"Will AI take my testing job?" is the question I hear most from people thinking about a career in QA. Instead of guessing, I went to the most reliable public source for US jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and read what it actually says about software QA analysts and testers, and about AI.
TL;DR
- The outlook is positive: the BLS projects 6% growth for software QA analysts and testers from 2025 to 2035.
- The pay data is solid: the median annual wage for this occupation was $104,300 in May 2025.
- AI is a demand driver, not only a threat: the BLS links demand to software built for AI, IoT, robotics and other automation.
- The work moves: drafting a first test gets cheaper with AI assistants; deciding what to test, reviewing the output and judging risk do not.
What the US data says about testers
The Occupational Outlook Handbook, last modified on 27 August 2026, gives these figures for software quality assurance analysts and testers:
- About 187,600 jobs in 2025.
- Projected employment growth of 6% from 2025 to 2035.
- A median annual wage of $104,300 in May 2025.
For the wider group that includes software developers, QA analysts and testers, the BLS projects 10% growth over the same period and about 106,100 openings per year, mostly from workers who leave the occupation and need to be replaced. Read that carefully: 6% is the figure for testers alone, and the openings number covers the whole group, not testers only.
Also keep in mind that these are US national figures. Pay depends on the city, the sector, the seniority and the employer, and a median is not a starting salary. These numbers describe the market. They do not predict what anyone would earn.
What the BLS says about AI
The same page does not describe AI as shrinking this occupation. It says demand should stay strong because of the growth of software for AI, the Internet of Things, robotics and other automation, and that more investment in security software could raise demand for QA analysts and testers.
A fair reading: more software means more things to verify. The work moves, though. Writing a first draft of a test is getting cheaper with AI assistants. Deciding what to test, reviewing what the assistant produced and judging a risk are not getting cheaper.
I looked at the job-ad side too. In our QA Skills Barometer, a snapshot of 405 QA job ads in France taken on 2 October 2026, Playwright appears in 24.2% of ads and AI in 20.7%, with Jira and agile practices each in a larger share. That is a French sample, not a US one, but the direction is useful: automation and AI are on the list, and the basics of test management are still asked for more often. For a wider view, see AI testing trends in 2026.
The skills that travel
Whether a team is in Austin, Montreal or Lyon, the core of the job looks the same:
- Test design: equivalence classes, boundary values, risk analysis. This is what makes automated tests worth having.
- Automation: Playwright with TypeScript is a common modern stack for web and API tests. If you are on the hiring side and want that kind of suite built in your own repository instead, ADC also offers Playwright test automation services.
- CI: running tests on every change, for example with GitHub Actions, and reading the failures.
- Working with AI: generate, review, run and verify, and never accept a test you have not read.
- Certification as a common language: ISTQB certificates are international.
A habit that costs nothing: the next time an AI assistant writes a test for you, read it line by line and ask what bug it would actually catch. If you cannot answer, the test is decoration.
One course, with honest limits
Our QA Automation & AI Tester course is built around exactly that list, starting from zero: testing fundamentals, then Playwright and TypeScript for web and API tests, tests in GitHub Actions, and generative AI applied to testing.
- 399 hours over 12 weeks, with 160 hours of live classes with a mentor and about 239 hours of self-paced work.
- 100% online, evening classes Monday to Friday, 19:30 to 21:30 Paris time.
- ISTQB CTFL v4.0 and CT-GenAI v1.1 exams included, with a second attempt offered for each. The course is "certifying" in this precise sense: an ADC certificate awarded after a defence in front of a jury, plus the ISTQB exams.
The limits matter for a US reader. Classes are in French, so you need fluent French and the ability to read technical English. If you are not a French speaker, this course is not the right fit today. The evening slot is Paris time, early afternoon on the US East Coast. The next session runs from 15 October 2026 to 15 January 2027 with 12 places, and enrolment stays open until 22 October.
Price: €1,500 launch price for individuals (1 to 4 interest-free instalments), €7,500 for companies, both including VAT. French public funding such as the CPF, France Travail or an OPCO is not available yet. There is no promise of a job, a salary or that a recruiter will recognise the certificate.
Over to you
If you moved into QA in the last couple of years, which skill turned out to matter more than you expected: test design, automation or working with an AI assistant? And if you hire testers, what do you now ask candidates about AI that you did not ask two years ago?
Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Software Developers, Quality Assurance Analysts, and Testers (last modified 27 August 2026) · ADC: QA Skills Barometer (snapshot of 2 October 2026, France) · ISTQB
Originally published on AutomationDataCamp. Written with AI assistance. Every figure comes from the sources listed above, as cited in the original article (checked on 19 October 2026).
AutomationDataCamp is an online software testing academy (Playwright, API testing, CI, AI-assisted testing, ISTQB prep). More on our site.
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