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The differences between quality assurance developers 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 quality assurance developer and a quality assurance tester. Additionally, a quality assurance developer has an average salary of $91,359, which is higher than the $74,140 average annual salary of a quality assurance tester.
The top three skills for a quality assurance developer include python, QA and java. The most important skills for a quality assurance tester are manual test cases, regression, and test scripts.
| Quality Assurance Developer | Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Yearly salary | $91,359 | $74,140 |
| Hourly rate | $43.92 | $35.64 |
| Growth rate | 21% | - |
| Number of jobs | 175,658 | 82,396 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| 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 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.
Quality assurance developers and quality assurance testers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Quality Assurance Developer | Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Average salary | $91,359 | $74,140 |
| Salary range | Between $68,000 And $121,000 | Between $55,000 And $99,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Mateo, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Maryland |
| Best paying company | NVIDIA | Apple |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Finance |
There are a few differences between a quality assurance developer and a quality assurance tester in terms of educational background:
| Quality Assurance Developer | Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between quality assurance developers' and quality assurance testers' demographics:
| Quality Assurance Developer | Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 69.3% Female, 30.7% | 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% |