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The differences between quality assurance analysts 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 quality assurance analyst and a software tester. Additionally, a software tester has an average salary of $78,580, which is higher than the $73,532 average annual salary of a quality assurance analyst.
The top three skills for a quality assurance analyst include QA, regression and manual test cases. The most important skills for a software tester are test results, regression, and test scripts.
| Quality Assurance Analyst | Software Tester | |
| Yearly salary | $73,532 | $78,580 |
| Hourly rate | $35.35 | $37.78 |
| Growth rate | - | - |
| Number of jobs | 108,078 | 208,853 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 65% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
Quality Administrators are responsible for managing the quality processes of an organization. Their duties include creating data collection processes, conducting data cleansing, tracks quality milestones, and develop training programs for internal teams. They undertake daily audits, work with the quality coordinator to determine root cause, and assist with feedback and complaints. Quality administrators also write daily reports for purchase orders that are overdue, open service jobs, quotations needing to follow up, unconfirmed hires, and processed sales orders.
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.
Quality assurance analysts and software testers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Quality Assurance Analyst | Software Tester | |
| Average salary | $73,532 | $78,580 |
| Salary range | Between $57,000 And $93,000 | Between $61,000 And $100,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Sunnyvale, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | New Hampshire |
| Best paying company | Meta | Nordstrom |
| Best paying industry | Retail | Technology |
There are a few differences between a quality assurance analyst and a software tester in terms of educational background:
| Quality Assurance Analyst | Software Tester | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 65% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Business | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between quality assurance analysts' and software testers' demographics:
| Quality Assurance Analyst | Software Tester | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 48.9% Female, 51.1% | 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% |