How do I get paid to play puzzle games online as a game tester?
It started about 20 years ago. I had a Nintendo Game Boy and didn’t have a chance to play puzzle games online at the time. However, my Game Boy and I were connected at the hip (or, more accurately, at my hands). I played Tetris before school. I played Tetris at lunch. I played Tetris during breaks. I played Tetris at home. I even had one of the Game Boy flashlights that allowed me to play Tetris at night when my parents thought I was asleep.
20 years later and still the same. I work from home, so I have the advantage (or disadvantage) of being easily distracted without resorting to supervisors. My love for Tetris has turned into my love for other games, such as Bejeweled 2, Super Text Twist, Zuma Deluxe, Plants vs. Zombies and more. I play puzzle games online. I play them a lot.
How this happened was a somewhat strange story. I was working my last job in accounting and found myself addicted to online games to the point of gaming at work. Well, my manager saw me playing puzzle games online and promptly fired me. This was in the short term, a horrible experience, but in the long term, one of the best things that has ever happened to me.
After spending almost a year looking for a job in accounting, I decided to follow my passion for video games by applying for a game tester, which allowed me to play puzzle games online full time. I’ll leave the company name out of this article to maintain a bit of anonymity, but you can find some of them online on websites like monster.com and jobs.com.
Once I found a couple of companies of interest, I applied to both and then contacted the actual employees of these companies to reiterate my passion for online puzzle games as a profession. A key to my success is that I asked to speak with one in person to learn more about the company culture. One tip to point out is that people in the video game industry love to talk about their work (and who can blame them).
So, here I am, living the life I’ve always dreamed of. Some more tips to enter this profession:
1) Find someone, anyone in the profession and talk to them. It’s natural that I enjoy talking about this topic, we all do.
2) Apply to the top job search companies and explain your experience in the gaming industry to the best of your ability. If you have experience, great. If not, do something different with your resume/cover letter to explain your experience.
3) Compete in contests (local and online) to make connections. These will make your name known.
Best of luck! Maybe one day you can play puzzle games online like me too.
