Guides
Each guide works through an example from the dataset and links to the breakdown pages its figures come from.
How much does it cost to hire a QA engineerThe employer cost of a QA hire is salary plus contributions, benefits, equipment, recruiting and ramp. One dataset combination worked through line by line.Fully loaded cost of a QA engineerWhat fully loaded cost means for a QA engineer, which six lines it adds to salary, and how the loading factor is calculated, with a worked example from the dataset.QA hiring budget templateA line-by-line budget template for a QA hire: salary, contributions, benefits, equipment, recruiting and ramp, with annual, monthly and first-year totals from the dataset.First-year cost of a QA hireWhy the first year of a QA hire costs more than an average year: recruiting and onboarding ramp fall in full. The arithmetic for one dataset combination.QA contractor vs employee costHow the cost of a QA contractor compares with an employee: what each model includes and excludes, and the annual totals for one dataset combination.EOR cost for a QA engineerWhat an employer of record adds to the cost of a QA engineer, which lines it passes through, and how the total compares with the employee model in the dataset.Outsourced QA vs in-house costHow the cost of an outsourced QA engineer compares with an in-house hire: what a vendor rate includes, what the employee total includes, and one dataset example.Employer contributions explainedWhat employers pay on top of a QA engineer's salary: social security, payroll taxes, caps and thresholds, and how the dataset computes them, with a worked example.Mandatory bonuses and 13th salary in QA hiring costHow a 13th or 14th salary, holiday allowance and other statutory payments enter the cost of a QA hire, and how the dataset values them as cost items.How much does a bad QA hire costThe costs paid twice when a QA hire leaves early and is replaced: recruiting fee and onboarding ramp, with the arithmetic for one dataset combination.Time to hire a QA engineerTime-to-hire benchmarks in the dataset, what they measure, and how the daily cost of a QA role puts a scale on the wait, with one worked example.Recruiting fees for QA hiresHow agency recruiting fees enter the cost of a QA hire: the percentage-of-salary basis, the fee percentage, and the amortisation over expected tenure, worked from the dataset.Onboarding ramp cost for a QA hireHow the dataset values the weeks before a new QA hire works at full productivity: ramp weeks by level, the productivity factor, and one worked example.Equipment and tooling cost for QAWhat the equipment and tooling line covers for a QA engineer: laptop over 3 years, licences, test devices and device cloud access, with list prices from the dataset.Manual tester vs automation engineer costHow the cost of a manual QA engineer compares with a test automation engineer: which lines differ, which are the same, and one dataset comparison.SDET vs test automation engineer costHow the cost of an SDET compares with a test automation engineer: role definitions, which cost lines differ, and a comparison from the dataset where both are published.Junior vs senior QA engineer costHow the full cost of a junior QA engineer compares with a senior one: salary, contribution caps, ramp length and first-year cost, with one dataset comparison.Hourly cost of a QA engineerHow to turn the annual cost of a QA engineer into an hourly figure: salary per paid hour against fully loaded cost per productive hour, with one dataset example.