In recent years, I keep noticing job ads from big companies and even LinkedIn profiles with titles such as “QA Automation Engineer,” “QA Tester,” or “QA Engineer.” At first glance, these sound professional, but when you actually read the job descriptions, they are mostly about software testing—which belongs to Quality Control (QC), not Quality Assurance (QA).
This shows how sometimes, in the software industry, we get so caught up in trends and titles that we forget the basics. And when fundamentals get blurred, both professionals and organizations suffer. Let’s break this down in very simple, user-friendly terms.
What is Quality Assurance (QA)?
Quality Assurance is about the process.
- QA ensures that the right processes are being followed during software development.
- It’s proactive—designed to prevent problems before they happen.
- QA activities include process audits, reviewing compliance with industry standards (like CMMI, ISO, Automotive SPICE), and driving process improvements.
- QA is applied across all Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) activities—not just at the testing phase.
👉 In short, QA = Making sure the way you build software is correct and consistent.
What is Quality Control (QC)?
Quality Control is about the product.
- QC focuses on the actual software being built.
- It’s reactive—it comes after development, to detect problems that already exist.
- QC includes software testing—manual or automated—to find bugs, defects, or deviations from requirements.
- This is where roles like Test Engineer or Test Automation Engineer make sense.
👉 In short, QC = Making sure the software product works as expected and meets quality standards.
QA vs QC – The Simple Difference
- QA is proactive: It prevents issues before they happen by focusing on processes.
- QC is reactive: It detects issues after they happen by testing the final product.
Think of it this way:
- QA is like ensuring your recipe and cooking method are correct before you start cooking.
- QC is tasting the food after cooking to see if it came out right.
Both are essential, but they are not the same.
Why “QA Automation Engineer” Doesn’t Make Sense
Now comes the important part. Can you automate QA activities like process audits, compliance checks, or organizational improvements? Not really. Those are human-driven, analytical, and often organizational tasks.
But you can automate QC activities—like running regression tests, smoke tests, or performance checks. That’s where the correct title is Test Automation Engineer (or sometimes Automation Test Engineer).
So, when companies use the title “QA Automation Engineer”, it’s misleading because:
- The role is about QC (testing), not QA.
- Automation applies to testing, not assurance.
- It confuses new professionals in the industry about what QA really means.
Why Misusing Job Titles is a Big Problem
When job titles don’t reflect actual responsibilities, it creates multiple issues:
- Confusion for new professionals – Freshers think QA means testing only, missing the bigger picture of process assurance.
- Wrong expectations – Companies may hire testers but expect them to improve processes, which isn’t their role.
- Career development issues – Professionals label themselves incorrectly, which can affect recognition and future opportunities.
- Industry credibility – If we can’t even define our roles correctly, it signals weak fundamentals in software quality practices.
The Correct Way to Define Roles
- If your role is mainly testing, call yourself a Test Engineer or Test Automation Engineer.
- If your role involves auditing processes, compliance, and quality standards, then QA Engineer is accurate.
- Avoid mixing QA and QC—because while they are related, they are not interchangeable.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, words matter. If you are a professional, you should use a job title that correctly represents your role. If you are a company, please stop posting misleading job titles that confuse the industry.
Remember:
- QA = Process, proactive, prevents problems.
- QC = Product, reactive, finds problems.
There is no such thing as a “QA Automation Engineer.”
What you really mean is “Test Automation Engineer.”
If we can’t even define our own titles correctly, then we have a fundamentals problem to fix. And fixing fundamentals is the first step to building better software.