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The differences between quality assurance technicians 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 technician and a quality assurance tester. Additionally, a quality assurance tester has an average salary of $74,140, 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 a quality assurance tester are manual test cases, regression, and test scripts.
| Quality Assurance Technician | Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Yearly salary | $40,027 | $74,140 |
| Hourly rate | $19.24 | $35.64 |
| Growth rate | 3% | - |
| Number of jobs | 81,534 | 82,396 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Average age | 45 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
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.
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 technicians and quality assurance testers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Quality Assurance Technician | Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Average salary | $40,027 | $74,140 |
| Salary range | Between $26,000 And $60,000 | Between $55,000 And $99,000 |
| Highest paying City | Baltimore, MD | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | Maryland |
| Best paying company | SMTC | Apple |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Finance |
There are a few differences between a quality assurance technician and a quality assurance tester in terms of educational background:
| Quality Assurance Technician | Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Biology | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Purdue University | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between quality assurance technicians' and quality assurance testers' demographics:
| Quality Assurance Technician | Quality Assurance Tester | |
| Average age | 45 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 57.6% Female, 42.4% | Male, 61.2% Female, 38.8% |
| 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, 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 | 6% | 11% |