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How to Become a QA Engineer: Degree & Salary (2026)
Key takeaway: You become a QA engineer by learning to program, learning to test systematically, and proving both on real software -- there is no license and no required certification. A bachelor's in software engineering or a related computing field is the common route, and quality engineering is one of the more open entry lanes for new graduates. Software quality assurance analysts and testers earn a national median annual wage of $104,300 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS), with employment projected to grow 10.0 percent from 2024 to 2034 (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-2034). Modern QA work is automation, which means it is programming with a different objective.
Quality assurance engineering has an image problem that the job data does not support. The stereotype is manual clicking through a checklist. The occupation the Bureau of Labor Statistics counts pays a national median annual wage of $104,300, with the 90th percentile at $167,010 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS), because the work has shifted toward building automated test suites, designing test strategy for systems too large to check by hand, and owning the release gate.
Nothing here is licensed. What replaces the credential is evidence: automated tests you wrote, bugs you found and reported precisely, and a demonstrable understanding of how software fails.
View the data behind this chart
| Percentile | Annual wage |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $61,440 |
| 25th percentile | $80,310 |
| Median | $104,300 |
| 75th percentile | $133,180 |
| 90th percentile | $167,010 |
Step-by-step: how to become a QA engineer
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Learn to program. This is the step people skip because the old version of the job did not require it. Modern QA work is writing code that exercises other code. One general-purpose language, well enough to write, read, and debug real programs, is the floor. A bachelor’s in software engineering delivers this in its first two years, and so does any computing degree.
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Earn a degree, or build an equivalent case. Most postings ask for a bachelor’s in software engineering, computer science, or a related computing field. The degree also supplies what self-teaching usually skips: data structures, systems, databases, and the verification coursework that is directly the job. If you are already working in software support or manual testing, a degree can be the thing that moves you into the engineering track. Verify institutional accreditation through the U.S. Department of Education database; ABET accreditation exists for software engineering programs but is optional.
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Take the verification and testing coursework seriously. Unit, integration, and system testing, test design techniques, static analysis, defect tracking, and test automation frameworks are the core of the job. In many programs these are a small number of courses inside a larger degree, so seek them out rather than treating them as a box to check. Requirements engineering matters too, because a test is an argument about what the software was supposed to do.
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Build automated tests on real software. Write a test suite for a project of your own, contribute tests to an open-source project, or automate a workflow at your current job. This is the portfolio, and it is more persuasive than any certification. Employers can read a test suite and tell whether you understand the difference between tests that pass and tests that would catch a regression.
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Learn the surrounding toolchain. Version control, continuous integration pipelines, containers, and at least one browser or API automation framework. QA engineers live inside the build system, and being the person who can fix a broken pipeline is a fast route to being valued on a team.
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Apply to quality engineering and adjacent roles. Titles include QA engineer, software development engineer in test, test automation engineer, and quality analyst. Read the duties rather than the title: some “QA analyst” postings are manual and some “test engineer” postings are pure programming. This occupation has 14,000 openings per year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-2034).
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Decide whether to specialize or move. Experienced quality engineers go deeper into performance testing, security testing, or test infrastructure, or move sideways into development. The skills transfer in both directions, which is part of why the role is a reasonable entry point.
What degree do you need to be a QA engineer?
None is legally required. In practice:
- A bachelor’s in software engineering is the most direct route, because verification and validation are part of the required core rather than an elective.
- A computer science degree works equally well for hiring and adds algorithmic depth, with less coursework specifically on testing.
- A software development or applied computing degree is sufficient if it includes real programming and you build the testing skills yourself.
- A master’s in software engineering is not required for entry. It is useful for a career change into the field from another discipline or for moving toward test architecture and quality leadership.
- No degree is workable if you can demonstrate programming ability and a real test portfolio, though it is a harder path at large employers and federal contractors.
Certifications exist in this field, most visibly software testing certifications from industry bodies. They are optional signals rather than requirements, and no employer treats one as a substitute for demonstrated automation work. Do not pay for a certification before you have written tests someone else could run.
See Is a Software Engineering Degree Worth It? for how to weigh the degree against the roles it reaches.
How much do QA engineers make?
Software quality assurance analysts and testers earn a national median annual wage of $104,300 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS). Half earn more and half earn less. The spread is wide: the 10th percentile was $61,440 and the 90th percentile was $167,010 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS). Employment was 201,700 in 2024, projected to grow 10.0 percent through 2034, with 14,000 openings per year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-2034).
For context within the same degree cluster, software developers had a median annual wage of $135,980 with 115,200 annual openings, and computer systems analysts $105,850 with 34,200 openings (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-2034). Quality engineering pays less than development at the median and has fewer openings, which is the honest tradeoff against its lower barrier to entry. Wages vary substantially by metro area, industry, and experience, and individual outcomes vary.
How long does it take to become a QA engineer?
| Phase | Typical duration |
|---|---|
| Learning to program well enough to be employable | Ongoing; overlaps with any degree coursework |
| Bachelor’s degree in software engineering or computing | About 4 years from scratch; shorter with transfer credit (approximately 120 semester hours) |
| Building an automated test portfolio | Concurrent with study; a few substantial projects is the working target |
| Internship or first quality engineering role | Typically sought in the final year of a bachelor’s |
| Master’s degree, if pursued | Varies by school and by bridge requirements – confirm the catalog |
These are ranges rather than guarantees. Catalogs set credit totals; employers set their own hiring bars.
Frequently asked questions
What degree do you need to be a QA engineer?
None is legally required, but most postings ask for a bachelor’s in software engineering, computer science, or a related computing field. A software engineering degree is the most direct fit because verification and validation are in the required core rather than optional.
Do QA engineers need to know how to code?
Yes, for most current roles. Modern quality engineering is test automation, which means writing and maintaining code that exercises other code. Purely manual testing roles still exist but are the narrower and lower-paid version of the job.
Do you need a certification to be a QA engineer?
No. Software testing certifications from industry bodies are optional signals. No license authorizes this work, and employers weight a demonstrable test suite far above a certificate.
How much do QA engineers make?
Software quality assurance analysts and testers earn a national median annual wage of $104,300, with the 10th percentile at $61,440 and the 90th at $167,010 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS). Wages vary substantially by metro area, industry, and experience.
Is QA a good entry point into software engineering?
Often, yes. It hires new graduates more readily than development in many organizations, it builds real familiarity with a production codebase, and the skills move in both directions. Some engineers stay and specialize in test architecture; others move into development after a few years.
Is QA engineering being automated away?
The manual portion largely has been, which is why the occupation now looks like programming. Employment is still projected to grow 10.0 percent from 2024 to 2034 with 14,000 openings per year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-2034). The people at risk are those who never made the shift from clicking to coding.
Related guides
- Online Software Engineering Degrees Guide – the full hub covering degree levels and program formats
- Online Bachelor’s in Software Engineering – the most direct degree route into quality engineering
- Online Master’s in Software Engineering – depth, specialization, and the career-changer route
- What Can You Do With a Software Engineering Degree? – the full occupation cluster with BLS wages
- How to Become a Software Engineer – the development path, if building rather than testing is the goal
- Computer Science Program Guide – the theory-centered alternative degree
Data verified: September 5, 2026. Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.