Wednesday, March 30, 2011

How to Get Video Game Testing Experience Right Now

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If you’re interested in becoming a video game tester, you may not know all the steps involved in getting to your dream job. You might have seen some ads or read about someone who works for a developer playing new games before they release. However, while game development and testing can be a very interesting career, you can’t exactly walk into it. It is a very serious field and requires dedicated, highly motivated workers with the right skills in place. To get those skills, you’ll need to work on landing a fair bit of experience in the field of game design and development.

Technical Experience

The easiest way to start is simply by learning the stuff that testers are expected to know. Get books on C++, Java, XNA and other programming languages. Learn about 3D animation, game test builds, and the software used to produce and distribute bug reports during the testing phase. Most game developers will look for at least some experience with the basic programming languages, excel and access experience, and CV or resume experience related to technical writing.

Your Portfolio

You don’t need to have worked on a video game before to build a portfolio. In fact, nearly any technical writing experience will get you there. You just need to sit down and write some content that clearly outlines problems, solutions, and clear steps between them. This can be done in school, or it can be done on your own with any number of exercise-filled books from your local bookstore.

Education

Game developers won’t discriminate if you don’t have a degree in programming or game development, but they may choose someone else over you if they can more effectively showcase their expertise because of that education.

So, if you want to guarantee yourself a job in this field, some college courses or even a degree can definitely. Degrees are available in computer science, logic, technical writing, and 3D animation, while certificates are available in things like game development (and some schools even offer degrees in video game development now).

Finally, don’t neglect actually playing games and spending time learning how they work. If you can get into open or closed betas for new games, by all means do so and take the opportunity to develop a clear understanding of how the bug reporting process works. Use the forums for a game in beta, write about bugs, and talk to the lead testers and GMs as much as possible. You never know when you might impress someone.

Learn how to build your resume, create experience and show off to the interviewers you’ll meet at any game developer with the secrets in Beta Gaming Testers. CLICK HERE

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