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Tech & EngineeringGrowingBright Outlook

Software Quality Assurance Analyst and Tester

Mid-level

Also known as: Application Integrator, Applications Analyst, Applications Quality Assurance Specialist (Applications QA Specialist), Applications Software Engineering Information Technology Specialist (Applications Software Engineering IT Specialist)

Tech & EngineeringBachelor's Degree

Job Description

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.
Software Quality AssuranceSoftware TestingBug TrackingTest AutomationComputer ScienceInformation TechnologySoftware EngineeringSoftwareSTEMTechnology

A Day in the Life

You settle into your desk chair, grabbing your coffee. The monitors flicker to life, and you open Outlook, Jira, and Slack. It’s Tuesday, and the development team just pushed a new build for the user authentication module. You scan through your emails, noting the daily stand-up reminder and a message from your team lead about a priority feature for the upcoming sprint. Your day starts by reviewing the test cases assigned to you for today in TestRail.

Skills employers are looking for in 2027

Software and technologies flagged by O*NET as Hot or In-Demand for this role.

Hot technologies
AJAXAdobe AcrobatAdobe After EffectsAdobe Creative Cloud softwareAdobe IllustratorAdobe InDesignAdobe PhotoshopAmazon DynamoDBAmazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2Amazon RedshiftAmazon Web Services AWS CloudFormationAmazon Web Services AWS softwareAnsible softwareApache CassandraApache HadoopApache HiveApache KafkaApache MavenApache SparkApache Subversion SVNApache TomcatApple SafariApple macOSAtlassian Bitbucket+102
In-demand software
Amazon Web Services AWS softwareApache JMeterAppiumAtlassian JIRAC#C++GitGitHubJavaScriptJenkins CILinuxMicrosoft Azure DevOps ServicesMicrosoft Azure softwareMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft Office softwareMicrosoft PlaywrightOracle JavaPostmanPythonREST AssuredRESTful APISeleniumStructured query language SQLTestNG

Job Outlook 2025-2035

Bright Outlook

O*NET flags this career as a Bright Outlook occupation: grows rapidly over the next decade.

Projected growth

+5.7%

US average: +3.5%

Job openings

10,700

per year (US)

Jobs today

187,600

in 2025 → 198,200 (2035)

Typical entry education

Bachelor's degree

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections; O*NET Bright Outlook. Read the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook

Work Environment

How this work is typically performed, based on O*NET work context data.

Email & digital communication
High
Working in a team
High
Contact with others
High
Freedom to make decisions
High
Time pressure
High
Time spent sitting
High
Working outdoors
Low
Indoor, climate-controlled
High
Dealing with customers
Low
Level of competition
Moderate

Source: O*NET Work Context (v31.0)

Future Perspective

Growing Job Market

This career has a positive outlook, with about 10,700 job openings expected each year. Employment is projected to grow by 5.7% from 2025 to 2035, faster than average, and the median annual wage is $104,300. This is considered a "Bright Outlook" field, and you can advance from entry-level positions like Junior Tester to roles such as Senior QA Engineer or Software Development Engineer in Test.

Career ladder

Often before this role

  • Technical Support Analyst
  • Junior Tester
  • Application Support Specialist

Where it can lead

  • Senior QA Engineer
  • QA Lead/Manager
  • Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET)

Impact of AI on this Job

AI will significantly impact SQA by automating repetitive testing tasks, such as regression and performance testing, through intelligent test generation and execution. This will shift the role towards designing more complex test scenarios, analyzing AI-driven insights, and testing AI systems themselves, requiring a deeper understanding of AI principles.

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Salary

$104,300

Median annual wage, BLS 2025

Required Education

Bachelor's Degree

Minimum educational requirement for this position

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