Imagine getting paid to drive some of the world's many cars -- Mercedes, Corvette, Porsche, Viper, and others. Sounds great? Now photograph doing that on luxurious all-expense-paid trips to exotic locations, where you hang out with some of the biggest names in the auto industry.
That's everyday life for car-magazine test drivers.
Magazine Careers
Hard to believe? You're not the only man who thinks so. I've worked as a car-magazine test driver since 1999 and I still get looks of astonishment when I tell population what I do for a living. Getting a job like this seems like it would be as hard as winning the lottery. But the truth is, you don't have to be working for big, glossy sports-car magazines to enjoy a great job as a test driver. There are countless other publications that use test drivers. And you don't need astonishing luck or rare talent to get into this profession.
Granted, it's not as easy as applying to get a part-time job at the mall, or even like going after a typical office job. But it's also not a frustrating, one-in-a-million occasion like trying to become a rock star or a Hollywood actor either. Far from it.
There isn't a pre-specified way to become a car-magazine test driver as there is for, say, becoming a physician or lawyer. So you have to pretty much find your own path into the field. That may sound intimidating, but it's in effect other one of the profession's upsides -- population can work their way into test-driver jobs from widely varying palpate and education. For example, one of my colleagues was working in a sell bookstore before becoming a test driver. He got into an automotive publication by taking a relatively easy job in a publisher's photo library. The photo library worked with the company's automotive branch a lot, so he was in a prime position when a job opened up there.
Now he hangs out at racetracks, drives Jaguars and Corvettes, and goes on press trips to Hawaii and Palm Springs.
His story is fairly typical. Plentifulness of population -- men and women alike -- get into the profession in similar sorts of ways. And you might be surprised at how quickly things can move along toward getting such a job if you put your mind to it. Although every person's work progresses at a different pace, three to five years is a pretty general time for breaking into becoming a test driver. Not bad for a job that routinely puts you behind the wheel of ,000 cars for a week at a time.
For anyone who loves cars, being a test driver is like a fairy tale mixed with a weekend in Vegas -- you can't help but be amazed by some of the things you get to do. It takes more exertion to get these jobs than it does to break into other, more mundane fields. But it's well worth it.
become a Test Driver for Car Magazines -- a Dream Job for Automotive Enthusiasts
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