game testing

Hello Mr. or Ms. Ender, as the case may be, you wrote:

>i [sic] dont know if this is actually a viable career

It can be, but most regard it as a steppingstone to a career. But there's a problem. You can't spell and you never use the Shift key. What country do you live in, and what's your native language? I'm guessing your native language is not English, in which case English skills aren't necessarily a problem (assuming English is not the first language in your country).

>i was searching for testing careers and all i can find are ads for what in all respect remind me of "chain letters"

You need to improve your search technique, then. Read these:
http://archives.igda.org/breakingin/path_production.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson5.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson27.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson24.htm

> this mite be a reliable source for finding out 1 if its possible...specially to do so from home

NO. Read those links above.

>and also how to go about actually finding such jobs

Move to a city where there are multiple game companies. Read this too:
http://www.igda.org/games-game-december-2009

> lol not even sure if this is a legit post for this site

LOL. Sure it is. LOL.

Thank you very much for the information. I know my grammar and such is bad but i usually play mmos and well grammar and spelling aren't normally critiqued in them or the forums for them.

Also it seems i was right to be wary of the sites i found and as far as my searching techniques i did have many more pages to search threw when i found this forum site and posted my question. As for now I'll leave this forum for others and try to find something a little closer to home, or at least where I wish it to be.

Quote:

Original post by aender Thank you very much for the information. I know my grammar and such is bad

Good, your writing looks much better now. And as you now know, that's extremely important if you want to be a tester.

Quote:

Original post by aenderas far as my searching techniques i did have many more pages to search threw [sic]

What you're saying is that the scam testing sites show up first, and you were not intent enough on finding good info to look beyond those.
The scam testing sites pay money to get their sites to show up at the top of search engines. That's why theirs will always be on top.

Just so you know, having weak english skills may not be such a problem to becoming an actual tester. Several countries are used as outsourcing test pools for worldwide companies (Ubisoft, where I work, for example, uses several other test-studios scattered across the globe). Their english skills are below yours, but they developped a clear understanding of the underlying mechanics of the games and what to test.
With that said, don't let that grammar issue bug you :P Do something about it!

Quote:

Original post by aender ....I know my grammar and such is bad but i usually play mmos and well grammar and spelling aren't normally critiqued in them or the forums for them.

But this isn't an MMO or a forum related to MMOs so what is acceptable there isn't here. When looking for work it is important to make the effort to present yourself well. Some of the people you encounter in forums like this and the IGDA may be potential employers. Once they have you marked down as poor at communications (or just too lazy) that impression will be hard to shake.

On the plus side you were smart enough to spot that those "game testing" sites are scams - you would be surprised how many people don't.

I did not realize so many people fell for these traps, Obscure.
In fact, I reached the biz without actually "knowing" they existed. But I suppose there's always someone around the corner trying to turn up a profit from the naive right?

But ya, I think Obscure explained it better than I. Having poor communication skills in a certain language is no excuse not to work for it. There are several steps to earning a job, and it would be best to put effort into each and everyone of them.
I'm not sure if good grammar can fall under the category of "professionnalism" but it is definately required.
The whole idea of making efforts seems to be relevant to getting the job.