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    Game testing as a profession.
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    Game testing as a profession.

    Game testing as a profession.Poland is increasingly being called a power in the production of video games, mainly due to the success of such companies as CD Projekt Red and Techland. Even if such a name is somewhat exaggerated, our domestic market is already worth more than $ 438 million, according to analysts of the Dutch company Newzoo. This gives us the second place in eastern Europe behind Russia. For comparison, the value of the entire global video game market is already $ 91.5 billion. There is no shortage of fans of gaming in our country, and not only on computers, but also increasingly on consoles (in 2016 their sales increased by 12%). Interestingly, according to the survey of GfK Polonia, poles are most willing to play adventure games (31%), shooters (18%), RPG (12%) and sports (10%). Many players would like to combine the passion of playing with a professional career, realizing themselves in such a position as a game tester. However, it turns out that the truth about this profession is completely different from the general idea.

    Requirements for game testers

    More and more often you can find ads on the recruitment of game testers. Often, companies such as QLOC, Lionbridge or the more widely known CD Projekt RED are looking for employees for this position. from such announcements, it is easiest to understand what predispositions and skills are expected from game testers.

    First of all, you should speak English very well so that there is no problem with smooth communication. Contrary to appearances, most gaming employers do not require testers to complete a computer science degree. In recruitment ads, there was even sometimes information that a secondary education would be enough. The right predisposition is much more important. It is important to be highly communicative and to be able to describe problems concisely and clearly. It is also important to be able to work under time pressure (deadlines can also be absolute in the gaming industry) and to be able to work in a group. Analytical minds, creativity, but also unconventional approach to problem solving and accuracy are preferred. Often employers also require knowledge of at least MS Excel. It is good to see the familiarity with the hardware and familiarity with the console platforms, Android and iOS, as well as familiarity with the video game industry. You can increase your chances of getting a job if you already have experience as a game tester, but this is usually not a prerequisite.

    Recruitment meeting

    Of course, in order to get a job in testing games, you must first appear at a recruitment meeting. Most often it consists of two parts. The first is a conversation (often about games and other general topics), and the second can take the form of a task to solve or test. Of course, here the details may vary depending on the recruiting company and what the employee will specialize in (e.g. functional tester, location tester). For example, at a recruitment meeting, you may be given the task of picking up errors in a part of a game manual translated into English. Here you should pay attention to everything, to every detail, like typos, no dots, no prominence, etc. You may also be asked to edit the error description into English based on a screenshot from the game and a short note. Then it is necessary not only to briefly and clearly describe the bug, but also to present in numbered points how to reproduce the error. It is also good to write how the mechanism under analysis should work. These are, of course, only some variants of the recruitment meeting. However, it may turn out that it will look completely different, and the recruiting company will turn out to be some unconventional idea.

    However, before you decide to participate in such recruitment, it is worth answering one important question:

    Is testing games like playing games?

    Turns out, not necessarily. One thing at a time. There are many myths and misunderstandings about testing games. In the imagination of most people, this job consists of coming to the company headquarters in the morning and playing for 8 hours, which is accompanied by great fun. Unfortunately, it is usually not so pleasant. It turns out that this is often a tedious job, in which frequent overtime is actually the norm. And the closer the game's release, the longer you stay in the office. Of course, overtime in the IT industry (not just there) is not something unique. However, the tester must sometimes prepare for a very long working day.

    The IT industry is often associated with flexible performance of duties, not necessarily at the employer's premises. It would seem that the best way to test games is to be quiet at home and perform your duties remotely. Nothing more wrong. The game tester works at the headquarters of the company that employs him. Let's not forget that we are testing products that have not yet appeared on the market, and most of the issues related to them are simply secret. No company will risk game code and other items accidentally leaking from the tester's home computer. The latter, by the way, signs a confidentiality agreement.

    As you can read from most announcements of recruiting game testers, their duties include, first of all, testing the correct operation of games, reporting bugs found in English, as well as submitting suggestions leading to the improvement of tested products. In practice, most often it looks like the tester does not conduct gameplay, passing the game and gets satisfaction from it, but receives specific tasks. Tests can be about language and sound correctness, and can focus on functionality, that is, on the operation of certain mechanisms. More than once it is necessary for many hours, for example, to kill the same monster, using different weapons, draw and hide a sword, get on a horse, enter certain locations, etc. Hour after hour. It's hard to call it a thrilling game. You have to focus on what might be wrong and then describe it in detail. As a result, it turns out that sometimes the tester spends only 20% of the time checking the operation of the game, and the remaining 80% is spent in various databases, where there is a collection of detected bugs and where it describes exactly new bugs, which is very time-consuming. When bugs are fixed and a new version appears, you need to test it again, checking whether the bugs have actually been removed. Most often then there are more bugs and so on., etc.

    Testing games-is it worth it?

    In the end, briefly, a fairly important issue-remuneration. Testers most often can not boast of such large earnings as other specialists in the IT industry. Of course, the more experience and longer experience in a particular company, the greater the chance of promotion and better earnings. Unfortunately, novice game testers can not usually count on very high salaries. Already from the recruitment ads you can find out that usually companies offer young testers work on contract order with a rate of about 12-16 PLN net per hour. Compared to some industries, this may seem decent, but in it it does not impress. But we must not forget that many game testers, despite the hard work, do it simply with passion.

    If you want to read more about testers, we recommend our article"competitions it - Software Tester".

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