Comments on: What Is an SDET Meaning, Role, and Pay (2024 Guide)

By: aarti gupta

aarti gupta — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 13:49:34 +0000

Such a great post ! Thanks for sharing with us. Keep it up. SDET

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 20:55:07 +0000

I fulfill the role of an SDET, although that’s not my title. While I do automation, manual testing, etc., I also spend a lot of time writing software applications for the team. Somewhat of a tools dev role building applications (web app FE/BE, desktop apps, etc). I also cross into devops a bit, handling deployments and monitoring live servers. i used to use the title and tell people, “I’m doing the role of an SDET…” but now I just describe the work I do. I think it speaks more than a title. As for money… it’s all about negotiation. I can see why people might want to get into a SDET title, and SDET might be a bridge to development. However, people in QA can make more than an SDET or vice versa… depends on the company and how well you can sell your skills to management.

By: khanchett

khanchett — Sat, 17 Aug 2019 16:02:58 +0000

Very informative post.

I would like to suggest and update on the structure of how someone goes from a QA Analyst to an SDET role and how that looks.

I feel things are misconstrued that they are parallel. I had a manager compare the salary values of a QA level III to a SDET level III as being similar.

While I do believe there is a crossover (beginning as a tester) between being a QA to an SDET I feel that if you start at a QA level I you work your way through that and somewhere between the level II and level III you may be training for a level I SDET role.

There may be some rare cases out there, but would really like to know how others view this role progression. Bottom line I see a QA grow into an SDET role for someone just starting out as a tester.

Any thoughts?

By: Peter Varhol

Peter Varhol — Thu, 06 Dec 2018 00:22:05 +0000

You are just enough totally wrong to be dangerous to software development and test. We don’t need testers who can code, or even coders who can test (much less likely). We need testers who understand the problem domain and can grok what the users need in an era of agile and DevOps delivery, which an SDET is highly unlikely to do.

And guess what? I am a developer who can test, and a tester who can develop. Your superiority complex with SDET is setting testing back decades in an era where we desperately need testers who are intimate with the problem domain and user needs. All of the automation is great if we don’t really have users who need the software to accomplish their real jobs.

By: Thomas Klein

Thomas Klein — Mon, 03 Dec 2018 16:19:39 +0000

Joe, thanks for the good summary. This exactly matches my findings on the challenges with agile QA (or “testing in an agile delivery environment”) when you are left with traditional QA testers.
I also like that -unlike many other “thought leaders”- you do not actually blame QA testers for being unable to code. Funny enough, some time ago someone asked me

“If our testers can’t code but our developers can test – what do we need testers for, then?” and I replied “You know, you will need at least someone who actually reads and understands your requirements, don’t you?”.

I believe that we need a shift from calling everything “testing” into distinguishing between QA (something which is wholistically apllied and happens before, during and after development) and a testing discipline which goes hand-in-hand alongside development but is more of a technical role (what you call it “SDET”). These SDETs should not place a focus on execution of tests but rather delivery, maintenance and operation of testware. (While the latter could be nicely plugged into DevOps, aka DevTestOps or whatever you might call it).

The only thing we really need in order to bring this up to a whole new level is the awareness of stakeholders that this thing doesn’t mean “pay less for QA and get better results” but rather “spend your money misely” meaning: This is the future of testing – but it’s not coming to you for free.

Cheers, Thomas

By: Nikolay

Nikolay — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 14:18:26 +0000

That’s a nice post Joe! A great comparison between the two positions from many angles :) Thanks for sharing

By: Satyajit Malugu

Satyajit Malugu — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 12:47:16 +0000

I have been an SDET for most of my career and for the most part this is an accurate summary. I converted from an entry level dev to SDET and after about 10 years a principal SDET at godaddy. Joe was right SDET type and kind of role is Seattle/Bay Area specific and the rest of the country is only seeing this kind of roles recently.

An SDET career has unique challenges on hand there is a bias only weak developers that didn’t cut it to make as SDE’s chose SDET career and on the other hand companies don’t pay SDETs as the same level as SDEs. SDET career also has unique growth opportunities because there are a very few of them and even very few good ones. By definition you are an outlier, so your impact can be great on the team. Also SDET career affords you flexibility and you can pick and choose for the most what you want to concentrate on.

Currently I am fortunate to be in one of those companies which values SDET career path and growth and if you’d like to join me, check out the job openings in my team https://lnkd.in/gSG62hk and https://lnkd.in/gZaQiXm