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The differences between quality assurance engineers and software 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 software tester. Additionally, a quality assurance engineer has an average salary of $82,215, which is higher than the $78,580 average annual salary of a software tester.
The top three skills for a quality assurance engineer include java, python and regression. The most important skills for a software tester are test results, regression, and test scripts.
| Quality Assurance Engineer | Software Tester | |
| Yearly salary | $82,215 | $78,580 |
| Hourly rate | $39.53 | $37.78 |
| Growth rate | - | - |
| Number of jobs | 243,536 | 208,853 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 71% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| 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.
The responsibility of software testers involves the quality assurance of software development and deployment. Software testers conduct manual and automated tests to make sure that the software is developed for its purpose. They remove the issues and bugs within a product before deployment to users. Their responsibilities include software and systems analysis, risk mitigation, and software-related issue prevention. They should have skills in automation, programming, social networking, logical thinking, and mobile and web technology.
Quality assurance engineers and software testers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Quality Assurance Engineer | Software Tester | |
| Average salary | $82,215 | $78,580 |
| Salary range | Between $61,000 And $109,000 | Between $61,000 And $100,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Mateo, CA | Sunnyvale, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | New Hampshire |
| Best paying company | The Citadel | Nordstrom |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a quality assurance engineer and a software tester in terms of educational background:
| Quality Assurance Engineer | Software Tester | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 71% | 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 engineers' and software testers' demographics:
| Quality Assurance Engineer | Software Tester | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 69.5% Female, 30.5% | Male, 62.1% Female, 37.9% |
| 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% |