Many people have a misunderstanding on what it takes to be a professional video game tester. The fact of the matter is it can be a rewarding job, both fun to do and financially lucrative; however, don't buy into the dream that you can sit around in your underwear, play video games all day, and make a lot of money. It's not quite that easy.
If you want to succeed as a paid game tester, there are some basic skills you need to have first. First of all, you have to be good at communicating with others. This will be required when you first start out working for different companies and begin landing jobs to test video games. At the same time, excellent writing skills are going to be needed when you start giving your analysis on the beta versions of the video games that you're testing.
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Testing a game is similar to playing a game for fun, with a few somewhat minor differences here and there. The big difference when you're testing a game is that it requires much more patience. Not only are you trying to beat the game, but you are trying to explore every single part of it; every nook and cranny, and every crevice. What are you looking for? Well, in a sense, nothing. You are just playing a game, but your hoping that the bugs and glitches FIND YOU!
Some gamers would rather just play the game for fun and pure enjoyment. Those are usually the people that say testing games ruins their experience. Having said that, if you're one of these people and feel that you don't have the patience to explore every part of a game (numerous times), then maybe you don't have what it takes to become a video game tester.
This brings us to the next point: you have to be VERY good at playing video games. Generally speaking, if you can't beat a game without pulling your hair out and screaming, then you can't test it properly. Therefore, being a highly skilled gamer is not only recommended, it it required. Another thing...although you can apply for testing jobs for specific platforms and/or for certain types a video games, you should know that the more platforms you have access to and the more game genres you're good at, the more job opportunities you will ultimately have.
Finally, you will need to acquire better "people" skills. The better you are at networking, the more likely you are to get high-paying video game tester jobs. This doesn't mean that you can't get jobs as a game tester solo; because you can and still make good money doing it on your own. It just means that in order to get the really high-paying jobs, and to get constant work, you have to make strong connections in the video game industry. This doesn't involve anything fancy or complicated; just simple, plain ol' good communication and people skills.
If you have these skills, or are willing to work on them, then you should consider becoming a video game tester!
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