How To Become A Performance Test Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a performance test engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Testing and launching a software product requires a lot of testing. A performance test engineer is one of the people on a Quality Analysis, or QA, a team that ensures that a product works perfectly before it is sent out to clients.

Performance test engineers make sure that the product does what it is supposed to do and that it performs its task quickly, effectively, and without crashing. It would be a disaster if after launch the company got angry phone calls from customers because the product doesn't work if too many people use it at once.

A performance test engineer needs to have lots of technical knowledge, including specific software such as Jmeter, and many have bachelor's or master's degrees. A performance test engineer also needs to be creative to develop effective tests that sniff out bugs before they can cause real problems.

ScorePerformance Test EngineerUS Average

Salary

7.6

Avg. Salary $97,965

Avg. Salary $59,228

Diversity

4.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.51%

Asian 11.99%

Black or African American 6.24%

Hispanic or Latino 8.82%

Unknown 4.70%

White 67.73%

Gender

female 18.93%

male 81.07%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

5.1

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.1

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.0

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a performance test engineer

Explore performance test engineer education requirements

Most common performance test engineer degrees

Bachelor's

70.9 %

Master's

22.7 %

Associate

3.6 %

Start to develop specific performance test engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Java	8.98%
Test Results	7.59%
JMeter	7.17%
C++	5.00%
C #	5.00%

Complete relevant performance test engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New performance test engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a performance test engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real performance test engineer resumes.

Research performance test engineer duties and responsibilities

Used rundeck and Jenkins to automate the task, creating load for the test.
Analyze and profile performance issues with Dynatrace.
Used Dynatrace, JProbe tools for profiling the application to find out where the performance issue.
Monitor memory stacks, CPU utilization on AIX UNIX operating systems on application and database servers.

Prepare your performance test engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your performance test engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a performance test engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable performance test engineer resume templates

Build a professional performance test engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your performance test engineer resume.

Apply for performance test engineer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a performance test engineer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do performance test engineers rate their job?

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Performance test engineer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Oct 2020

Pros

I like testing because it can be interesting. Things can change but also stay the same. I like routine but not repetition doing the same thing. Testing isn't the best job but a good job.