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Beta tester vs software test engineer

The differences between beta testers and software test engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a beta tester and a software test engineer. Additionally, a beta tester has an average salary of $104,650, which is higher than the $85,338 average annual salary of a software test engineer.

The top three skills for a beta tester include beta test, video games and data verification. The most important skills for a software test engineer are python, java, and test automation.

Beta tester vs software test engineer overview

Beta TesterSoftware Test Engineer
Yearly salary$104,650$85,338
Hourly rate$50.31$41.03
Growth rate--
Number of jobs6,855243,382
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 60%Bachelor's Degree, 70%
Average age4444
Years of experience44

Beta tester vs software test engineer salary

Beta testers and software test engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Beta TesterSoftware Test Engineer
Average salary$104,650$85,338
Salary rangeBetween $73,000 And $148,000Between $63,000 And $115,000
Highest paying City-San Mateo, CA
Highest paying state-California
Best paying company-Apple
Best paying industry-Telecommunication

Differences between beta tester and software test engineer education

There are a few differences between a beta tester and a software test engineer in terms of educational background:

Beta TesterSoftware Test Engineer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 60%Bachelor's Degree, 70%
Most common majorComputer ScienceComputer Science
Most common collegeStanford UniversityCalifornia State University - Long Beach

Beta tester vs software test engineer demographics

Here are the differences between beta testers' and software test engineers' demographics:

Beta TesterSoftware Test Engineer
Average age4444
Gender ratioMale, 77.3% Female, 22.7%Male, 68.6% Female, 31.4%
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 beta tester and software test engineer duties and responsibilities

Beta tester example responsibilities.

  • Manage departmental inventory and troubleshoot testing, reporting and inventory issues.
  • Conduct QA, software maintenance, on-site and off-site customer support.
  • Communicate numerous glitches to the primary QA team using in-depth reporting and research methodologies.
  • Understand OCAP specification with focus on DVR API of IO2 and IO3 on subsections.
  • Used several encryption/decryption protocol modules from a python library.
  • Test website functionality & usability and make recommendations to site developer.
  • Show more

Software test engineer example responsibilities.

  • Balance risk, regulatory impact and business needs to achieve efficient and effective solutions for QC process improvement.
  • Manage entire Linux virtual machine farm utilizing KVM and Virt-Manager
  • Manage test case defect management reporting utilizing JIRA and Bugzilla
  • Develop UI automation test infrastructure using python and selenium.
  • Design test scripts using Java and participate in automation code-reviews.
  • Involve in integrating the test suites to Jenkins to execute them automatically after every successful deployment.
  • Show more

Beta tester vs software test engineer skills

Common beta tester skills
  • Beta Test, 75%
  • Video Games, 3%
  • Data Verification, 2%
  • Windows XP, 2%
  • IOS, 2%
  • QA, 2%
Common software test engineer skills
  • Python, 9%
  • Java, 7%
  • Test Automation, 6%
  • C++, 6%
  • C #, 6%
  • Regression, 4%

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