Since software quality assurance is my profession, it’s interesting to occasionally step back and take a look at the entire industry. From my previous jobs and the jobs my friends have, I see the industry broken down into three segments:
Contractors and temps – This seems to be a growing trend in the industry. Either companies don’t value their QA department enough and only keep on contractors (like a lot of HP) or they hire people on as contractors as an extended interview with the intention of making them full-time. The former is typical to a company who really doesn’t care about longevity and experience in their own company and keep QA around simply because it is necessary.
The exploitation of the youth – Some companies are hiring QAs straight out of college or with little experience before the employees know what they are really worth. I’ve personally worked for one of these companies before (Homestead) and they serve the purpose of giving people experience before moving on to a better job. Much like the first type, these companies do not value longevity and obviously don’t value their QA departments or they would compensate them as fairly as they compensate developers. The best QAs are those we are capable of being developers after all.
Companies that value quality – The third and most difficult to find is a company that actually values quality. You can find these companies by noticing QA engineers who have been around with the company for many years and who are fairly compensated.
