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Software Engineers and Designers  (NOC 2173)
Northwest Region
Description |  Titles |  Duties |   Related Occupations

Software engineers and designers research, design, evaluate, integrate and maintain software applications, technical environments, operating systems, embedded software, information warehouses and telecommunications software. They are employed in information technology consulting firms, information technology research and development firms, and information technology units throughout the private and public sectors, or they may be self-employed.

application architect, computer software engineer, embedded software engineer, software architect, software design engineer, software design verification engineer, software designer, software engineer, software testing engineer, systems integration engineer – software, technical architect – software, telecommunications software engineer.

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Software engineers and designers perform some or all of the following duties:
  • Collect and document user's requirements and develop logical and physical specifications
  • Research, evaluate and synthesize technical information to design, develop and test computer-based systems
  • Develop data, process and network models to optimize architecture and to evaluate the performance and reliability of designs
  • Plan, design and co-ordinate the development, installation, integration and operation of computer-based systems
  • Assess, test, troubleshoot, document, upgrade and develop maintenance procedures for operating systems, communications environments and applications software
  • May lead and co-ordinate teams of information systems professionals in the development of software and integrated information systems, process control software and other embedded software control systems.
Included Cities in Region | Service Canada Offices

Thunder Bay, Dryden, Kenora, Fort Frances, Geraldton, Greenstone, Keewatin, Longlac, Marathon

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View a list of Service Canada offices in this area.

Outlook & Prospects for Software Engineers and Designers in Northwest Region

The future forecast and current conditions for an occupation can vary based on location or due to changes in the economy, technology, or demand for a product or service.

Local Employment Potential Information

Table on the employment potential for Software Engineers and Designers in Northwest Region as well as in the rest of the Ontario.
Location Employment Potential Release Date
Northwest Region <Not assigned> 2011-12-13

Compared to other occupations, this is not a significant occupation in this region.

Employment prospects for software engineers and designers in Ontario are expected to be average for the next few years. According to the 2006 Census, there were over 17,000 software engineers and designers in the labour force in Ontario. Demand has increased for workers who have a mix of technology-specific skills and industry-specific experience in areas such as manufacturing, government, communications and media, health care and financial services. Given that services for communication (email, mobile phones), transportation (airplane navigation), finance (online banking), shopping (online stores, credit cards), and medicine (medical records) increasingly rely on computers and the internet, software engineers are needed to meet concerns over cyber security. However, a high Canadian dollar may limit investment and research and development spending on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) affecting job opportunities for people in this occupational group.

Employers are interested in recruiting workers with practical working experience. Particularly, software engineers and designers with greater than 5 years experience are expected to be in demand. People in this occupation are highly concentrated in large urban areas across Ontario. As such, employers in smaller population centers may encounter difficulty in recruiting workers with significant experience.

Workers in this occupational group have a younger age profile, with an average age of 38 years compared to 40 years for all occupations in Ontario. Software engineers and designers must be familiar with new technologies and their applications in order to be successful. Job seekers with experience in programming languages, such as Java, C++ and SQL, and product-specific certifications may have better job prospects.

[ Source: Labour Market Information - HRSDC ]
Please consult the Ontario and Canada tabs for more useful information related to outlook.