QA Engineer

What it officially is

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.

O*NET, US Department of Labor · classified as “Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers”

What the work involves

  • Document software defects, using a bug tracking system, and report defects to software developers. 34% of people in this occupation report doing this
  • Develop testing programs that address areas such as database impacts, software scenarios, regression testing, negative testing, error or bug retests, or usability. 34% of people in this occupation report doing this
  • Design test plans, scenarios, scripts, or procedures. 34% of people in this occupation report doing this
  • Provide feedback and recommendations to developers on software usability and functionality. 34% of people in this occupation report doing this
  • Install, maintain, or use software testing programs. 34% of people in this occupation report doing this
  • Test system modifications to prepare for implementation. 34% of people in this occupation report doing this
  • Create or maintain databases of known test defects. 34% of people in this occupation report doing this
  • Develop or specify standards, methods, or procedures to determine product quality or release readiness. 34% of people in this occupation report doing this
  • Monitor bug resolution efforts and track successes. 34% of people in this occupation report doing this
  • Update automated test scripts to ensure currency. 34% of people in this occupation report doing this
  • Participate in product design reviews to provide input on functional requirements, product designs, schedules, or potential problems. 34% of people in this occupation report doing this
  • Plan test schedules or strategies in accordance with project scope or delivery dates. 34% of people in this occupation report doing this
  • Conduct software compatibility tests with programs, hardware, operating systems, or network environments. 34% of people in this occupation report doing this
  • Investigate customer problems referred by technical support. 34% of people in this occupation report doing this

What employers actually ask for

Counted from listings on this board. Each line shows how many of that tier's listings for this role carried it — the denominator is the point.

Large employers

  • experience with ai/ml pipelines 2 of 5
  • experience with ubuntu/debian packaging or snap 2 of 5
  • collaborating daily with a globally distributed team 2 of 5
  • monitoring and reporting on automated testing efforts 2 of 5
  • cloud infrastructure experience (aws, gcp, azure, or openstack) 2 of 5
  • prior involvement with open source testing communities or projects 2 of 5
  • ability to develop and ship modern production grade web applications 2 of 5
  • data collection and analytics skills for large multidimensional datasets 2 of 5

Only one tier has enough listings for this role to count from. A share measured over fewer than three listings is not a measurement, so it is not shown.

What they call it

Large employers

  • Senior Software Quality Engineer Adobe
  • Distributed Systems Testing Software Engineer, Python / Go Canonical
  • Ubuntu Linux Kernel Test Engineer Canonical
  • Distributed Systems Testing Software Engineer, Python / Go Canonical Ltd.
  • Ubuntu Linux Kernel Test Engineer Canonical Ltd.

Startups

  • Software Engineer, QA & Test Automation AviaryAI

Tools the occupation uses

Cloud-based management software Amazon Web Services AWS CloudFormation
Data base management system software Amazon Data Pipeline, Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon Kinesis
Data base user interface and query software Airtable, Amazon Web Services AWS software, ADO.NET, Amazon Redshift, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2
Desktop publishing software Adobe InDesign
Development environment software A programming language APL, Algorithmic language ALGOL, American National Standards Institute ANSI C, ABC Compiler, Adobe ActionScript, Ada
Document management software Adobe Acrobat

How well this role is advertised

144listings reviewed
59/100median HR-standards score
81/100median title accuracy

Open now

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Official definitions and responsibilities come from public occupational records — O*NET (US Department of Labor) and ESCO (European Commission). The employer half is counted from listings on this board and shown with its denominator. Nothing on this page is written by a language model: the measured half is arithmetic over real postings, and the official half is quoted.