Also called: QA Tester, Test Technician
Uses apps and websites by hand to find bugs and confusing spots before release.
You follow test scripts on ten different phones, then go off-script to try weird things real users might do. Every bug you find gets written up with screenshots and exact steps to reproduce it.
Often contract or hourly; estimate.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
High school diploma, about 0 years after high school. High school diploma; on-the-job training; certificates such as ISTQB help.
Ways in: On-the-job training, Certification, Self-taught. Training cost: Get paid while you train.
Majors to look at: Information Technology (certificate), Computer Science.
Shrinking. Declining share of QA work as automation grows.
High risk for 10 years. AI agents can click through apps and flag bugs, so manual tester jobs are disappearing quickly.
Age 18+. One way to start: Apply for QA tester contract jobs or sign up on crowdtesting sites that pay per bug
Classes: Computer applications, English.
Official data: O*NET occupation 15-1253.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.