software tester career Archives - Testbytes Software

Software Tester salary is something people wish to know owing to the current boom of the industry,
Reason?
Testing is an important process associated with all software before launching them in the market.
It is done in order to make sure that software is free from errors and bugs and is ready to be used by the end users.
Being such an important aspect of software’s production, it requires special skill sets; therefore it generates a lot of career opportunities.
So have a look at the salary of software testers to substantiate the claim

Software Testing As a Career

The scope and profile of a software tester have undergone tremendous changes over the last decade.
Industries have realized the importance of software testing before releasing an application in the market.
There are several types and levels of specialization in software testing that has increased the value of software testers. Following are some of the job options for software testing.

Software Test Engineer

A software test engineer works in quality assurance team. They check the software to ensure that the programs are running properly. They have to check the functionality of a program.
They have to design, build and implement effective testing strategies. They adopt black box testing, white box testing, and grey box testing strategies to test a software application.
A software test engineer should possess a bachelor degree in a similar field. They should have key skills like; programming, active listening, reading comprehension, critical thinking, etc.
A software test engineer should be computer savvy and should know how to use computer servers and operating systems.
The average salary of a software test engineer is $82,212. The salary structure increases as per the experience and it also differs from company to company.

Software Test Engineer salary in India – Rs. 450,000 – 800000
Software Test Engineer Salary UK – £41,250-£47,500
Software Test Engineer Salary USA – $60,000 – $108,000

Quality Assurance Tester

The quality assurance testers are known as a problem solver. He assures the quality of software through manual and automated testing.
They are an important component of the software development process. A QA tester must possess at least a bachelor degree in computer science.

Also Read : The Reasons Why Testbytes is the Leading Software Testing Company!!

A quality assurance tester is responsible for:

Review and analyze system specifications
Execute test scripts and review results
Report and document technical issues
Coordinate with QA engineers and develop strategies and test plans
Report bugs and errors to the development team
Conduct post-release testing
Evaluate product code according to the specifications

The average salary of a quality assurance tester is $56,212 per year in the US

Quality Assurance Analyst

As the name suggests the quality assurance analyst ensure and analyze the quality of a software application.
He makes sure that the software is working properly and he also makes suggestions to management to make the functions better.
This is the prior responsibility of a quality assurance analyst to improve software application and programs within defined timelines and budgets.

They often work within testing environment and quality improvement team. The quality assurance analyst uses a variety of tools to compare the software with user’s requirements.
After testing the quality assurance analyst recommend changes and improvements in the software application. The average salary of a quality assurance analyst is $59,492 per year

Quality Assurance Analyst Salary in India – Rs 181k – Rs 899k
Quality Assurance Analyst Salary in UK – £20K – £54K
Quality Assurance Analyst Salary in USA – $21,000 – $157,00

Software Engineer

A software engineer is the one who applies the software engineering principles to design, maintain, develop, test and evaluate computer software. To become a software engineer you required a bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer system engineering or software engineering. Sometimes a master or doctoral degree in the related discipline is required. A software engineer is responsible for the following tasks:

Write and design testable codes
Design quality assurance procedures and software verification plans
Upgrade, troubleshoot and debug existing systems
Convert information using programming languages such as Java, C++, and Python etc.
He develops flowcharts, documentation, and layout in order to identify solutions and requirements
Produce specifications and determine operational feasibility
Deploy programs and evaluate user feedback
He ensures that software is updated with the latest features

The average salary of a software tester is $104,463 per year.

software engineer salary in India – Rs 232k – Rs 1m
software engineer salary in UK – £34K-£80K
software engineer salary in USA – $60k – $124k

Software Testing Hierarchy

We will discuss the Hierarchy structure of the software testing in brief with the help of illustrations:

Project Manager: In major companies, they look for skilled and professional project managers. It is the topmost position in the software testing hierarchy.

This is the highest position to which any of the software testers can climb up to in a company. Project managers are generally the first point of contact in a software testing team. Any issues or discrepancies arises will be directed contacted to the project manager.
Project manager deals with the management of the project which indicates seldom participation of the individual in various activities undergoing in a software testing firm. The project manager has the highest pay ranging from $136,144 to $154,267, as he is the only one who gives instructions to other team members and coordinates their activities.

Manager QA: The QA manager position is the second highest after the project manager. The average salary of a QA manager is usually $109,610 – $135,523.

