Games testers are one of the happiest careers in the United States.
At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, games testers rate their career happiness 3.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 18% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy games testers are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:
Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers
| Career | Satisfaction | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Video game creative director | 4.5 | $90k |
| Video game level editor | 4.3 | $90k |
| Video game designer | 4.2 | $90k |
| Video game producer | 4.1 | $90k |
| Games artist | 3.9 | $90k |
| Games tester | 3.8 | $29k |
| Multimedia animator | 3.5 | $79k |
| App developer | 3.5 | $71k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are games testers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do games testers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as games testers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are games tester’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are games testers making the best use of their abilities?
Are games testers happy with their salary?
Games testers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.0/5. Games testers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked games testers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
322 games testers
15% of games testers rated their compensation 5 stars
21% of games testers rated their compensation 4 stars
27% of games testers rated their compensation 3 stars
21% of games testers rated their compensation 2 stars
16% of games testers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do games testers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, games testers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.1/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.
We asked games testers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.1 out of 5 stars
325 games testers
22% of games testers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
19% of games testers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
22% of games testers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
21% of games testers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
16% of games testers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as games testers?
Games testers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.1/5. The majority of games testers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked games testers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.1 out of 5 stars
363 games testers
41% of games testers rated their career fit 5 stars
39% of games testers rated their career fit 4 stars
13% of games testers rated their career fit 3 stars
4% of games testers rated their career fit 2 stars
2% of games testers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a games tester’s work environment?
As a whole, games testers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.9/5. A solid majority of games testers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a games tester.
We asked games testers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
358 games testers
39% of games testers rated their work environment 5 stars
33% of games testers rated their work environment 4 stars
17% of games testers rated their work environment 3 stars
8% of games testers rated their work environment 2 stars
4% of games testers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are games testers making the best use of their abilities?
Former games testers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.2/5. Most games testers are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked games testers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
363 games testers
23% of games testers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
21% of games testers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
25% of games testers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
17% of games testers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
14% of games testers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars