What is the difference between a QA engineer and a software tester?

Although the two positions may overlap in responsibilities, a QA engineer monitors and tests software development throughout the entire product lifecycle. In this career, your role is to prevent bugs from occurring during development, as well as to improve the overall development process. A software tester follows the QA engineer’s test protocols to examine whether there are software issues at different stages of development and to find technical bugs before the product is released to consumers.