Quality Assurance vs. Quality Control: Choosing the Right Career Path

Quality assurance and quality control are parts of quality management and have some similarities, but they differ in many ways. The field of quality management appears to be expanding in certain areas because, according to Grand View Research, “the UK quality management software market generated a revenue of USD 450.4 million in 2023 and is expected to reach USD 811.1 million by 2030” [1]. Discover the job roles of quality assurance and quality control professionals and their skills, qualifications, and salaries to help you decide between the two career paths.

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What is quality assurance?

Quality assurance (QA) is a set of activities and procedures, called quality standards, during and after product development or project management. It helps ensure you create a high-quality product or have a successful project outcome and seeks to solve problems experienced by consumers after a product or service hits the market. QA involves ensuring a project or product is advancing toward delivery and that an organisation or team is adhering to standards or guidelines.

What is quality control?

Quality control (QC) monitors results after a product reaches development and production. That means checking that product development or project outcomes meet quality standards. QC is a reactive process that responds to problems and aims to detect errors, such as software defects, glitches, or imperfections. It helps ensure you produce a high-quality product before it reaches consumers. Organisations typically have a systematic approach to QCing products. 

How is quality assurance different from quality control?

Quality assurance refers to the guidelines, policies, and procedures for making a high-quality product and avoiding defects. In contrast, quality control refers to the product’s actual review during production to ensure it embodies the highest standards. While quality assurance occurs throughout the process, from planning to maintenance of a product or project, quality control happens during the inspection phase.

Another difference between QA and QC is that QA is proactive, while QC is reactive to any glitches or problems you find. QA focuses on the processes during development, and QC is more about the product. Lastly, QA is an organisation-wide responsibility, while smaller teams handle QC work testing the product. 

Why is QA important?

QA benefits an organisation by offering set guidelines and standards for training, documentation, monitoring, and audits during production. It’s a continuous effort to improve and ensure quality. QA guidelines also keep projects in scope and on track by aligning team members on collaboration practices and methods, such as code reviews in software development.

Why is QC important?

QC identifies and corrects problems and defects as they occur to ensure that the final product is of the highest quality possible. QC can involve software testing and beta or canary testing, which provide lessons applicable to future projects and products. Without QC, the organisation can’t be sure that the product works as intended and suits the customers’ needs. A proper QC process leads to happier customers who have more incentive to be loyal to the company. 

Getting started in quality management

Quality management is the process of monitoring and managing the quality of a company’s services and products to ensure that they fulfil requirements and meet customers' needs. Quality standards are the guidelines for that process, and quality planning establishes its process and procedures. Whether you want to work in QA, QC, or another aspect of quality management, you can start by enrolling in the education and training you need. 

Earn a bachelor’s degree

Your first step to your quality management career is to obtain your bachelor’s degree in a field related to quality control, such as business management. You might also consider choosing a degree related to the industry you wish to enter. Examples of bachelor's degree subjects you can pursue include:

• Engineering and manufacturing

• Mathematical science

• Applied Science

• Polymer science technology

• Food science and technology

• Textiles

Finally, if you have extensive training and experience, you can begin a career in this field without a degree.

Earn a master's degree (optional)

A master's degree is optional but enhances your CV, especially if you haven’t got much experience, and it can make you a stronger candidate when you’re searching for a QA or QC position. It can also help you gain skills and knowledge to excel in your field. Some master's degrees to consider include the following:

• Master of Science in Quality Management: Prepare for or enhance your role as a quality manager or quality specialist in many industries.

• Master of Business Administration: Add a focus on QA to understand business management principles, which you can apply to the field in which you are currently working or to another one you wish to pursue.

Earn relevant qualifications

Although some quality management positions require NEBOSH health and safety qualifications, many of these jobs do not, but credentials can often help you stand out in the job market. Many relevant certifications for QA and QC roles are the Chartered Quality Institute (CQI) and Six Sigma certifications:

CQI certified training

CQI offers a variety of quality management certifications in areas such as:

• Change management

• Management systems

• Risk management

• Process improvement

• Quality planning

Certifications are available at three career levels—introductory, practitioner, and professional. Also, if you’d like to earn a practitioner membership (PCQI), you need to acquire no less than two years of experience in the quality field, as well as 30 hours of quality-associate training.

Six Sigma certifications

Six Sigma certifications validate your expertise in process improvement. You can pursue five levels of Six Sigma and five levels of Lean Six Sigma certification. The latter incorporates Lean project management principles, which focus on eliminating waste, increasing customer satisfaction, and elevating a company's profit margin.

Other skills and requirements for quality management roles

Quality management requires specific skills, including attention to detail, communication, organisation, leadership, and tech skills. You should also understand the legal standards in the various fields, especially the one in which you want to work. Data analysis skills are also beneficial.

