Game Tester Salary – How Much Can You Earn?
Ask many teenagers what their dream job would be and the answer is invariably the same every time: a video game tester. They say this with all the naivety of youth, blissfully unaware and untroubled by the sheer level of hard work and commitment this challenging career can require.
The common (mis)conception of game testing is that people are paid ridiculous amounts of money for playing video games all day. In truth, the pay is not quite as generous as you might think, and the process is far from fun especially if you do it on a continual basis, yet it’s still an appealing career choice for many.
First and foremost, it is an often tedious and dull affair and one that involves no shortage of hard work, in fact, you can rest assured that for every 15 minutes of game play you will probably have to spend the next half hour writing up a report on the bugs you unearth during the process. You will need to be thorough and meticulous both in your quest for bugs and glitches as well as in the actual recording of them.
The tester will also need to ensure that they record and note their findings carefully in order to then pass on the relevant details to the game development department who will then seek to remove the bugs and fix the errors. The tester will need to be very explicit and thorough as to the level of detail they submit, in order to help expedite the process.
Now that we have for all intents and purposes stripped the process bare, the next question we must consider is: just how much money does the average game tester earn for their labor?
First and foremost, it is important to appreciate that there are a number of different factors that come into play when it comes to this issue, although by far, the two most important and obvious of these are time involved and the level of experience of the tester. When you compare the typical salary of a video games tester to those of other personnel involved in the game production process, it deosn’t look great in comparison, but then it’s one of the few positions in the industry available to someone without a college degree. Another key variable is the quality of work of the tester, i.e. how accurate they are with their reports, how well they spot bugs, how effectively they communicate their findings. Roughly speaking, the typical average rate clocks in at the 20-30 dollars per hour mark, and it provides the tester with something much more valuable than just money – experience, and a “foot in the door” of the games industry.
Download the free report How To Become A Games Tester and learn how to break into the games industry without a computer science degree. For free Flash game visit Kwikgames.com
