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The differences between performance engineers and performance 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 performance engineer and a performance tester. Additionally, a performance engineer has an average salary of $101,647, which is higher than the $88,120 average annual salary of a performance tester.
The top three skills for a performance engineer include java, linux and performance issues. The most important skills for a performance tester are test results, java, and web services.
| Performance Engineer | Performance Tester | |
| Yearly salary | $101,647 | $88,120 |
| Hourly rate | $48.87 | $42.37 |
| Growth rate | 11% | 11% |
| Number of jobs | 95,652 | 35,277 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A Performance Engineer validates system stability and its performance by carrying out load tests. They analyze test outcomes and work diligently with different engineers and developers to deliver excellent bug fix results. These professionals improve system capacity, scalability, reliability, and performance by offering technical assistance. Besides undertaking root cause evaluation of the system's performance problems and giving corrective actions, a performance engineer also recommends system improvements after evaluating the system performance. Also, they oversee the performance lifecycle and then recommend the right improvements.
A performance tester is an industrial worker who identifies the stability, scalability, speed, and responsiveness of non-functional software in a given workload. The performance testers make sure that an application's critical components are performing well. They assess resource usage and other quality attributes, preparing it for production. Among the skills necessary to land this job are analytical, attention to detail, communication, and critical thinking.
Performance engineers and performance testers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Performance Engineer | Performance Tester | |
| Average salary | $101,647 | $88,120 |
| Salary range | Between $76,000 And $134,000 | Between $68,000 And $112,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Delaware |
| Best paying company | Meta | Populus Group |
| Best paying industry | Start-up | Utilities |
There are a few differences between a performance engineer and a performance tester in terms of educational background:
| Performance Engineer | Performance Tester | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Georgia Institute of Technology | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between performance engineers' and performance testers' demographics:
| Performance Engineer | Performance Tester | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 83.4% Female, 16.6% | Male, 70.5% Female, 29.5% |
| 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% |