For an experienced software professional considering Canada, the first question should not be, “Is software in demand?”

A better question is:

How does Canada classify the work you actually do, and which immigration routes are still relevant to that occupation in 2026?

That distinction matters more than it did a few years ago.

Software developers and software engineers remain established occupations in Canada's labour market, with employers hiring across technology companies, financial institutions, consulting firms, cybersecurity businesses and public-sector technology teams.

But the immigration advantage attached to these occupations has changed.

Software developers and software engineers appeared on Canada's broader STEM occupation list in earlier versions of Express Entry category-based selection. They are not included in the current 2026 STEM occupation list.

That does not make Express Entry unavailable to software professionals. It means developers need to approach the system differently: through the regular Federal Skilled Worker Program, Canadian Experience Class where applicable, provincial programs, French-language selection or other employer-supported pathways rather than assuming their occupation itself guarantees access to a STEM draw.

This guide looks at both occupations together:

• Software Developers and Programmers — NOC 21232
• Software Engineers and Designers — NOC 21231

and examines where the difference actually matters.

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Software Developer or Software Engineer? Canada Does Not Treat Them as the Same NOC

The job titles are often used interchangeably by technology companies. Canada's National Occupational Classification does not treat them as identical.

Software Developers and Programmers — NOC 21232

Software developers and programmers are classified under NOC 21232, TEER 1.

Canada's occupational classification describes this group as professionals who design, write and test code for software and systems. Employment can be found in software companies, game-development businesses, IT consulting companies and technology departments across the public and private sectors.

Typical roles can include:

• Software Developer
• Application Developer
• Full-Stack Developer
• Software Programmer
• Mobile Application Developer
• Software Development Programmer

A job title alone is not enough to select NOC 21232. IRCC expects the employment evidence to demonstrate that the applicant performed the NOC's lead statement and a substantial number of its main duties.

Software Engineers and Designers — NOC 21231

Software engineers and designers fall under NOC 21231, TEER 1.

Their occupational profile is more heavily associated with designing, evaluating, integrating and maintaining software architecture, technical environments, operating systems, embedded software and complex applications.

Job titles associated with this group can include:

• Software Engineer
• Software Design Engineer
• Backend Engineer
• Software Systems Engineer
• Software Development Engineer
• Embedded Software Engineer

The difference is not simply that an engineer is “more senior” than a developer.

A senior developer can still belong to NOC 21232. A person with “Software Engineer” on a business card might actually have duties closer to NOC 21232.

For immigration purposes, duties carry more weight than the wording of the job title.

A Canadian Detail Many Foreign Software Engineers Miss

There is another complication with the word engineer.

Professional engineering is regulated provincially in Canada, and Engineers Canada states that in most provinces the word “engineer,” including titles such as software engineer, is restricted unless the individual is licensed by the relevant provincial or territorial engineering regulator.

Alberta is a notable exception: legislation was changed there to permit technology workers and companies to use titles such as “software engineer” without a professional engineering licence.

This issue should not be confused with immigration classification.

NOC 21231 exists as an immigration and labour-market occupation even though the use of the professional title may be regulated in the province where you eventually work.

Someone preparing an Express Entry application therefore has two separate questions to answer:

1. Does their work experience match NOC 21231?
2. Are they legally permitted to use a particular professional title in the province where they work?

Those are not the same test.

Are Software Developers and Software Engineers Still Eligible for Express Entry in 2026?

Yes.

But neither occupation currently receives an automatic occupational advantage through the 2026 STEM category.

IRCC's current STEM list includes occupations such as cybersecurity specialists, civil engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical and electronics engineers and several engineering technologist occupations. NOC 21231 and NOC 21232 are absent from the current list.

This is a significant change because both occupations appeared in the 2024 STEM list.

A software professional should therefore avoid outdated articles claiming:

“Software developers qualify for STEM Express Entry.”

That statement was once broadly true under previous occupation lists. It is not accurate for the current 2026 STEM category.

Software professionals can still enter the Express Entry pool if they qualify under one of the programs managed through Express Entry.

For most applicants in this field, the relevant programs are:

Federal Skilled Worker Program

This is usually the starting point for an experienced software professional who has built their career outside Canada.

To meet the work-experience requirement, the applicant generally needs at least one year of continuous paid skilled work — 1,560 hours — within the previous 10 years in the occupation used as the primary NOC.

The applicant must also:

• meet at least CLB 7 in an approved English or French test;
• obtain an Educational Credential Assessment for foreign education;
• meet the Federal Skilled Worker selection requirements; and
• score at least 67 out of 100 on the FSW eligibility grid before entering the Express Entry pool through that program.

The 67-point FSW eligibility calculation is separate from the CRS used to rank candidates after they enter the pool.

This distinction causes a surprising amount of confusion.

A developer can pass the FSW 67-point test and still have a CRS score that is not competitive enough for an invitation.

