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The differences between quality assurance developers and senior 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 senior quality assurance tester. Additionally, a senior quality assurance tester has an average salary of $93,770, which is higher than the $91,359 average annual salary of a quality assurance developer.
The top three skills for a quality assurance developer include python, QA and java. The most important skills for a senior quality assurance tester are test cases, QA, and regression.
| Quality Assurance Developer | Senior Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Yearly salary | $91,359 | $93,770 |
| Hourly rate | $43.92 | $45.08 |
| Growth rate | 21% | - |
| Number of jobs | 175,658 | 81,916 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| 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 senior quality assurance tester manages junior quality assurance staff. They test documents, lead testing procedures, and ensure customer satisfaction. They also work with an engineering development team to make updates to software.
Quality assurance developers and senior quality assurance testers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Quality Assurance Developer | Senior Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Average salary | $91,359 | $93,770 |
| Salary range | Between $68,000 And $121,000 | Between $73,000 And $118,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Mateo, CA | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | California | New Hampshire |
| Best paying company | NVIDIA | Sagarsoft |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Technology |
There are a few differences between a quality assurance developer and a senior quality assurance tester in terms of educational background:
| Quality Assurance Developer | Senior Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between quality assurance developers' and senior quality assurance testers' demographics:
| Quality Assurance Developer | Senior Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 69.3% Female, 30.7% | Male, 56.4% Female, 43.6% |
| 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% |