Quality assurance technician vs engineering technician

The differences between quality assurance technicians and engineering technicians 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 technician and an engineering technician. Additionally, an engineering technician has an average salary of $60,273, which is higher than the $40,027 average annual salary of a quality assurance technician.

The top three skills for a quality assurance technician include food safety, GMP and lab equipment. The most important skills for an engineering technician are technical support, data collection, and test equipment.

Quality assurance technician vs engineering technician overview

	Quality Assurance Technician	Engineering Technician
Yearly salary	$40,027	$60,273
Hourly rate	$19.24	$28.98
Growth rate	3%	3%
Number of jobs	81,534	111,343
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 52%	Bachelor's Degree, 46%
Average age	45	45
Years of experience	4	4

What does a quality assurance technician do?

Quality assurance is an essential part of a company that offers products and services. It is critical that the company's output remains consistent and up to par with community standards. It is the assistant quality assurance manager's role to inspect, monitor, and evaluate the quality of every product. The goal is to establish customer satisfaction and trust. The assistant quality assurance manager works with the head manager and helps generate reports of daily activities for executive evaluations.

What does an engineering technician do?

An Engineering Technician's duties vary according to the industry or company, whether mechanical, industrial, civil, agricultural, or more. However, most of the time, the responsibilities often revolve around resolving technical issues, working with and assisting Engineers in building, assembling, designing, gathering and testing data, and conducting more manual activities. Furthermore, Engineering Technicians can specialize and work in various fields after a certain training period, closely mentored or monitored by an engineer or someone with extensive expertise.

Quality assurance technician vs engineering technician salary

Quality assurance technicians and engineering technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Quality Assurance Technician	Engineering Technician
Average salary	$40,027	$60,273
Salary range	Between $26,000 And $60,000	Between $37,000 And $96,000
Highest paying City	Baltimore, MD	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Hawaii	Washington
Best paying company	SMTC	Western Digital
Best paying industry	Technology	Technology

Differences between quality assurance technician and engineering technician education

There are a few differences between a quality assurance technician and an engineering technician in terms of educational background:

	Quality Assurance Technician	Engineering Technician
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 52%	Bachelor's Degree, 46%
Most common major	Biology	Electrical Engineering
Most common college	Purdue University	Purdue University

Quality assurance technician vs engineering technician demographics

Here are the differences between quality assurance technicians' and engineering technicians' demographics:

	Quality Assurance Technician	Engineering Technician
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 57.6% Female, 42.4%	Male, 85.9% Female, 14.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.5% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.8% Asian, 8.2% White, 59.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 9.5% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.7% Asian, 9.2% White, 59.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between quality assurance technician and engineering technician duties and responsibilities

Quality assurance technician example responsibilities.

Track and manage CAPA's.
Train test personnel and manage QC test technicians in a fast pace environment.
Train newly hire technicians and used strong math and computing skill for data entry and records.
Approve NCR investigations and CAPA records.
Assist math, reading and other product teams with testing and reporting of any issues find during new product development.
Perform quality control experiments such as HPLC favor testing for the company's main ingredient produce within their leading product.

Engineering technician example responsibilities.

Used Microsoft SharePoint to manage projects, web base collaboration, alerts and for document management.
Achieve UL certification for thermal overload protection used in motor applications.
Manage equipment database and organize annual equipment calibration require by internal quality control and ISO standards.
Manage and distribute cad standards to contributing design consultants and assist with any design issues as necessary.
Maintain engineering lab equipment: troubleshoot and repair any faulty electronic or mechanical malfunctions, and calibrate test equipment.
Specialize in software and hardware engineering to military standards and project management of DoD contracts.

Quality assurance technician vs engineering technician skills

Common quality assurance technician skills

Food Safety, 9%
GMP, 7%
Lab Equipment, 5%
Quality Products, 4%
Quality Standards, 4%
HACCP, 4%

Common engineering technician skills

Technical Support, 5%
Data Collection, 4%
Test Equipment, 4%
Asphalt, 4%
Construction Projects, 4%
Construction Materials, 4%

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Quality Assurance Technician
Quality Assurance Technician vs Engineering Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

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