I have 4 Twitter accounts and I try to keep my interests separated. If I had one where I talked about everything it would be alot harder for others to figure out what I'm into.

I've talked to testers who've got their job based on YouTube videos that got alot of hits. There are Social Media positions popping up at studios, just as fun as being a tester! There are also game reviewer openings at your IGN and Game Informer magazine like companies. Bottom line, your opening doors that you didn't know existed by following through with one of these. Your also learning how to focus on a certain area that you can master rather than casting your net too wide and not knowing enough about anything!

No experience, No problem

It was a dream, but its becoming a reality for many gamers like you all over. You CAN test video games for a living and make a career out of it. The question is how, where, and what do I need to do? You can try searching for job openings on your own only to find out you're not qualified or you live too far away from the big companies. You can apply to a job posting only to not hear a thing back or you can let me help!  I know its hard to get your first break into the game industry so I'm here to make that alot easier.

First my story of breaking it into games. Back in 1994 I was attending my local city college and working a night shift at a bank processing center. I think at the time I was planning on being an accountant like my parents would like me to be, but I really wasn't into my college courses and just going through the motions.  The security guard at the bank I worked at told me about a video game focus group for a Sega CD game (I wonder if everybody reading this knows what that is?) and invited me to join.  The focus group sent me a beta copy of their game and in a week we would go in and tell them what we thought about it and they would pay us $50.00. REALLY? They would pay us to tell them what we thought about this game? Yes, that's exactly what we did.

Fast forward a couple months I was looking in the newspaper job openings (yeah I'm old) and I spotted an opening for a game tester/customer service guy. I was like, I need this job! How can I get it? I started updating my resume. Up till then I only worked at a flower shop as a cashier and at the bank processing center which my best skill was being fast with a 10-key. I thought to myself, how in the hell will I get the tester job with this sad resume. Then it hit me, hey I did that focus group. I can add that to my resume. So I did and made a very big decision that eventually got me the job. I made that one day focus group session sound like real job experience on my resume as best I can because I really wanted this job.

This is lesson #1 to all who want to make the big break. You need to realize what your up against and do your best to stand out. Who would have known that the focus group I went to would be my key into my first game testing job? There are a ton of things you can do right now for free that would look great on your resume to video game companies. Start a video game review blog, make youtube videos, become an active member of a message board of your favorite game. Start a fan page for your favorite game or the company's game you want to work at. This alone will go a long way in educating you on the industry, show that you can complete a project, and get you more focused on your future career.

I want to keep these posts short and sweet so I don't overwhelm you so I'll end it here. I'll continue my story next post. Feel free to ask me any questions.