I want to be a game tester! I live in the Bay Area, California, I''m only a high school grad, but I have a lot of energy and time on my hands and I know I''m perfect for this type of position (I know all the stuff about long hours). Local job search and company sites are no help (monster.com, gamejobs.com, sega.com, Electronic Arts). I''m looking for some good contacts or info. I know I''m the trillionth fanboy to ask this stuff, but humor me people. Thanks.

<< I''m looking for some good contacts or info. I know I''m the trillionth fanboy to ask this stuff, but humor me people. >>

I would think "professional" game testers are just some of the programmers. I could be wrong, but I don''t think there are just "testers" who know nothing of game development. So you''d probably want your degree in Computer Science in order to be a "professional" game tester.

From a special I saw on the XBox, some of the companies hired temps to test individual games and to get opinions from the general game playing population. But this was after the programmers "tested" the game thoroughly themselves for bugs, gameplay, etc. There were no "I''m just a game tester" in these companies, the testers were the programmers.

But you might be able to find "temp work" as a tester if you live near the big game companies.

Phil P

"professional" game testers are most often brought on temporarily (i.e, to test the game the company is currently working on). A monkey could do it, really... One of my friends did that for a few years in High school (for EA) and I went there once to play-test an alpha of C&C:Generals for them. So no, pretty much the only thing you need are a passion for games, as well as logical and problem solving skills (to find bugs, etc.) and things like that.

But as to the OP''s original question, I can''t really help you there... Look for some software companies in the Bay area, I know there are quite a few but I''m not sure what game studios are based there.

I''m a QA Manager for a company(games) and I will be the first to let you know a trained monkey couldn''t do testing, at least at my standards. I look for people with knowledge of C/C++ hardware and driver configuration, etc. etc. and my testers have to have great writing and communication skills as well as a good eye for detail.

Testers are brought on mostly for the final stages of a project(last 5-8 months) however, there is a "core team" or "strike team" that tests the game from near start to finish. These teams are mostly made of 3-5 people at max, and these people are highly trained and great QA people.

Game testing sure does sound fun doesn''t it? Well it can be but also let me add that the hours can get extremely long(60-80+) and you can be asked to work nights(12a-8a) and weekends. On top of that you have to remember when testing you may be doing the same thing OVER AND OVER AND OVER again, I''m talking sometimes 50-1000 times. Testing is a great way to get a jump into the industry just remember what I said here and don''t go jumping into a job thinking it''s going to be all fun and games

Look here www.gamasutra.com under their jobs section.