Job prospects Software Development Programmer in Québec

Explore current and future job prospects for people working as a "software development programmer" in Québec or across Canada.

Job opportunities in Québec

These outlooks were updated on December 11, 2024.

Prospects over the next 3 years

The employment outlook will be good for Software developers and programmers (NOC 21232) in Quebec for the 2024-2026 period.

The following factors contributed to this outlook:

• Employment growth will lead to several new positions.
• Not many positions will become available due to retirements.
• There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

Employment in this occupation primarily depends on the demand for professional, scientific, and technical services, and to a lesser extent, on the demand in the video game industry. Several other sectors also rely on these professionals, such as the information, finance, and insurance industries.

The rapid evolution of information technologies and their implementation in an increasing number of fields provides a clear advantage to these workers. Several areas within information technology are expanding, including cybersecurity, cloud services, cryptography, mobile development or more intuitive applications, artificial intelligence, and automation.

In order to to maintain their competitiveness, the transition of businesses to this new digital era, research and development, automation, and the pursuit of greater productivity will contribute to the creation of new positions.

The ongoing needs for software development and updates will support certain jobs.

The outlook is less positive than in the past for the video game industry. However, as it is well-established in Quebec, this sub-sector will continue to generate some job opportunities for this occupation (mobile games, animation, virtual and augmented reality, etc.).

Here are some key facts about Software developers and programmers in Quebec:

• Approximately 34,450 people work in this occupation.
• Software developers and programmers mainly work in the following sectors:
  • Computer systems design services (NAICS 5415): 50%
  • Information and cultural industries (NAICS 51): 13%
  • Finance, insurance, real estate and leasing (NAICS 52, 53): 10%
• The distribution of full-time and part-time workers in this occupation is:
  • Full-time workers: 94% compared to 82% for all occupations
  • Part-time workers: 6% compared to 18% for all occupations
• 76% of software developers and programmers work all year, while 24% work only part of the year, compared to 62% and 38% respectively among all occupations. Those who worked only part of the year did so for an average of 46 weeks compared to 43 weeks for all occupations.
• 6% of software developers and programmers are self-employed compared to an average of 12% for all occupations.
• The gender distribution of people in this occupation is:
  • Men: 85% compared to 52% for all occupations
  • Women: 15% compared to 48% for all occupations
• The educational attainment of workers in this occupation is:
  • no high school diploma: less than 5% compared to 12% for all occupations
  • high school diploma or equivalent: less than 5% compared to 19% for all occupations
  • apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma: less than 5% compared to 19% for all occupations
  • college certificate or diploma or university certificate below bachelor's: 18% compared to 22% for all occupations
  • bachelor's degree: 48% compared to 17% for all occupations
  • university certificate, degree or diploma above bachelor level: 28% compared to 11% for all occupations

Breakdown by region

Explore job prospects in Québec by economic region.

Source Labour Market Information | Prospects Methodology

Job prospects elsewhere in Canada

Explore current and future job prospects for people working as a "software development programmer" in Québec or across Canada.

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