Manual Software Tester
🐞Goes through apps and websites by hand, looking for bugs and describing them for developers. Lots of repetitive checks.
Prospects & pay
What the work is like
💼 Job market
🇺🇸 $97.1k a year on average · +5.7% jobs by 2035 · 10,700 openings a year
Software quality assurance analysts and testers — US: Census ACS 2020–24 (full-time), BLS projections 2025–35
🇬🇧 £47.2k median a year · 20,000 jobs
IT quality and testing professionals — UK: ONS ASHE 2025 (full-time)
🤖 AI & automation
AI agents already click through interfaces and find routine bugs. The job is shrinking fast: a stepping stone into tech, not a 10-year career.
Who it suits
Interests: 🗂️ Order, paperwork, systems, 💻 Coding and digital.
Key strengths: attention to detail, organisation.
Where to study
- Course ISTQB Foundation certificate, QA courses
- Apprenticeship Software tester apprenticeship (UK)
- Vocational IT college course / associate degree
Key school subjects (A-level / IB / AP): Computer Science, English Literature.
🧗 Courses and an ISTQB Foundation certificate are enough, sometimes an apprenticeship. No degree needed, but without moving into automation or development the career stalls quickly.
Things to know
🪑 Sitting at a computer all day
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