Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between quality assurances and quality engineers 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 and a quality engineer. Additionally, a quality engineer has an average salary of $79,672, which is higher than the $51,313 average annual salary of a quality assurance.
The top three skills for a quality assurance include test cases, food handling and java. The most important skills for a quality engineer are corrective action, continuous improvement, and ISO.
| Quality Assurance | Quality Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $51,313 | $79,672 |
| Hourly rate | $24.67 | $38.30 |
| Growth rate | - | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 69,366 | 96,838 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 47% | Bachelor's Degree, 70% |
| Average age | 44 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
The primary role of quality assurance specialists is to inspect the quality system's implementation and perform quality assurance audits. They are responsible for monitoring and recording results from procedures and processes within manufacturing industries. They are also responsible for some other tasks, including keeping up-to-date manufacturing and auditing documentation, training less experienced QA team members, and creating standard operating procedures. To be a quality assurance specialist, you must have a high school diploma, organizational skills, and strong attention to detail.
A quality engineer's responsibilities include ensuring that the manufacturing processes are efficient and accurate, documenting findings that would raise concerns, conducting quality tests while observing parameters, and implementing changes as necessary to meet the highest quality standards. Quality engineers need to have excellent problem-solving and observation skills to detect any irregularities and possible malfunctions. They also must be able to communicate effectively with the clients for feedbacks and corrective adjustments, address complaints, and immediately resolve any inconsistencies made.
Quality assurances and quality engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Quality Assurance | Quality Engineer | |
| Average salary | $51,313 | $79,672 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $92,000 | Between $61,000 And $103,000 |
| Highest paying City | Cupertino, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Washington |
| Best paying company | Meta | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Technology |
There are a few differences between a quality assurance and a quality engineer in terms of educational background:
| Quality Assurance | Quality Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 47% | Bachelor's Degree, 70% |
| Most common major | Business | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between quality assurances' and quality engineers' demographics:
| Quality Assurance | Quality Engineer | |
| Average age | 44 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 55.8% Female, 44.2% | Male, 78.2% Female, 21.8% |
| 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, 4.7% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 11.5% Asian, 13.9% White, 65.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 4% |