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Engineering test specialist vs software test engineer

The differences between engineering test specialists 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 an engineering test specialist and a software test engineer. Additionally, an engineering test specialist has an average salary of $86,651, which is higher than the $85,338 average annual salary of a software test engineer.

The top three skills for an engineering test specialist include test equipment, test procedures and RF. The most important skills for a software test engineer are python, java, and test automation.

Engineering test specialist vs software test engineer overview

Engineering Test SpecialistSoftware Test Engineer
Yearly salary$86,651$85,338
Hourly rate$41.66$41.03
Growth rate10%-
Number of jobs74,119243,382
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 62%Bachelor's Degree, 70%
Average age4444
Years of experience44

Engineering test specialist vs software test engineer salary

Engineering test specialists and software test engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Engineering Test SpecialistSoftware Test Engineer
Average salary$86,651$85,338
Salary rangeBetween $67,000 And $111,000Between $63,000 And $115,000
Highest paying CitySan Jose, CASan Mateo, CA
Highest paying stateNew HampshireCalifornia
Best paying companyAmazonApple
Best paying industryTransportationTelecommunication

Differences between engineering test specialist and software test engineer education

There are a few differences between an engineering test specialist and a software test engineer in terms of educational background:

Engineering Test SpecialistSoftware Test Engineer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 62%Bachelor's Degree, 70%
Most common majorElectrical EngineeringComputer Science
Most common collegeNorthwestern UniversityCalifornia State University - Long Beach

Engineering test specialist vs software test engineer demographics

Here are the differences between engineering test specialists' and software test engineers' demographics:

Engineering Test SpecialistSoftware Test Engineer
Average age4444
Gender ratioMale, 90.6% Female, 9.4%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 engineering test specialist and software test engineer duties and responsibilities

Engineering test specialist example responsibilities.

  • Manage engineering operations and budgets, monitoring spending and assessing performance measures; manage several operation budgets relating to HVAC.
  • Expertize in IBM PowerKVM, Ubuntu, RedHat and SLES Linux testing.
  • Replicate and reproduce bugs and defects find during testing for development team, QA managers and client.
  • Manage engineering operations and budgets, monitoring spending and assessing performance measures; manage several operation budgets relating to HVAC.
  • Integrate the test suites to Jenkins to execute them automatically after every successful deployment.

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

Engineering test specialist vs software test engineer skills

Common engineering test specialist skills
  • Test Equipment, 18%
  • Test Procedures, 16%
  • RF, 15%
  • Control Systems, 7%
  • Test Reports, 6%
  • Linux, 6%
Common software test engineer skills
  • Python, 9%
  • Java, 7%
  • Test Automation, 6%
  • C++, 6%
  • C #, 6%
  • Regression, 4%

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