Video Game Testing is an amazing career but it seems like a sort of dream job to many. Some might even smirk a little at the idea if you mention it in front of your friends. Well let me tell you, game testing pays very well. Way more than you would think! As I will shortly explain, all professions have their variations in prices and levels of expertise and game testing salaries are no exception.
One of the main positives of being a professional video game tester is obviously the salary. The salary of a tester can vary mostly from around 15 grand a year to as much as 110 grand a year! Let me explain what causes these fluctuations. Firstly, it's the company you sign up with. For me that would be the determining factor simply because they are the ones paying you. There are many companies out there but only a few which are actually fair and don't rip you off. Based on personal experiences I would recommend Gamer Testing Ground, the "Google" of game testing.
In addition, the way these things work is you get paid per hour, not formally per year. Here's the great part. You get paid up to $120 an hour! If it's hard to visualize how much money that is. Picture, for example, a start-up teenager in a McDonald's cap gets paid at most 10 bucks an hour, and at the other side of the spectrum, a Ph.D. physics academic gets paid up to 90 bucks an hour. By playing games in your spare time, you're running laps around them!
The job of video game tester is for real. The salary, however, is highly underrated.