Canadian Experience Class

Developers already working in Canada may instead qualify through the Canadian Experience Class (CEC).

Because NOC 21231 and 21232 are both TEER 1 occupations, the language minimum is CLB 7 in all four abilities.

CEC requires qualifying skilled work experience obtained in Canada while authorized to work. Work completed while studying full time generally does not count toward the CEC minimum.

For someone who entered Canada as an international student and later worked as a developer on a post-graduation work permit, this distinction can become decisive.

Being a Developer Does Not Give You Extra CRS Points

CRS does not award points simply because a candidate knows Java, Python, React or Kubernetes.

The system ranks candidates primarily through factors such as:

• age;
• level of education;
• English and French proficiency;
• Canadian work experience;
• combinations of foreign experience and language ability;
• Canadian education;
• French-language ability;
• provincial nomination.

IRCC also removed CRS points for job offers on March 25, 2025. A qualifying job offer can still matter for eligibility under particular immigration programs, but it no longer automatically adds the former 50 or 200 CRS points.

For software professionals outside Canada, this changes the strategy.

Obtaining a Canadian offer remains commercially valuable and can open other immigration or work-permit options. But the assumption that “a software job offer adds 50 CRS points” is now outdated.

What Can Actually Improve a Developer's Express Entry Position?

Imagine a 30-year-old software developer with:

• a bachelor's degree in computer science;
• five years of software experience outside Canada;
• no Canadian education;
• no Canadian work experience;
• no provincial nomination.

The person's programming stack is not directly scored.

What could materially alter the immigration profile is:

Stronger language results

Moving from the minimum CLB 7 toward CLB 9 can affect both core CRS points and skill-transferability points.

For an experienced developer, improving language performance can sometimes be more useful to the immigration profile than adding another programming certificate.

French

The French-language category remains one of the renewed Express Entry categories in 2026. Unlike the STEM occupation category, eligibility here is based on French ability rather than whether the applicant is a software developer.

That makes French particularly relevant for technology candidates whose occupation disappeared from the narrower STEM list.

Provincial nomination

A nomination through an Express Entry-aligned provincial program remains one of the strongest additional CRS factors.

Canadian work experience

Canadian skilled work experience contributes directly to CRS and can also create eligibility under the Canadian Experience Class.

The practical takeaway is straightforward:

In 2026, a developer's immigration strategy should be built around the whole profile rather than the assumption that “tech” itself receives preferential Express Entry treatment.

Provincial Immigration Options for Software Professionals

Provincial programs deserve particular attention because provinces can respond differently to labour-market needs.

The occupation being useful to a province does not mean that every software professional automatically qualifies. Streams can require an employer, provincial work experience, residence in the province or an invitation issued under a targeted intake.

Ontario

Ontario remains particularly relevant because both occupations continue to appear in technology-related activity under the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program.

Ontario's 2026 OINP updates specifically reference:

• NOC 21231 — Software engineers and designers
• NOC 21232 — Software developers and programmers

among occupations included in targeted selections or program activity during the year.

That is important, but it should not be interpreted as a standing guarantee that every candidate with one of these NOCs will receive an Ontario invitation.

OINP criteria, targeted occupations and invitation patterns can change between rounds.

Official source: Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program

British Columbia

British Columbia has one of Canada's largest technology ecosystems, particularly around Vancouver and the Lower Mainland.

However, candidates should check the current BC PNP rules and invitation priorities, rather than relying on older articles about the former BC PNP Tech system. Provincial selection policies have changed substantially over time.

Official source: WelcomeBC – BC Provincial Nominee Program

A job in Vancouver therefore does not automatically mean the worker has access to a special tech nomination.

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Alberta

Calgary and Edmonton have been building larger technology communities, and Alberta can also be relevant for candidates with employers in the province.

The appropriate AAIP stream depends on factors such as employment, occupation, work authorization and Alberta's current selection priorities.

Official source: Alberta Advantage Immigration Program

Software professionals considering Alberta should verify the active rules at the time they submit an Expression of Interest or application rather than relying on historical references to technology pathways.

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How Much Do Software Developers Earn in Canada?

Canada's Job Bank currently reports the national wage range for Software Developers and Programmers — NOC 21232 at approximately:

The wage data was updated by Job Bank in November 2025 using Statistics Canada labour-market information.

Regional differences are meaningful.

These figures describe an occupation as a whole. They should not be treated as an expected salary for every newcomer.

A senior backend developer working on distributed systems for a large technology company and a junior application developer at a small local firm can both fall under the same NOC while earning very different compensation.

Equity, bonuses and stock awards can also make total compensation substantially different from the base salary used in many labour-market datasets.

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Software Engineer Salaries Are Higher on the National Data

For Software Engineers and Designers — NOC 21231, Job Bank currently reports:

British Columbia shows a median of approximately CAD 62.50/hour, while Alberta's reported median is approximately CAD 51.92/hour.

