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The differences between quality assurance engineers 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 engineer and a quality assurance tester. Additionally, a quality assurance engineer has an average salary of $82,215, which is higher than the $74,140 average annual salary of a quality assurance tester.
The top three skills for a quality assurance engineer include java, python and regression. The most important skills for a quality assurance tester are manual test cases, regression, and test scripts.
| Quality Assurance Engineer | Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Yearly salary | $82,215 | $74,140 |
| Hourly rate | $39.53 | $35.64 |
| Growth rate | - | - |
| Number of jobs | 243,536 | 82,396 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 71% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A Quality Assurance Engineer's role is to oversee the overall production and ensure that the product is cost-efficient and aligns with the company's standards. The responsibility mainly revolves around conducting activities that examine and scrutinize the condition of a product or service to identify issues and come up with possible solutions to resolve the issue or attain stronger customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the Quality Assurance Engineer must also ensure that the product adheres to the government regulations and market guidelines.
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 engineers and quality assurance testers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Quality Assurance Engineer | Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Average salary | $82,215 | $74,140 |
| Salary range | Between $61,000 And $109,000 | Between $55,000 And $99,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Mateo, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Maryland |
| Best paying company | The Citadel | Apple |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Finance |
There are a few differences between a quality assurance engineer and a quality assurance tester in terms of educational background:
| Quality Assurance Engineer | Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 71% | 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 engineers' and quality assurance testers' demographics:
| Quality Assurance Engineer | Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 69.5% Female, 30.5% | 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% |