Game Tester Job Contacts One of the key things in any industry is to establish contacts. These industry contacts can keep you informed of shake-ups and new developments, tip you off to new job openings, and generally help you get ahead in your chosen industry. This is especially true in the video game tester world. In this industry, who you know is often the key to finding out about new game testing opportunities and beating out other game testers for jobs.

You may think that the most important people you need to know are the game programmers and developers. Knowing them can be very important in hearing about new games that are in development. If one of your programmer contacts can tell you when a game is about to enter the testing phase, you can be prepared to apply to test that game. Generally, most game testing companies look at resumes as they come in, so if you can get yours in as soon as the company starts looking for testers, you'll have a good chance of being considered first. Many testing jobs are also handed out on a first-come, first-serve basis, so getting in early is very helpful.

How to Contact?

However, while knowing the developers and programmers is very helpful, they actually aren't the primary contacts you want to cultivate. Why? The main reason is because programmers have nothing to do with the hiring of video game testers. Most game testers are considered contract labor, meaning they are not permanently employed by the company. Because of this, you may have to apply for a testing position with the same company every time a new game needs tested.

Sony Headquarters

However, this isn't always true, especially if you get to know the human resources employee who is responsible for hiring game testers. Often, these employees will call up a temp agency and request game testers. If you get to know the HR personnel at several game companies, they may actually request you by name or contact you directly, especially if your programmer friends recommend you as a tester.

Making contacts among the temp agency coordinators is also a must with video game testing. Once these temp agencies know you and know that you do great work, they will start placing you with more and more game companies.

Obviously, making contacts among all of these people is key to getting game testing gigs. You want to know the programmers and developers so they will recommend hiring you to the HR people, who will contact the temp agency coordinators. These coordinators will learn that you are in high demand, and they will start sending you the best game testing jobs as they become available. Once you have this network in place, expect to start earning a good amount of money and always having a game or two to test.