Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between principal test engineers and 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 principal test engineer and a quality assurance tester. Additionally, a principal test engineer has an average salary of $116,493, which is higher than the $74,140 average annual salary of a quality assurance tester.
The top three skills for a principal test engineer include python, C++ and java. The most important skills for a quality assurance tester are manual test cases, regression, and test scripts.
| Principal Test Engineer | Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Yearly salary | $116,493 | $74,140 |
| Hourly rate | $56.01 | $35.64 |
| Growth rate | 3% | - |
| Number of jobs | 96,539 | 82,396 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
Principal Test Engineers test automation tools and frameworks like Selenium, Appium, and Ranorex. They make sure that the software their companies offer is safe and reliable for consumer use. Being a principal test engineer requires testing to influence better software design, promoting good engineering practice, security, testability, scalability, drafting bug prevention strategies, and reliability. They are responsible for defining test goals, preparing and executing system-level functional tests, providing new project forecasts based on the provided information, and improving the current test solutions by reducing the test time, repeat tests, and yield analysis.
A quality assurance tester, also known as QA tester, has different responsibilities depending on the line of work or industry involved. In a computer development setting, they are in charge of working and coordinating with technical engineers. They have to conduct regular tests for new software and programs, identify inconsistencies, and find areas for improvement. Furthermore, a quality assurance tester must produce reports from the tests, which can be the basis of progress for further developments.
Principal test engineers and quality assurance testers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Principal Test Engineer | Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Average salary | $116,493 | $74,140 |
| Salary range | Between $84,000 And $159,000 | Between $55,000 And $99,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Maryland |
| Best paying company | Microsoft | Apple |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Finance |
There are a few differences between a principal test engineer and a quality assurance tester in terms of educational background:
| Principal Test Engineer | Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Computer Science |
| Most common college | California State University - Long Beach | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between principal test engineers' and quality assurance testers' demographics:
| Principal Test Engineer | Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 89.8% Female, 10.2% | Male, 61.2% Female, 38.8% |
| 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% |