Quality Assurance Engineer – Salary, How to Become, Job Description & Best Schools

A quality assurance engineer is responsible for ensuring that all aspects of a product or program function properly as per specifications. You will support the development stages of a product and test various aspects to catch errors before they happen.

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What is a Quality Assurance Engineer?

Duties

An experienced quality assurance engineer has to take care of the following tasks:

• Identify systematic procedures and planning that is required to have confidence in the satisfactory performance of every component.
• Conduct a thorough check of all corrective actions implemented to assure the introduction of the new product is in line with applicable reliability guidelines.
• Give technical assistance to project management teams and oversee the maintenance and update of project controls.
• Report any irregular trends in product quality observed through data analysis to senior leadership for timely resolution.
• Evaluate and track documentation connected to product quality wherever assigned, which includes operation details and test protocols, for approval once in compliance with quality standards.

Day In The Life

As a quality assurance engineer, you play a very important role in ensuring that every kind of product from software programs to television sets, go through the process of safety and quality checks. This is vital for retaining customer satisfaction and minimizing negative effects on business output. On a day to day basis, your work will involve working alongside the quality assurance team to examine customer claims of product defects or malfunctions. In addition, you have to lead communication with and between other departments in the company, such as engineering or human resources, concerning issues related to product quality, as well as supervise the training of inspection and production personnel in assessing product performance.

Many professionals in this field have to often work on improving the tests done, to ensure that products designed and manufactured meet the necessary specifications. To do this effectively, you will track various quality related data such as open defect issues, through statistical computer applications. If you have a strong background in engineering and are passionate about addressing issues in product quality, this may be the perfect opportunity for your career path.

Work Schedule And Typical Hours

When it comes to your work schedule and environment, you will likely be working out of a factory or testing center. This is also dependent on the type of quality assurance engineering you specialise in. For instance, testing computer software would take place at your desk but if you are testing products such as microwaves, you might be smashing a unit to test its resilience. In essence, it is your job to address any way a customer may use specific products and ensure that there are safeguards to reduce the eventuality of accidents.

Growth Of The Job

With more and more companies utilizing development approaches to uphold business goals, there is steady growth in jobs for quality assurance professionals in the industry. It is no longer an afterthought to monitor test cases or code inspection. Instead, organizations want to confirm that their products comply with the appropriate standards for quality, security and safety.

Typical Employers

Quality assurance engineers can choose from a host of potential employers, which basically includes any company that manufactures or produces a unique product. Since the range of products is so vast, you can pick from big corporations like Apple and IBM, to other players in the market that make electronic goods, clothing, furniture, etc.