Software quality assurance analysts and testers: pay, outlook and skills
Develop and execute software tests to identify software problems and their causes. Test system modifications to prepare for implementation. Document software and application defects using a bug tracking system and report defects to software or web developers. Create and maintain databases of known defects. May participate in software design reviews to provide input on functional requirements, operational characteristics, product designs, and schedules.
Pay distribution and location comparison
These are published pay distribution points for everyone working in this occupation, not pay levels for junior, mid, or senior roles. Location figures are pay as published; no cost-of-living adjustment is applied.
United States, all industries
| Pay point | United States | Selected area |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $61,440 | - |
| 25th percentile | $80,310 | - |
| Median | $104,300 | - |
| 75th percentile | $133,180 | - |
| 90th percentile | $167,010 | - |
| People employed | 186,740 | - |
Source: OEWS May 2025, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (imported 9/17/2026) official file Reference period: OEWS May 2025.
Long-term outlook
Official ten-year projection for 2025 to 2035. Projected annual openings are an average per year over the decade, including openings from workers leaving the occupation. They are not a count of jobs open today.
Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (imported 9/17/2026) official file Employment is published in thousands of jobs and converted here to people.
OptimizeResume analysis using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. This is not a BLS statistic or a prediction that an individual will be hired.
Score trend
Historical scores may be restated when BLS revises underlying data. The chart uses the latest restated values.
Confidence
- At least 90% of required inputs and occupation-industry mapping are covered.
How this score is built
Monthly industry demand is mapped to this occupation using official occupation-industry relationships, then combined with occupation fundamentals and long-term projections.
Read Methodology v1.0Skills, software, and day-to-day work
Skill values are O*NET importance ratings on a 1-5 scale for the occupation itself. They describe what the work requires, not how much employers are hiring right now.
Most important skills
- Reading Comprehension4.0 / 5
- Active Listening3.9 / 5
- Critical Thinking3.9 / 5
- Speaking3.9 / 5
- Writing3.8 / 5
- Monitoring3.6 / 5
- Programming3.6 / 5
- Complex Problem Solving3.4 / 5
- Quality Control Analysis3.4 / 5
- Systems Evaluation3.3 / 5
- Active Learning3.1 / 5
- Judgment and Decision Making3.1 / 5
O*NET importance rating, 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).
Software and technology
- Development environment softwareMicrosoft Azure software (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Microsoft Azure DevOps Services (in demand for this occupation), Apache Kafka (hot technology), Apache Maven (hot technology), Apache Subversion SVN (hot technology), C (hot technology)
- Object or component oriented development softwareC# (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), C++ (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Oracle Java (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Python (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Apache JMeter (in demand for this occupation), Apache Spark (hot technology)
- Data base user interface and query softwareAmazon Web Services AWS software (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Structured query language SQL (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2 (hot technology), Amazon Redshift (hot technology), Apache Hive (hot technology), IBM DB2 (hot technology)
- Web platform development softwareJavaScript (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), RESTful API (in demand for this occupation), AJAX (hot technology), Apache Tomcat (hot technology), Cascading style sheets CSS (hot technology), Django (hot technology)
- Program testing softwareSelenium (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Appium (in demand for this occupation), Microsoft Playwright (in demand for this occupation), REST Assured (in demand for this occupation), TestNG (in demand for this occupation), JUnit (hot technology)
- Operating system softwareLinux (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Postman (in demand for this occupation), Apple macOS (hot technology), Bash (hot technology), Google Android (hot technology), Microsoft Windows (hot technology)
- Application server softwareGitHub (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Atlassian Bitbucket (hot technology), Docker (hot technology), GitLab (hot technology), Red Hat OpenShift (hot technology), Spring Boot (hot technology)
- Enterprise application integration softwareJenkins CI (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Extensible markup language XML (hot technology), Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services SSIS (hot technology), Atlassian Bamboo, Enterprise application integration EAI software, IBM InfoSphere DataStage
- Project management softwareAtlassian JIRA (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Atlassian Confluence (hot technology), Microsoft Project (hot technology), Microsoft Team Foundation Server (hot technology), Microsoft Teams (hot technology), Oracle Primavera Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (hot technology)
- File versioning softwareGit (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Version control software
- Spreadsheet softwareMicrosoft Excel (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), Google Sheets (hot technology)
- Office suite softwareMicrosoft Office software (in demand for this occupation) (hot technology), LibreOffice
O*NET marks individual examples only. “Hot technology” means the tool is frequently named across job postings generally; “in demand for this occupation” means O*NET recorded it as required by employers for this occupation. Unmarked examples are still commonly used.
Typical tasks
- Identify, analyze, and document problems with program function, output, online screen, or content.
- Document software defects, using a bug tracking system, and report defects to software developers.
- Develop testing programs that address areas such as database impacts, software scenarios, regression testing, negative testing, error or bug retests, or usability.
- Design test plans, scenarios, scripts, or procedures.
- Document test procedures to ensure replicability and compliance with standards.
- Provide feedback and recommendations to developers on software usability and functionality.
- Install, maintain, or use software testing programs.
- Test system modifications to prepare for implementation.
- Create or maintain databases of known test defects.
- Develop or specify standards, methods, or procedures to determine product quality or release readiness.
Also advertised as: Automation Tester, Information Technology Analyst (IT Analyst), Quality Assurance Analyst (QA Analyst), Quality Assurance Engineer (QA Engineer), Quality Engineer, Software Quality Assurance Analyst (SQA Analyst), Software Quality Assurance Engineer (SQA Engineer), Software Quality Engineer.
Check your resume against a real job posting
This page describes the occupation in general. A free scan compares your own resume with the specific job description you are applying to, requirement by requirement, and shows where your real experience is already strong and where it is simply not documented yet. Only experience you actually have should ever be added.
Scan my resume freeSource: O*NET Database version 31.0 by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. Used under CC BY 4.0. OptimizeResume has modified the data for display only: selected the most important rated skills, grouped software examples by category while keeping each example’s official flags, and shortened the task list.
Guides for applying to this work
Sources and how to read this page
Source: OEWS May 2025, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (imported 9/17/2026) official file
Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (imported 9/17/2026) official file
O*NET 31.0 Database version 31.0 by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0 and modified for display on this page. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
How each number should be read
- Pay percentiles describe the spread of pay across everyone in the occupation, not experience levels.
- Employment counts are jobs, not people hired during the year.
- Projected annual openings are a decade average from the official projection, not current vacancies.
- O*NET skill ratings describe the work, not employer hiring demand.
- Values BLS did not publish, suppressed, or top-coded are shown as such and never treated as zero.