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The differences between performance testers and senior 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 performance tester and a senior quality assurance tester. Additionally, a senior quality assurance tester has an average salary of $93,770, 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 tester are test cases, QA, and regression.
| Performance Tester | Senior Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Yearly salary | $88,120 | $93,770 |
| Hourly rate | $42.37 | $45.08 |
| Growth rate | 11% | - |
| Number of jobs | 35,277 | 81,916 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| 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 tester manages junior quality assurance staff. They test documents, lead testing procedures, and ensure customer satisfaction. They also work with an engineering development team to make updates to software.
Performance testers and senior quality assurance testers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Performance Tester | Senior Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Average salary | $88,120 | $93,770 |
| Salary range | Between $68,000 And $112,000 | Between $73,000 And $118,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | Delaware | New Hampshire |
| Best paying company | Populus Group | Sagarsoft |
| Best paying industry | Utilities | Technology |
There are a few differences between a performance tester and a senior quality assurance tester in terms of educational background:
| Performance Tester | Senior Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between performance testers' and senior quality assurance testers' demographics:
| Performance Tester | Senior Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 70.5% Female, 29.5% | Male, 56.4% Female, 43.6% |
| 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% |