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The differences between quality assurance testers and functional 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 tester and a functional tester. Additionally, a functional tester has an average salary of $76,647, which is higher than the $74,140 average annual salary of a quality assurance tester.
The top three skills for a quality assurance tester include manual test cases, regression and test scripts. The most important skills for a functional tester are java, test cases, and web application.
| Quality Assurance Tester | Functional Tester | |
| Yearly salary | $74,140 | $76,647 |
| Hourly rate | $35.64 | $36.85 |
| Growth rate | - | - |
| Number of jobs | 82,396 | 37,146 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
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.
A functional tester's main responsibility is to validate the behavior of an application and analyzed the requirements of the clients. They are skilled in Java and database design for software development. The tasks they do are complex, including scanning IDs of the receiver and serial numbers on each unit, testing the units to make sure they work properly, and checking for any defects and damages. They are also trained in using numerical codes for passing or failing each unit and writing serial numbers on the production tracker.
Quality assurance testers and functional testers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Quality Assurance Tester | Functional Tester | |
| Average salary | $74,140 | $76,647 |
| Salary range | Between $55,000 And $99,000 | Between $61,000 And $94,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Bellevue, WA |
| Highest paying state | Maryland | Washington |
| Best paying company | Apple | Cerner |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Technology |
There are a few differences between a quality assurance tester and a functional tester in terms of educational background:
| Quality Assurance Tester | Functional Tester | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | California State University - Long Beach |
Here are the differences between quality assurance testers' and functional testers' demographics:
| Quality Assurance Tester | Functional Tester | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 61.2% Female, 38.8% | Male, 65.3% Female, 34.7% |
| 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% |