Job question: Does Quality Assurance pay more than Software Engineering?

[VBboy]

Does anyone know for a fact is Quality Assurance pay more than software engineering / programming, in general? Let's assume the same level of expertise, similar conditions, etc?

I know it's difficult to compare, but still...
Please respond if you have any factual information

 

[Kenji4861]

<--- still a student.. but I always thought Quality Assurance was a stepping stone to Software Engineering.

 

[ajayjuneja]

No. QA gets paid less on average. it's easier to test software than make software... think about it!

 

[notfred]

QA is more glamorous. You get to put those little "inspected by 13" stickers on things. Software engineers don't get those stickers.

 

[kleinesarschloch]

Originally posted by: VBboy
Does anyone know for a fact is Quality Assurance pay more than software engineering / programming, in general? Let's assume the same level of expertise, similar conditions, etc?

I know it's difficult to compare, but still...
Please respond if you have any factual information

QA not only gets payed less, but it's one of the most boring and repetitive jobs i ever had to do.

 

[vash]

In general, QA makes less money than software developers. However, it does depend on how many years of experience you are testing, where you are testing, etc. I am make good money doing QA, I've been doing it a number of years and whenever I go looking for a job, I can demand top dollar for how many years and how many areas of testing I've done. Testing may not be as glorious as coding the product, but its usually less stressful than having to fix the things I find

vash

 

[3L33T32003]

QA will be making more than dev soon. Think about it. Very few QA jobs shipping to INDIA!!!!!

Heh. If you want to be a developer, you need to learn one langauge above all others: Farci. That is what they speak in India I believe.

 

[VBboy]

I wanted to thank you all for taking the time to provide this invaluable information

Luckily, I discovered that this opportunity is for a Software Development Engineer SLASH tester. So it's the best of both worlds.

 

[vash]

Originally posted by: 3L33T32003
QA will be making more than dev soon. Think about it. Very few QA jobs shipping to INDIA!!!!!

Heh. If you want to be a developer, you need to learn one langauge above all others: Farci. That is what they speak in India I believe.

As much as that may sound untrue, it is become more and more true. There are a lot of consulting companies that outsource a good chunk of development to India. At the current place I am at, there are many, many developers from India.

vash

 

[VBboy]

Originally posted by: vash

Originally posted by: 3L33T32003
QA will be making more than dev soon. Think about it. Very few QA jobs shipping to INDIA!!!!!

Heh. If you want to be a developer, you need to learn one langauge above all others: Farci. That is what they speak in India I believe.

As much as that may sound untrue, it is become more and more true. There are a lot of consulting companies that outsource a good chunk of development to India. At the current place I am at, there are many, many developers from India.

vash

Good places you're at? Hook me up!

 

[bleeb]

Get out of the tech industry and become a Retarded Porn Star.

 

[VBboy]

Originally posted by: bleeb
Get out of the tech industry and become a Retarded Porn Star.

I can't mix my work and my hobby.

On an unrelated note, have you rented the movie "8 inch mile"?

 

[bleeb]

Originally posted by: VBboy

Originally posted by: bleeb
Get out of the tech industry and become a Retarded Porn Star.

I can't mix my work and my hobby.

On an unrelated note, have you rented the movie "8 inch mile"?

I've seen the Debbie does __City Name Goes here ___ , Forrest Hump, Saving Ryan's Privates, and a few of the Ron Jeremy films. (jk)

 

[VBboy]

Originally posted by: bleeb

Originally posted by: VBboy

Originally posted by: bleeb
Get out of the tech industry and become a Retarded Porn Star.

I can't mix my work and my hobby.

On an unrelated note, have you rented the movie "8 inch mile"?

I've seen the Debbie does __City Name Goes here ___ , Forrest Hump, Saving Ryan's Privates, and a few of the Ron Jeremy films. (jk)

Ron Jeremy is broken, if you know what I mean

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: vash

Originally posted by: 3L33T32003
QA will be making more than dev soon. Think about it. Very few QA jobs shipping to INDIA!!!!!

Heh. If you want to be a developer, you need to learn one langauge above all others: Farci. That is what they speak in India I believe.

As much as that may sound untrue, it is become more and more true. There are a lot of consulting companies that outsource a good chunk of development to India. At the current place I am at, there are many, many developers from India.

vash

Yep, the majority of the developers at my job are either indian or chinese. Even they are worried right now because of the talk about using tools to automatically generate code to speed up the time to production.

I have a well paying QA job I took to get the foot in the door at my company. Soon as I have worked here 12 months I may start applying for Business Analyst positions (position at previous job). Depends on how comfortable I feel at my current position and how thorough my knowledge is.

