Salaries and possibiity of growth in Software QA

The salaries of testers who pass through software testing training vary from 50K to 100K annually for permanent positions and $25-$65/hour for contracts. Testers are in great demand (by the official sources, the profession of a tester lies in the list of quickly growing trades – the demand grows at the rate of 5% per year).

The profession of Software Tester is an ideal niche for:

• People who are trying to change their career path due to the economic meltdown and economic restructuring
• New immigrants looking for a qualified job in a new country
• Recent school/college graduates who are struggling to find their first job

There are numerous benefits of a career path in Software QA:

• Everyone can do it – open for people with different educational backgrounds and industry domains
• Short learning curve (up to 6 months), while salaries are similar to Software Developers who spent 5 years to earn their degree
• High Demand
• Great compensation rates ($25 – $65/hour)
• Age tolerant

Having said that, the profession of software tester gets more and more technical. Taking a good QA course is necessary to master the required skills. Starting from manual tester positions, one can progress to more advanced automated testing, become a test lead, or choose other directions in IT such as project management or business analysis.