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The differences between performance testers and software 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 software tester. Additionally, a performance tester has an average salary of $88,120, which is higher than the $78,580 average annual salary of a software tester.
The top three skills for a performance tester include test results, java and web services. The most important skills for a software tester are test results, regression, and test scripts.
| Performance Tester | Software Tester | |
| Yearly salary | $88,120 | $78,580 |
| Hourly rate | $42.37 | $37.78 |
| Growth rate | 11% | - |
| Number of jobs | 35,277 | 208,853 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| 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.
The responsibility of software testers involves the quality assurance of software development and deployment. Software testers conduct manual and automated tests to make sure that the software is developed for its purpose. They remove the issues and bugs within a product before deployment to users. Their responsibilities include software and systems analysis, risk mitigation, and software-related issue prevention. They should have skills in automation, programming, social networking, logical thinking, and mobile and web technology.
Performance testers and software testers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Performance Tester | Software Tester | |
| Average salary | $88,120 | $78,580 |
| Salary range | Between $68,000 And $112,000 | Between $61,000 And $100,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Sunnyvale, CA |
| Highest paying state | Delaware | New Hampshire |
| Best paying company | Populus Group | Nordstrom |
| Best paying industry | Utilities | Technology |
There are a few differences between a performance tester and a software tester in terms of educational background:
| Performance Tester | Software Tester | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| 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 software testers' demographics:
| Performance Tester | Software Tester | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 70.5% Female, 29.5% | Male, 62.1% Female, 37.9% |
| 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% |