How to become a Software Engineer in Canada
What does a Software Engineer do?
Software developers implement or program all kinds of software systems based on specifications and designs by using programming languages, tools, and platforms.
Typical duties
- Analyze information to determine, recommend, and plan installation of a new system or modification of an existing system.
- Analyze user needs and software requirements to determine feasibility of design within time and cost constraints.
- Confer with data processing or project managers to obtain information on limitations or capabilities for data processing projects.
- Confer with systems analysts, engineers, programmers and others to design systems and to obtain information on project limitations and capabilities, performance requirements and interfaces.
- Consult with customers or other departments on project status, proposals, or technical issues, such as software system design or maintenance.
- Coordinate installation of software system.
- Design, develop and modify software systems, using scientific analysis and mathematical models to predict and measure outcomes and consequences of design.
- Determine system performance standards.
Key skills
Knowledge
engineering processes
tools for software configuration management
ICT debugging tools
integrated development environment software
project management
technical drawings
web services
computer programming
engineering principles
MATLAB
Skills
use technical drawing software
define technical requirements
perform scientific research
develop automated migration methods
interpret technical requirements
use software libraries
identify customer requirements
develop software prototype
use an application-specific interface
use software design patterns
AJAX
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Creative Cloud software
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe InDesign
Adobe Photoshop
Alteryx software
Amazon DynamoDB
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2
Education requirements
Bachelor's Degree
Career progression
Software developers
Salary by experience
Entry Level (P25)
$84,750
/year
Mid Level (P50)
$99,625
/year
Senior Level (P75)
$115,000
/year
16 job listings analyzed
Related roles
Specializations
Frequently asked questions
How many job openings are there for Software Engineer in Canada?
There are currently 292,255 job openings in Software Engineer in Canada.
How much does a Software Engineer earn in Canada?
The average annual salary in Software Engineer in Canada is 147.237 CAD, ranging from 95.000 to 203.900 CAD.
What education is needed to work in Software Engineer?
Bachelor's Degree
Sources: ESCO (European Commission), O*NET (US DOL), Wikipedia (CC-BY-SA)
Data updated: February 2026