The role of the QA manager is not only to analyze the project but also to make sure the testing procedure adheres to the protocols of the company.
The individual also ensures to oversee the quality of the software through various testing protocols and managing teams of QA engineers.
These QA managers also ensure to identify defects and bugs in existing software by implementing various aspects of testing.
He also does various other tasks, including conducting software tests, document software issues, improve the process, negotiate contracts or evaluate projects.

Team Leader: After QA manager, comes the Team Leader. Team leader leads his team of different skilled testers.

These testers have various skills and experience who can execute any type of testing tasks efficiently. Team leaders generally handle all the operations with his team and report to the QA manager.
A report which consists of test results, individuals also provides coordination with the project manager. The average salary of a QA team leader is $96,342 – $105,000.

Senior Tester or Senior Test Engineer: Senior tester or senior test engineer comes at 4^th The position generally includes specialist or experts who are an exception in handling testing tasks.

They make sure that the task has been carried out in the given time and budget effectively.
This individual only supervises assistant engineers or engineering graduates. The average salary of these testers is generally $55,475 – $76,499.

Associate Test Engineer: These are the testers who are in an assistant level position of testing. This position is the second last in the hierarchy level. Associate test engineers generally responsible for manual testing. They are also responsible to train junior testers during their initial stage. The average salary of an associate test engineer is $28,246 – $47,248.
Junior Tester: Junior testers are generally the entry-level This position is the bottom of the software testing hierarchy with the least experience and skills. They may need a few years to gain experience climb up the position. The average salary of a junior tester is generally $16,796 – $24,846.

Salary of Software Testers in Different Countries

Average software tester salary in UK £24,950/ $28499.14 per year
Average software tester salary in India Rs 330,857/$4788.49 per year
Average software tester salary in Japan $73,658 per year
Average software tester salary in the US $59,530A
Average software tester salary in Canada $52,052 per years
Average software tester salary in Australia $63,421 per year

Also Read : Top 10 Mobile App Testing Companies In India

Around 1500 hundred year ago, Aryabhata while TESTING his experiment/theory felt need for zero which he ENGINEERED,basically one way of looking at invention of ZERO is out come of TEST ENGINEERING which helped mathematics and computing world to evolve.
General notion of responsibilities that falls with Test Engineer is people who create test cases, test data, test scripts and other testing related artefact, these created artifacts are used for execution and outcome is published as test results.

Above work does not involve much of “Engineering”, it is pure testers job profile as document in Roles and responsibility document that is available in our QMS. Based on the role definition the only activity that can qualify as Test Engineer is Performance testing where TEST is followed be ENGINEERing performance scripts.
Test Engineer role captured my attention during a client visit back in early 2008, when we decided to do a floor walk primarily to get out of the board room and see our experts in action. An automated script developed using excel was demoed to us, this was amazing piece of ENGINEERING that excited and charged us, on request from client we spend more time on the floor than planned and rearranged subsequent schedule.
There would be many such instances where our Test Engineers are innovating and applying “ENGINEERING” to enhance the value and utility of the product/service.

Surprising observations is that there are lot of places where we don’t involve our test engineers For example
Are our Test Engineers involved in testing recommendation that comes for process improvement?
Are our Test Engineers involved to test Organization wide initiative it to ensure we can measure the benefits upfront
Why Infrastructure Management does not have any requirement for Test Engineers? We see requirement from client for Architects, project managers, specialist etc.

Above list is a small illustration, there are test engineering opportunity in abundance, last week news was that India have 500 million mobile users.
If we apply simple mathematics this space itself was 500 million $ market assuming 1$ to test one handset/hardware before it hits the showroom, that is awful lot of work. It does not stop here as product life cycle does not end with selling, servicing and fixes follows. If we consider only 1% of current mobile handset in Indian market brought to service centres for repairs, that is additional 5 million $ market again assuming 1$ to test the repair before handing out to customer.

If we estimate 50% of India’s population to use mobile in near future we still have market for additional 100 million mobiles which at 1$ of testing per handset amounts to 100 million $ market plus the 1 million $ on service/repair testing.
Like wise there are many areas where Test Engineering can add value and generate $$$, point is how we can expedite the process of demonstrating and marketing Test Engineering?
I am a firm believer in this role, it can do wonders to the world, there is lot of work that still has to be done, this post is to INSPIRE both the provider (Test Engineer) and consumers to value the role and get maximum out of it until we see “TESTED OK” on every thing we use directly or indirectly including this article J. Test Engineers please acknowledge and lets work to bring out the true ESSENSE of this role and INSPIRE.

Tag: software tester career

Salary of a Software Tester 2019 [Updated]