There are actually more skills required than you probably imagine. To start with you'll need to learn how to find and reproduce bugs in the games you'll be testing. A bug report will have to be written, so you'll need to learn how to do that. And after the game development team have fixed the bugs you'll need to be able to check that they have. Other useful skills will be attention to detail, self motivation and it will also help if you're a good communicator. It's not essential that you have a higher education qualification, but you'll be a more attractive candidate if you've got a degree. And also be in a better position for advancing up the career ladder.

The opportunity to work from home is a rare one. And the advise from a bunch of guys who do work from home is that it's not all it's cracked up to be. You'll be much more productive if you work from an office. At least for anyone just starting out. Most game testing jobs will be in a large city, anywhere around the world. There may be a few testing jobs located in smaller cities, but you'll need to be prepared to move to one of the major cities for the best chance of finding work. Don't be worried about this course of action because there is often a large support network and the company you're going to be working for may even provide some financial assistance with moving costs.

First it's not just about playing games, a video game testers role is a little more complex than that. For a start there will be reports that need to be written and there may well be meetings that may require your attendance. The main part of your role, however, will be finding and reporting bugs in games that are under development.

The actual rate of pay for a video game tester varies considerably. Some companies pay their testers by the hour, while some will be given an annual salary. A number of factors will also influence the rate of pay. For example, the location of the games company, whether you are new to the job or have several years experience.

The resume you write will need to stand out from all the others, because there will likely be hundreds of people applying for the job. A covering letter may also be required, but you'll be pleased to know that a resume and covering letter for a games testing job is no different than one for any other vacancy. What you'll need to focus on will be your skills that are relevant to the job you're applying for. You'll find the requirements section of the job posting very helpful with this. When you've written your resume it would be advisable to get someone else to proofread it for you. You could do it yourself of course, but another person is more likely to pick up the spelling or grammar mistakes. As attention to detail is a specific skill for this type of job you don't to run the risk of making such silly mistakes in the first thing that an employer will look at.