Friday, July 16th 2021
TechPowerUp is Hiring Motherboard and Memory Reviewers
We have open positions on our team for 1) a motherboard reviewer, and 2) a memory reviewer. TechPowerUp Reviews are renowned for their in-depth focus on technical and performance aspects, and are supported by a large selection of tests. We are looking for someone with experience tweaking hardware in general—and memory in particular—ideally with some overclocking experience. As a motherboard reviewer you should be able to identify the various components of a motherboard PCB, discuss their quality aspects, test relevant onboard devices, provide technical photography, and put the motherboard through a selection of tests that will evolve with your feedback and community interest. Likewise for memory, we'll need you to be able to push the memory module to its limits, to detail its OC tuning potential and stability (we're not expecting you to do LN2). You should also be able to understand DRAM IC choices, memory timings and their effects, and how everything comes together for the big picture.
In terms of language skills we're not asking for novel writers, however you should have a decent grasp of the English language, and be able to get across your thoughts, experience and excitement with the product to our readers, who may have learned English as second language.
Both positions are remote, part-time and paid. Ideally you already have some hardware on your own, we can definitely provide you with additional testing platforms, as needed. We'd prefer someone from North America/EU, but as long as shipping logistics can reach your place, any location will be fine.
While it makes some sense to combine the the memory and motherboard reviewer positions, we are considering both options—one person, or two—because we aim to maintain a high sampling rate (1-2 reviews a week, with a high probability of more during new platform launches). If you think you can handle both positions, please ensure you have sufficient time to accommodate both roles. Having your own contacts in the industry is completely optional, and the lack of any is not a dealbreaker in the hiring process. While it is certainly a plus, we already have close ties with vendors and can make the necessary introductions to get you going with review samples. If you are interested, get in touch with us by sending your application and resume with relevant experiences, if any, to w1zzard@techpowerup.com to discuss further. Any questions? Let us know in the comments of this thread.
Both positions are remote, part-time and paid. Ideally you already have some hardware on your own, we can definitely provide you with additional testing platforms, as needed. We'd prefer someone from North America/EU, but as long as shipping logistics can reach your place, any location will be fine.
While it makes some sense to combine the the memory and motherboard reviewer positions, we are considering both options—one person, or two—because we aim to maintain a high sampling rate (1-2 reviews a week, with a high probability of more during new platform launches). If you think you can handle both positions, please ensure you have sufficient time to accommodate both roles. Having your own contacts in the industry is completely optional, and the lack of any is not a dealbreaker in the hiring process. While it is certainly a plus, we already have close ties with vendors and can make the necessary introductions to get you going with review samples. If you are interested, get in touch with us by sending your application and resume with relevant experiences, if any, to w1zzard@techpowerup.com to discuss further. Any questions? Let us know in the comments of this thread.
131 Comments on TechPowerUp is Hiring Motherboard and Memory Reviewers
However, I worked in an office with a large team that could help out when needed and that taught me the ropes. Again, I think this would've been much more difficult to do remotely, but maybe that's just me.
I am being equally critical, if not more so, of native speakers. I see so many mistakes in all kinds of publications, both in English and my native language.
What it comes down to is that if you're going to be a writer, you have to at least have the basics, even though you might write dry and boring copy to start with, you need to know how to spell and have a basic control over grammar and apostrophes in English. Typical mistakes I see all over is than/then, its/it's, were/where and so on. It changes the meaning of what you're trying to say if you mess them up. If you do not know how to use apostrophes, then write out the words with out them to avoid making mistakes.
To be honest, I don't really know grammar, I never really understood it in school, yet I somehow ended up being a writer in a language I learnt in school. Go figure...
My posts here are not to dissuade people from applying, I just want those that do so to have think about it first and ask themselves if they're up for the task, as it's not going to be an easy job. It looks like great fun from the outside, but at the end of the day, it's actually quite a tough job, not physically, but mentally.
You might even have read PCW back in the day when I worked there, based on how long you've been a member here, or some of my reviews at TrustedReviews, where I was the first employee. Both were two fine British publications at the time.
Actually, not getting the results that you expect is even worse, because then you have to troubleshoot whatever went wrong xD
Now I have an open frame chassis so it's far easier to test memory sticks. M.2 SSD and even processors.
I have accumulated more equipment but these days I spend more time reviewing games.
Doesn't seem practical for USA participants seeing W1z isn't in the USA himself "that I know of" so shipping back and forth seems overly complicated with vat/ insurance as well so really to expensive compared to someone near him...
As such it doesn't tend to matter too much where you live. In fact, the US doesn't charge VAT on incoming goods afaik, so it would most likely be advantageous from a shipping perspective to live in the US.
At least in the past, most motherboard samples were sent directly from Taiwan, but it's a good few years since I reviewed any motherboards.
I would say there are far worse places to live, such as Israel, Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, New Caledonia and Northern Mariana Islands, but that's just based on my experience in trying to ship stuff there...
That could be quite expensive especially if you get flooded with parts for review.
I remember Dave was telling me he was paying a lot of Duty when he was reviewing memory and motherboards.
Just a question for an inquiring mind :toast:
Why all the glorification and superfluous drama?
:)
That’s a full-time job.
I would love to do reviews full-time. Oh wait….lol. I tried that. Miss it, love it, but it need to pay at least minimum wage, or you gonna lose some passion.
Best part of reviews is when things go wrong. :D Spices it up a bit.
I'd love to do it, but not enough experience writing or testing, and I'm realistically my partners full time carer.
In all fairness, most companies negotiate fair wages that are much better than minimum pay in the UK.
Also, if you're self employed/a contractor/freelancer, I don't think minimum wage applies.
Payload comes after success not before lol
I actually started out in the business as labs tester at VNU, doing testing for the writers at PCW.
Obviously it's a bit different, as that was a magazine and there were multiple magazines in the building that were producing content related to computers, so there was rather big lab, a photo studio and so on.
That said, the ad sales people were more than the actual writers, as a full page ad in the magazine would set you back at least £10,000 at the time.
The advertisers realised that they could get 10 or 20 ads with websites for that kind of money, since the hobbyists were surprised that someone was willing to give them money for a banner ad on their sites and the race to the bottom started... It's really quite sad in a way, as it has ruined the business. The really good/famous writers used to get up to £220 per 1k words back in the day on a freelance basis. I got paid crap admittedly, but I was also very junior at the time.
Later at TrustedReviews we always had an office, two different locations while I was there, with all the equipment and fixed test rigs for a lot of things and even a small photo studio.
However, there are a lot of expenses involved in renting an office space in a location that's not too hard for everyone to get to and that was a pita at TrustedReviews for me, as they were nowhere near public transport and on the other side of London from where I lived at the time.
I don't see you being a pateron supporter here... Every little helps...
I would say TPU is far less partial than some sites out there and it's one of the reasons why I hang out here.
Oh and about knowing the $$$, well, that's mainly a US thing I think, most European companies don't seem to tell you what you can expect to earn when they are looking for people, so it might be something of a cultural clash there.
So at least this part of the job they took serious. "Handle HR like a pro"/ how all tech companies do it :P ;)
We'll only know for sure though if there is an official announcement (which I think there will be at some point).