Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between quality assurance developers and quality assurance consultants 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 developer and a quality assurance consultant. Additionally, a quality assurance developer has an average salary of $91,359, which is higher than the $86,486 average annual salary of a quality assurance consultant.
The top three skills for a quality assurance developer include python, QA and java. The most important skills for a quality assurance consultant are QA, manual test cases, and regression.
| Quality Assurance Developer | Quality Assurance Consultant | |
| Yearly salary | $91,359 | $86,486 |
| Hourly rate | $43.92 | $41.58 |
| Growth rate | 21% | - |
| Number of jobs | 175,658 | 91,395 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 63% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A quality assurance developer creates well-structured, comprehensive, and detailed test cases, test plans, and test strategies. They develop and implement test automated test cases and automation frameworks. Besides setting automation creation and maintenance targets, a quality assurance developer also designs, creates, and executes automation scripts. Moreover, quality assurance developers review technical design documents, requirements, and specifications to deliver timely and useful feedback. Finally, quality assurance developers monitor all software development stages to note, track and solve all system and application issues so as to meet the required quality standards.
A quality assurance consultant specializes in recommending and optimizing quality-control procedures ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. They typically conduct research and analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of current quality control operations, implement solutions on problem areas, review policies and regulations, and coordinate with other staff to gather necessary data, analyzing them to find new opportunities for improvement. Furthermore, as a quality assurance consultant, it is essential to recommend solutions in adherence to the company's policies and regulations, including its mission and vision.
Quality assurance developers and quality assurance consultants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Quality Assurance Developer | Quality Assurance Consultant | |
| Average salary | $91,359 | $86,486 |
| Salary range | Between $68,000 And $121,000 | Between $67,000 And $110,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Mateo, CA | Redwood City, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | New Hampshire |
| Best paying company | NVIDIA | Southern California Edison |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Finance |
There are a few differences between a quality assurance developer and a quality assurance consultant in terms of educational background:
| Quality Assurance Developer | Quality Assurance Consultant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 63% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Business |
| Most common college | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between quality assurance developers' and quality assurance consultants' demographics:
| Quality Assurance Developer | Quality Assurance Consultant | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 69.3% Female, 30.7% | Male, 57.9% Female, 42.1% |
| 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% |