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The differences between junior testers and quality assurance testers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a junior tester and a quality assurance tester. Additionally, a quality assurance tester has an average salary of $74,140, which is higher than the $70,002 average annual salary of a junior tester.
The top three skills for a junior tester include test results, test scripts and manual test cases. The most important skills for a quality assurance tester are manual test cases, regression, and test scripts.
| Junior Tester | Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Yearly salary | $70,002 | $74,140 |
| Hourly rate | $33.65 | $35.64 |
| Growth rate | - | - |
| Number of jobs | 44,154 | 82,396 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A junior tester has strong critical thinking skills and is very much familiar with automation. They must be a team player; they work with others to create and test out a software program. They monitor and report issues, like system bugs, and help to fix them. Most of the time, a junior tester works at a company that is related to software, web application, java games, or video games.
A quality assurance tester, also known as QA tester, has different responsibilities depending on the line of work or industry involved. In a computer development setting, they are in charge of working and coordinating with technical engineers. They have to conduct regular tests for new software and programs, identify inconsistencies, and find areas for improvement. Furthermore, a quality assurance tester must produce reports from the tests, which can be the basis of progress for further developments.
Junior testers and quality assurance testers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Junior Tester | Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Average salary | $70,002 | $74,140 |
| Salary range | Between $52,000 And $93,000 | Between $55,000 And $99,000 |
| Highest paying City | Arlington, VA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Virginia | Maryland |
| Best paying company | QSSI | Apple |
| Best paying industry | Start-up | Finance |
There are a few differences between a junior tester and a quality assurance tester in terms of educational background:
| Junior Tester | Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Computer Science |
| Most common college | California State University - Long Beach | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between junior testers' and quality assurance testers' demographics:
| Junior Tester | Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 59.2% Female, 40.8% | Male, 61.2% Female, 38.8% |
| Race ratio | 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% | 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 Percentage | 11% | 11% |