Video game testing jobs have become one of the hottest commodities on the market for up-and-coming job seekers. The exploding gaming industry is providing all sorts of employment opportunities for young, technically savvy students who have an eye for art and design. Many game designers and developers start their careers as testers, while other testers stick with their chosen job simply because they love it. Regardless, there are game tester jobs out there if you're willing to invest the time and effort to look.

For young gamers looking to get their foot in the door through a job in testing, there is the question of whether or not one should join an agency offering game testing jobs. Before addressing this question, it's important to state up front that jobs in the gaming industry are no different than those in any other industry. Supply and demand rule the marketplace. The higher the number of applicants for a given job, the less likely any one individual will land that job unless he stands out from the rest. That being said, most game publishers do not openly list positions for game testers because they receive thousands of unsolicited applications without ever printing an advertisement.

You can begin your search for game testing careers simply by completing a resume and curriculum vitae and sending it to every publisher you can think of. Their websites will sometimes have e-mail links for the human resources department. If not, you can generally send a resume to a generic contact e-mail at the individual company. Make sure your resume highlights any specific game playing or game testing experience that you have. If you've ever volunteered as an unpaid beta tester, it's an experience that will probably put your name near the top the list. At a bare minimum, you must be computer literate and have a good working knowledge of the various types of video games. Knowledge of specific titles is also helpful.

Another option for getting your foot in the door as a game tester is to join an agency which hires such personnel. In fact, as supply out paces demand in the game industry, going through an agency becomes more and more profitable. What you must understand however, is that these agencies are temp agencies that hire various professionals and loan them to other companies. That means if you were to join an agency, they might send you to company X to work on a specific project. Once that project is completed company X returns you to the agency which then assigns you to a new project. Agencies who hire video game testers generally have enough work to keep their people busy, but project stability is not a strong point.

Game Testing Agency

One of the reasons software publishers use an agency rather than hiring their own full-time testers is the cyclical nature of video game releases. The fact is the most profitable time to release a new video game is just prior to the Christmas shopping season. Many publishers ask their developers and designers to pull double-duty as game testers in the early stages of development. They will hire outside game testers when they are nearing the final stages of development, in order to get the title ready for a pre-Christmas release. Under this system, work tends to be plentiful from late spring to late summer and then dies down a bit after that. Game publishers who don't have a multiple number of projects continually in the works find it more profitable to hire agency testers only for the last few months of a project.

In conclusion, gamers looking for jobs as full-time testers have several options including joining an agency. As with any job, the more opportunity one has to be exposed to prospective employers, the better chance he has to land a job. If you have access to an agency in your area, by all means join. The worst that can happen is that you don't get a job.