 

[bleeb]

Originally posted by: VBboy

Originally posted by: bleeb

Originally posted by: VBboy

Originally posted by: bleeb
Get out of the tech industry and become a Retarded Porn Star.

I can't mix my work and my hobby.

On an unrelated note, have you rented the movie "8 inch mile"?

I've seen the Debbie does __City Name Goes here ___ , Forrest Hump, Saving Ryan's Privates, and a few of the Ron Jeremy films. (jk)

Ron Jeremy is broken, if you know what I mean

what happened?

 

[VBboy]

Originally posted by: bleeb

Originally posted by: VBboy

Originally posted by: bleeb

Originally posted by: VBboy

Originally posted by: bleeb
Get out of the tech industry and become a Retarded Porn Star.

I can't mix my work and my hobby.

On an unrelated note, have you rented the movie "8 inch mile"?

I've seen the Debbie does __City Name Goes here ___ , Forrest Hump, Saving Ryan's Privates, and a few of the Ron Jeremy films. (jk)

Ron Jeremy is broken, if you know what I mean

what happened?

He probably overpumped himself It's getting too pr0nish now, don't dirtyfy my thread!

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: vash

Originally posted by: 3L33T32003
QA will be making more than dev soon. Think about it. Very few QA jobs shipping to INDIA!!!!!

Heh. If you want to be a developer, you need to learn one langauge above all others: Farci. That is what they speak in India I believe.

As much as that may sound untrue, it is become more and more true. There are a lot of consulting companies that outsource a good chunk of development to India. At the current place I am at, there are many, many developers from India.

vash

Although this is the popular thing to complain about with respect to IT these days, I have not seen any signs of it. There has been a proliferation of foreign developers for many, many years now. I have not seen this increase/decrease. I don't know why everyone decided to become so paranoid about it now. I don't know of any company who would willingly have their project developed overseas without their interaction.

That said, most places I've worked did not employ current/ex developers as QA. A developer doesn't do much good in QA because their perception of it is always with developer glasses. Someone who is nescient to the actual implementation is much more valuable for QA. From what I've seen, QA people usually make the same as a junior developer, or less. I've never known someone in QA to make the same as a higher-level/senior developer.

 

[vash]

That said, most places I've worked did not employ current/ex developers as QA. A developer doesn't do much good in QA because their perception of it is always with developer glasses. Someone who is nescient to the actual implementation is much more valuable for QA. From what I've seen, QA people usually make the same as a junior developer, or less. I've never known someone in QA to make the same as a higher-level/senior developer.

It all depends on what is "hot" and what isn't. I've had testing backgrounds in very specific areas, so my skills are difficult to find. Most QA don't make much more than mid level programmers, but QA directors can bring in even higher cash.

The influx of foreign developers continues to get bigger. I've visited and talked to my other friends in the industry, when it comes to many DB programming, we are seeing more and more foreign programmers. A good chunk of VB and low level are still made in the USA, but there are areas where foreign programmers are growing in large numbers. More power to 'em!

vash

 

[newbiepcuser]

Been doing for 3 years, it depends if you're QC technician or QA engineer on the pay scale.

more info site on QA industry

 

[flot]

Test Engineers typically make less than developers; if I had to guess I'd say anywhere between 10%-35% less, depending on the company. The job, however, is completely different. I graduated with a computer science degree and couldn't be happier if I never wrote another line of code - but I love my job in test.

If you're one of those people who sees something new and immediately starts trying to figure out how it works or why it does something one way and not another - test engineering would probably be a good fit.

Entry level I *think* you'd see college grads getting salaries of 40-55k in test, and probably more like 45k-60k as developers. There's probably more headroom as a developer (a developer making 100k would be much more common than a tester making that) but even I will admit that it is "harder" to develop than to find the bugs. However - that definitely does NOT mean that a great developer would make a good tester - on the contrary, many of them would hate it and do a lousy job at it, too.

 

[StageLeft]

In general QA definitely gets paid LESS.

 

[Spamela]

QA is important & requires technical skill, but software engineers earn more where i've worked.

in general, the latter could do the former, but not vice-versa.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: 3L33T32003
QA will be making more than dev soon. Think about it. Very few QA jobs shipping to INDIA!!!!!
Heh. If you want to be a developer, you need to learn one langauge above all others: Farci. That is what they speak in India I believe.

Actually the trend is for more testing jobs get sent off to Indian sub's than development.
Bill

 

[StageLeft]

Another way to ask is who gets more money the guy who designed the car or the guy who test drives it?