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The differences between quality assurance developers and systems developers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a quality assurance developer, becoming a systems developer takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a systems developer has an average salary of $97,230, 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 systems developer are java, python, and C++.
| Quality Assurance Developer | Systems Developer | |
| Yearly salary | $91,359 | $97,230 |
| Hourly rate | $43.92 | $46.75 |
| Growth rate | 21% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 175,658 | 322,419 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 44 | 43 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 6 |
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 Systems Developer is responsible for designing and creating software applications and server programs to support business requirements and client specifications. System Developers run multiple diagnostic tests to the systems to ensure performance and stability and revise scripts for optimization as needed. They also evaluate and improve existing networks, develop infrastructure, and set configuration. A Systems Developer must have excellent communication and technical skills, as well as a strong command of programming languages and system codes to identify network structures and operating systems.
Quality assurance developers and systems developers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Quality Assurance Developer | Systems Developer | |
| Average salary | $91,359 | $97,230 |
| Salary range | Between $68,000 And $121,000 | Between $73,000 And $129,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Mateo, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | NVIDIA | Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Hospitality |
There are a few differences between a quality assurance developer and a systems developer in terms of educational background:
| Quality Assurance Developer | Systems Developer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| 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 systems developers' demographics:
| Quality Assurance Developer | Systems Developer | |
| Average age | 44 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 69.3% Female, 30.7% | Male, 76.5% Female, 23.5% |
| 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, 10.0% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.9% Asian, 16.6% White, 57.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 8% |