Test system manager vs tester

The differences between test system managers and 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 test system manager and a tester. Additionally, a test system manager has an average salary of $111,460, which is higher than the $65,202 average annual salary of a tester.

The top three skills for a test system manager include system test, system integration and test cases. The most important skills for a tester are java, test results, and web application.

Test system manager vs tester overview

	Test System Manager	Tester
Yearly salary	$111,460	$65,202
Hourly rate	$53.59	$31.35
Growth rate	-	-
Number of jobs	32,803	52,595
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 66%	Bachelor's Degree, 46%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	4	4

Test system manager vs tester salary

Test system managers and testers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Test System Manager	Tester
Average salary	$111,460	$65,202
Salary range	Between $85,000 And $145,000	Between $42,000 And $99,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	Maryland
Best paying company	Zoox	Apple
Best paying industry	Transportation	Telecommunication

Differences between test system manager and tester education

There are a few differences between a test system manager and a tester in terms of educational background:

	Test System Manager	Tester
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 66%	Bachelor's Degree, 46%
Most common major	Electrical Engineering	Computer Science
Most common college	California State University - Long Beach	-

Test system manager vs tester demographics

Here are the differences between test system managers' and testers' demographics:

	Test System Manager	Tester
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 81.8% Female, 18.2%	Male, 63.0% Female, 37.0%
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%

Differences between test system manager and tester duties and responsibilities

Test system manager example responsibilities.

Construct and manage a complete VMware environment for testing multiple Openstack instances of different configurations.
Key contributor in getting CMMI level 3 and ISO 9001 certification for 4D.
Spearhead QA process changes in transitioning from hard copy to soft copy test case development/execution process.
Develop business processes for quality assurance software lifecycle, customer software problem resolution and software bug tracking.
Perform accessibility testing for Hewlett-Packard's HTML pages.
Develop, document, and implement improved software validation processes and documentation system in accordance with the FDA guidelines.

Tester example responsibilities.

Manage requirements and maintain test repository using QC.
Manage departmental inventory and troubleshoot testing, reporting and inventory issues.
Network scanning using tools like NMap and Nessus.
Perform unit testing using Junit for class, method, & web services testing.
Perform functionality testing, UI testing, integration testing, regression testing, system testing and browser compatibility testing.
Analyze new test cases or test cases from regression test suites store in ALM to pick the automation candidates.

Test system manager vs tester skills

Common test system manager skills

System Test, 9%
System Integration, 6%
Test Cases, 5%
Test Procedures, 5%
QA, 5%
Test Scripts, 5%

Common tester skills

Java, 10%
Test Results, 5%
Web Application, 4%
Test Scripts, 4%
QA, 4%
Regression, 4%