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The differences between quality specialists and quality associates can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a quality specialist has an average salary of $65,230, which is higher than the $50,300 average annual salary of a quality associate.
The top three skills for a quality specialist include customer service, data analysis and continuous improvement. The most important skills for a quality associate are patients, QA, and quality system.
| Quality Specialist | Quality Associate | |
| Yearly salary | $65,230 | $50,300 |
| Hourly rate | $31.36 | $24.18 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 80,316 | 60,168 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 56% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Average age | 44 | 38 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
Quality control senior scientists ensure that testing, materials, and laboratory equipment are up to standard. In the course of their career, they can expect to perform tests for the quality of manufacturing processes in order to ensure compliance with predetermined criteria, as well as ensuring that final products are safe for sale or distribution. This is a career that requires the skills of teamwork, communication, writing, and prioritization. Also, good attention to detail and some technical skills will be needed.
A quality associate is responsible for ensuring that a new product meets standards for usage and operating. You will perform various tasks that include assisting in identifying quality problems and improving operational processes, writing, disseminating, and maintaining quality documentation and manuals, and verifying logs and databases to monitor and flag quality issues and improvements. In addition, you are responsible for supporting document control and quality audits, reviewing reports and validation protocols, and investigating and diagnosing quality complaints.
Quality specialists and quality associates have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Quality Specialist | Quality Associate | |
| Average salary | $65,230 | $50,300 |
| Salary range | Between $43,000 And $98,000 | Between $31,000 And $80,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Connecticut |
| Best paying company | Meta | JPMorgan Chase & Co. |
| Best paying industry | Government | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a quality specialist and a quality associate in terms of educational background:
| Quality Specialist | Quality Associate | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 56% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Most common major | Business | Biology |
| Most common college | Western Carolina University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between quality specialists' and quality associates' demographics:
| Quality Specialist | Quality Associate | |
| Average age | 44 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 44.7% Female, 55.3% | Male, 44.8% Female, 55.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 8.8% White, 70.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 9.4% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 16.7% Asian, 11.6% White, 55.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 8% |