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The differences between performance testers and senior quality assurance 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 performance tester and a senior quality assurance engineer. Additionally, a senior quality assurance engineer has an average salary of $106,802, which is higher than the $88,120 average annual salary of a performance tester.
The top three skills for a performance tester include test results, java and web services. The most important skills for a senior quality assurance engineer are QA, java, and python.
| Performance Tester | Senior Quality Assurance Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $88,120 | $106,802 |
| Hourly rate | $42.37 | $51.35 |
| Growth rate | 11% | - |
| Number of jobs | 35,277 | 254,258 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
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.
A senior quality assurance engineer oversees the testing procedures conducted in software development, ensuring technical accuracy and efficiency. They are primarily responsible for working alongside software designers and quality engineers, reviewing quality control reports, inspecting specifications, and devising particular test procedures. Moreover, it is also essential to troubleshoot issues and identify any inconsistencies or bugs. As someone with more experience in the team, they must supervise and serve as a mentor to the younger quality assurance engineers in the joint effort to develop efficient software.
Performance testers and senior quality assurance engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Performance Tester | Senior Quality Assurance Engineer | |
| Average salary | $88,120 | $106,802 |
| Salary range | Between $68,000 And $112,000 | Between $82,000 And $138,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Mateo, CA |
| Highest paying state | Delaware | California |
| Best paying company | Populus Group | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Utilities | Telecommunication |
There are a few differences between a performance tester and a senior quality assurance engineer in terms of educational background:
| Performance Tester | Senior Quality Assurance Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between performance testers' and senior quality assurance engineers' demographics:
| Performance Tester | Senior Quality Assurance Engineer | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 70.5% Female, 29.5% | Male, 68.0% Female, 32.0% |
| 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% |