Six Sigma

Six Sigma is important in quality management because it is a business management strategy that aims to improve the quality of processes by minimising and eventually removing errors and variations. Six Sigma enables quality assurance and control and helps ensure a superior product. 

Minitab

Having experience and knowledge of Minitab, a statistical software used in quality management is beneficial. This software discovers and predicts patterns, uncovers hidden relationships between variables, and creates visualisations, which can help make processes more efficient.

Lean management

Another essential concept in quality management is Lean management, a system of techniques that aims to eliminate all non-value-adding activities and waste from a business. As both QA and QC intend to reduce or eliminate waste, knowledge of Lean manufacturing could improve your skills.

Theory of constraints

The theory of constraints (TOC) methodology identifies bottlenecks and constraints. It is key in QA and QC processes because both aim to make development more efficient. TOC allows rapid improvement, less inventory, and higher profit.

Why pursue a career in quality management?

As a quality assurance or control professional, you’ll be sought after by companies who want to keep their customers happy and businesses efficiently running while producing the best possible products and services. Other reasons to pursue a career in quality include the following:

Take organisations from good to great

Your overall goal as a quality management professional is to improve the organisation’s work. You will have the opportunity to help it improve from good to great. Customers will be happier receiving better products, and the organisation’s employees will be more satisfied with their work. 

Move from sector to sector

Opportunities open up in various sectors when you pursue a career in quality management so that you can work in software development, customer service, hospitality, product testing, marketing, and many other industries. Your quality management skills will translate if you decide to switch fields. 

Find out what makes organisations tick (or stop ticking)

As a quality assurance professional, you help keep an organisation working toward its mission, which means you constantly look for ways to improve, thus making the outcomes more favourable. You can also identify what keeps an organisation from working to its full potential.

Set up your own business

Another option for you if you go into quality assurance or quality control is to own your own business. You can work as a consultant or a quality assurance or control contractor. This option would allow you to work with various companies of all sizes. 

Career prospects for QA and QC professionals

Career options for quality managers are generally good, with opportunities for promotion at all levels, right up to the highest ones. Additionally, because technology continues to evolve in various industries, like aerospace and automation, companies will need professionals in this field to ensure compliance and competitiveness. In terms of pay, Glassdoor UK states that the median annual base salary for quality assurance managers is £43,445 [2]. Similarly, a quality control manager's median annual base salary is £40,513 [3]. 

With career progression, you may work towards positions such as director of quality, with a median annual base salary of £79,199 [4]. 

Where can quality assurance or quality control professionals work?

You can work in virtually any industry as a quality assurance or quality control professional. Take a look at some of the examples:

• Manufacturing: Testing goods and products to ensure they meet quality standards.

• Foodservice: Ensuring products meet the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA)legal requirements and food safety standards.

• Healthcare: Ensuring the best patient outcomes by designing policies and procedures.

• Corporate retail: Preventing defective products from entering the market.

• Information technology: Testing software and other technology, catching problems, and collaborating with developers to fix them.

• Engineering: Monitoring contractors and builders to ensure performance and safety during a job.

• Transportation: Ensuring quality in the building and maintaining roadways, curbs, sidewalks, bridges, and other structures and transportation methods.

• Education: Monitoring quality in academics, administration, and related services. 

Job titles in quality management with salaries

Salaries can vary significantly in quality management roles. The following are the average base annual salaries for additional positions within the quality management field, according to August 2024 data from Glassdoor:

• Quality technician: £25,334 [5] 

• Quality auditor: £24,972 [6]

• Quality coordinator: £27,510 [7]

• Quality assurance tester: £35,194 [8]

• Quality control supervisor: £24,433 [9]

• Quality analyst: £27.430 [10]

• Quality assurance engineer: £36,919 [11]

Which should I choose? Quality assurance vs. quality control

To choose between quality assurance or quality control, consider which part of the process you want to participate in, either preventing defects by improving the process or inspecting the product. You can find rewarding careers in each, and both are vital in quality management.

Start your journey to a QA or QC role

If you're ready to pursue a career in quality assurance and quality control, you can start your journey to your quality management job. First, you'll need education and training.

Research which programme you are interested in based on your goals. On Coursera, you can take courses from Kennesaw State University on Six Sigma, including the Six Sigma Principles. You can also explore quality management in the information systems industry with The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's Information Systems Auditing, Controls, and Assurance course. 

Rutgers University offers a course geared toward working in the healthcare industry called Quality Improvement in Healthcare Organisations. You can also make a start on your MBA through degree programmes on Coursera. One such programme is the iMBA from the University of Illinois.