Software Testing Consultant Salary

cronos

Just wondering what people think the pay should be for a tester with 3 years testing experience in a large consultancy firm and 2 years second tier IT tech support/Testing in a credit card payment company.

People keep saying that IT is in big demand in Dublin at the moment so I'm just interested in getting some opinions.

rick_fantastic

Id say around 30-40K, couldn't see it being much more for a F/T permanent position.

IT is in big demand, but its more a demand for .NET developers with lots of experience.

Are you lead tester on big projects or working as part of a team?

Eoin

There's demand in many other areas of IT as well; not just .net dev. QA does seem to be one of them (especially automation), but I think it's for more experienced QA staff.

Big demand for software support staff too.

Can't give any advice to the OP on figures though; sorry.

Mr. Loverman

35k-ish.

cronos

Eoin wrote: »

There's demand in many other areas of IT as well; not just .net dev. QA does seem to be one of them (especially automation), but I think it's for more experienced QA staff.

Big demand for software support staff too.

Can't give any advice to the OP on figures though; sorry.

Well I'm experienced given that I have 5 years IT experience. 3 of which was dedicated QA the other 2 years about 50 percent of my job was QA alongside doing tech support.

cronos

rick_fantastic wrote: »

Id say around 30-40K, couldn't see it being much more for a F/T permanent position.

IT is in big demand, but its more a demand for .NET developers with lots of experience.

Are you lead tester on big projects or working as part of a team?

Grads in my company with 0 years experience get 30 so that's way off. The top end isn't far away though. Although I would have thought around 45 - 50k

I have done a very small bit of team lead work. However mostly I'm doing senior testing on big projects but reporting into a testing team lead.

cronos

Eoin wrote: »

There's demand in many other areas of IT as well; not just .net dev. QA does seem to be one of them (especially automation), but I think it's for more experienced QA staff.

Big demand for software support staff too.

Can't give any advice to the OP on figures though; sorry.

I agree their is definitely demand for experienced QA people. Automation is also a good skill to have but it's one most good QA people can pick up. A software developer in test however is more of a specialist role.

Eoin

cronos wrote: »

Grads in my company with 0 years experience get 30 so that's way off. The top end isn't far away though. Although I would have thought around 45 - 50k
.

I'd be sticking with your company - I think those are both very high salaries.

Dearg81

cronos wrote: »

Grads in my company with 0 years experience get 30 so that's way off. The top end isn't far away though. Although I would have thought around 45 - 50k

I have done a very small bit of team lead work. However mostly I'm doing senior testing on big projects but reporting into a testing team lead.

€40k-€50k i would say for a software testing position. I have 5 years experience and just changed jobs, the lowest salary on offer was €40K, the highest was just over €50k. Most of them were in between that.

fguihen

Microsoft seem to be always loooking for testers. Be ready for 6+ interviews. I had 6 interviews with them, and as the process took so long, i had accepted an external role before they got back to me with an offer. If you have time though it could be worth a shot.

cronos

Eoin wrote: »

I'd be sticking with your company - I think those are both very high salaries.

Software Testing pay is on par with development pay these days.

cronos

fguihen wrote: »

Microsoft seem to be always loooking for testers. Be ready for 6+ interviews. I had 6 interviews with them, and as the process took so long, i had accepted an external role before they got back to me with an offer. If you have time though it could be worth a shot.

They seem to always look for software developers in test. Which unfortunately I'm not.

Eoin

cronos wrote: »

Software Testing pay is on par with development pay these days.

Yep, but 30K for a grad with 0 experience is pretty good IMO, as is up to 50K for someone with 5 years experience.

dudara

After 3 years testing with a software consultancy firm, what kind of team lead experience do you have? Are you in a position to move towards team lead and/or management roles?

cronos

dudara wrote: »

After 3 years testing with a software consultancy firm, what kind of team lead experience do you have? Are you in a position to move towards team lead and/or management roles?

i have started some team leader work for small projects with one direct report. Also doing a masters in management of information systems part time which the company wouldn't be putting money towards. My official title is Technology Consultant so I have been promoted a couple of times from:

Analyst(aka grad)->Senior Analyst->Consultant

cronos

Eoin wrote: »

Yep, but 30K for a grad with 0 experience is pretty good IMO, as is up to 50K for someone with 5 years experience.

It's bog standard in most consultancies or in large multi nationals. We wouldn't be paid for overtime though so they get their money's worth don't worry

krd

fguihen wrote: »

Microsoft seem to be always loooking for testers. Be ready for 6+ interviews. I had 6 interviews with them, and as the process took so long, i had accepted an external role before they got back to me with an offer. If you have time though it could be worth a shot.

They're always looking for Testers?

Why do you think that is?

My experience is they just take the piss. Interview 30 people for one job, just because they can.

And unless something has changed, I don't remember them paying great wages.

Smaller companies tend to pay better than the large multi-nationals. In larger companies you are more disposable - and you will be disposed.

If you're getting 30k for test, you're doing really well. I have a friend working in test for one of the large companies. He's getting a base of 35k. Plus he gets overtime, and productivity bonuses - so it works out at anything between 40 to 50k. BUT - he says he wouldn't recommend the place or the job. Most of the other testers are getting paid very little - and they're getting bullied. He gets treated well, because he knows the systems inside out.

compscii

Im actually working in QA for a financial software company, the products they have are in a very niche market. Im only an intern at the moment but am hoping a position will open up soon. Ive been with them about 4 months now and the level of knowledge to understand the product is huge. Im doin well though, my only question is, in the QA role is there much flexibility for changing jobs (but still in QA), as in am I pigeon holing myself into this very specific role and is my experience to date any good for experience in general in the QA career ladder?

Sorry if that makes feck all sense!

kala85

Was looking into a career change at the moment and came across this thread. What is the pay like now for software testing? Whats the career progression like?

evilberry

I'd say both automation and manual testing roles are paid more or less the same as sw engineering ones with automation being paid more than manual (28-33/35 junior(<2y), mid level 33/35-45 (2y-5y), senior 45+ (5y+)).

Automation is where you want to be nowadays really in QA world. So easy to find a job if you're good enough and know what you're doing. Market's a bit tougher for manual testers atm, especially without Agile/Scrum experience.

I am currently on a manual QA role and getting an intership in automation on side after hours. Busy days, but as I say, reaeally worth it.