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How has your salary fared in recent years? You’ve probably noticed the increased competition with cheaper, offshore resources. Many QA professionals have, and if you’re one of them, don’t give up. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

In recent years, there has been an influx of professionals to the US from regions that traditionally get lower salaries. In addition to that, more and more companies are embracing offshoring and welcoming team additions that telecommute because it lowers their costs in multiple ways. For QA professionals in the US, this means that the competition is getting increasingly fierce.

Some QA pros have reported having to take lower salaries when changing jobs, or forgoing cost of living increases. Even managers are not immune to this competition and change in costs. In fact, the traditionally higher paid managers with decades of experience are possibly getting hit harder than other pros due to being removed from the day-to-day testing and thus not as likely to have kept up with technical skill training and knowledge.

Manual testing jobs are increasingly difficult to get as companies recognize the need for and actively search for candidates with automation and mobile testing experience. The more technically trained professionals are getting the bulk of the available jobs, and thus eventually the higher salaries.

What you can do about it? Continue with your training and don’t fall behind the technical curve. Keep up to date with the latest technology, software, hardware, and testing methods. Learn how to perform mobile testing, if you don’t already and most importantly, learn how to easily use one or more automation tools.

What’s your experience been with QA salaries in recent years? Have you been affected by the shift to offshoring or outsourcing? Have you found it difficult to find a job that pays similar to your previous one?

About the Author

The author, Ruslan Desyatnikov, is the CEO & Founder of QA Mentor. He created QA Mentor to fill the gap he has witnessed in QA service providers during his near 20 years in QA. With Ruslan’s guidance, unique services and methodologies were developed at QA Mentor to aid clients in their QA difficulties while still offering a high ROI. Ruslan offers monthly seminars aimed at imparting his extensive testing knowledge that can be applied to start-ups as well as large companies. To learn more about QA Mentor and testing services please visit www.qamentor.com or contact Ruslan directly by sending email to rdesyatnikov@qamentor.com