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Automation engineer vs software quality engineer

The differences between automation engineers and software quality engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an automation engineer and a software quality engineer. Additionally, a software quality engineer has an average salary of $99,902, which is higher than the $92,597 average annual salary of an automation engineer.

The top three skills for an automation engineer include python, java and PLC. The most important skills for a software quality engineer are software quality, java, and python.

Automation engineer vs software quality engineer overview

Automation EngineerSoftware Quality Engineer
Yearly salary$92,597$99,902
Hourly rate$44.52$48.03
Growth rate--
Number of jobs133,941279,437
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 69%Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Average age4444
Years of experience44

What does an automation engineer do?

An automation engineer takes charge of developing detailed design specifications and any other documents. Automation engineers develop automation software that is based on certain requirements for the involved process. They conform to local standards, international standards, and other process-oriented guidelines. Their duties also include the simulation and testing of automated machinery and processes. The must-have skills for this position include configuration software experience, scripting and coding expertise, certifications, and in-depth knowledge of technology.

What does a software quality engineer do?

A Software Quality Engineer ensures that the software of a company meets all quality standards. They are responsible for software development, inspection, implementation, testing, and verification.

Automation engineer vs software quality engineer salary

Automation engineers and software quality engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Automation EngineerSoftware Quality Engineer
Average salary$92,597$99,902
Salary rangeBetween $70,000 And $121,000Between $73,000 And $136,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaCalifornia
Best paying companyMetaApple
Best paying industryRetailTechnology

Differences between automation engineer and software quality engineer education

There are a few differences between an automation engineer and a software quality engineer in terms of educational background:

Automation EngineerSoftware Quality Engineer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 69%Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Most common majorElectrical EngineeringComputer Science
Most common collegeCalifornia State University - Long BeachMassachusetts Institute of Technology

Automation engineer vs software quality engineer demographics

Here are the differences between automation engineers' and software quality engineers' demographics:

Automation EngineerSoftware Quality Engineer
Average age4444
Gender ratioMale, 87.0% Female, 13.0%Male, 67.3% Female, 32.7%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage11%11%

Differences between automation engineer and software quality engineer duties and responsibilities

Automation engineer example responsibilities.

  • Perform inter-departmental audits documenting ISO compliant results with associate corrective action requests in order to achieve company-wide certification.
  • Design and develop automation framework settings and implementation of Java, JavaScript.
  • Develop automation scripts for quality assurance in Perl and ruby.
  • Develop and maintain an automation tool written in Perl which are used to perform the build verification and regression test.
  • Execute the batches (shell scripts) in UNIX that invokes Java programs and SQL loader to load data into tables.
  • Involve in documenting test cases and packaging test suites and making them available to all of engineering and QA using JIRA.
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Software quality engineer example responsibilities.

  • Manage logging issues, defects in JIRA and provide status reports to the management in status meetings and weekly status report.
  • Work with scrum master and developer leads to optimize resource allocation for accelerating user story delivery process.
  • Perform backend testing and write SQL queries for the validation purpose.
  • Perform test for functionality, GUI, end-to-end, system, configuration and backend utilizing web server.
  • Install, remove, configure, and maintain UNIX, LINUX, AIX operating system software on servers.
  • Create, edit and maintain functional regression test script for Java portal systems and successfully execute manually.
  • Show more

Automation engineer vs software quality engineer skills

Common automation engineer skills
  • Python, 12%
  • Java, 8%
  • PLC, 5%
  • HMI, 5%
  • GIT, 4%
  • Control Systems, 4%
Common software quality engineer skills
  • Software Quality, 7%
  • Java, 7%
  • Python, 6%
  • Software Development, 6%
  • Test Cases, 5%
  • C++, 5%

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