The higher number does not mean that changing “Developer” to “Engineer” on a résumé creates a salary increase.

The two NOCs describe different occupational groups.

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Is Canada Actually Hiring Software Developers in 2026?

Yes, but the market should not be described as uniformly booming.

Canada's Job Bank recently showed approximately 168 advertised jobs under its Software Development Programmer profile for NOC 21232, while the comparable Computer Software Engineer profile showed around 80–84 advertised positions, depending on the specific occupational search page and crawl date.

These figures should be interpreted carefully.

Job Bank represents only part of Canada's employment market. Large technology companies frequently recruit directly through their own careers systems, LinkedIn or specialist recruiting platforms rather than relying primarily on Job Bank.

It is therefore more useful to combine government labour-market data with actual employer recruiting activity.

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Canadian Employers Hiring Software Developers and Engineers

A useful way to understand the market is to look at current employer activity rather than lists of famous technology companies.

Amazon

Amazon continues to recruit software-development professionals across Canada.

A current 2026 Software Development Engineer early-career posting explicitly considers applicants for Canadian locations including Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg, Victoria, Ottawa and Calgary.

For the Vancouver position, Amazon published a base-salary range of approximately CAD 89,700 to CAD 149,800.

Another Toronto Software Development Engineer position showed a published base range of approximately CAD 114,800 to CAD 191,800.

Explore Amazon jobs in Canada

This also illustrates why national wage medians and individual technology-company compensation should not be treated as the same thing.

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1Password

1Password provides a particularly useful snapshot of what a Canadian technology employer is asking developers to know in 2026.

Current Canada-accessible roles include positions such as:

• Developer, Open Source;
• Senior Developer;
• Developer, Authorization;
• Senior .NET Developer;
• Principal Engineer.

Several are available remotely within Canada.

One current developer posting asks for experience with modern backend technologies such as:

• Go;
• Node.js;
• Ruby;
• Python;
• testing and debugging;
• multiple services;
• CI/CD;
• Kubernetes.

Another security-oriented developer role references Rust, C#, C/C++, Go and TypeScript.

This is a good example of why “What programming language should I learn for Canada?” has no single answer.

Hiring follows products and engineering problems, not an immigration list of preferred programming languages.

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RBC

Some of Canada's biggest technology employers are not technology companies.

RBC's careers system currently includes roles such as Senior Software Developer, Lead Software Developer and Lead Software Engineer in Toronto, alongside a much larger Technology, Analytics and Research function. Recent postings were still appearing in September 2026.

RBC's student and graduate recruitment material also lists Software Developer as one of its recurring technology career areas.

Explore RBC technology careers

For newcomers, banks are worth considering because Canada's developer market extends well beyond SaaS companies.

Banking, insurance, telecom, government, retail, logistics and professional services all operate substantial internal engineering teams.

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Where Are the Main Software Job Markets?

Toronto

Toronto offers one of the broadest employer mixes:

• banks and fintech;
• enterprise software;
• global technology companies;
• consulting;
• AI;
• startups;
• insurance;
• ecommerce.

For someone who wants maximum employer diversity, Toronto remains an obvious location to research.

The disadvantage is housing cost.

A salary comparison without housing costs can therefore be misleading.

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Vancouver

Vancouver has a strong mix of:

• global technology offices;
• SaaS;
• cloud infrastructure;
• gaming;
• ecommerce;
• startups.

Job Bank wage data for NOC 21232 currently shows a higher provincial median in British Columbia than Ontario, but Vancouver's housing costs are also a major part of the affordability equation.

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Ottawa

Ottawa is easy to overlook.

Its market includes:

• telecommunications;
• networking;
• cybersecurity;
• government technology;
• defence-related technology;
• enterprise software.

The Job Bank median for software developers in the Ottawa region is approximately CAD 50.26/hour, slightly above the current Ontario median.

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Montréal

Montréal has substantial activity in:

• gaming;
• AI;
• visual effects technology;
• SaaS;
• enterprise software.

The immigration question is different, however, because Quebec operates its own economic immigration system rather than participating in the federal PNP framework.

French can also be considerably more relevant to employment and long-term integration than it is in many English-speaking Canadian technology markets.

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Calgary

Calgary is increasingly worth including in a developer's job search rather than treating Canadian tech as a Toronto–Vancouver market.

Software, fintech, energy technology, cloud services and corporate digital-transformation teams have all expanded the range of technical employment in the city.

For some candidates, the comparison becomes:

higher-cost, deeper technology markets versus a smaller labour market with different housing economics.

That is a better way to evaluate cities than simply comparing nominal salaries.

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Do You Need a Canadian Job Offer Before Applying for Express Entry?

Not necessarily.

A job offer is not required for the Canadian Experience Class, and applicants can also qualify for the Federal Skilled Worker Program without first finding employment in Canada, provided they meet its requirements.

This creates two fundamentally different strategies.

Immigration-first strategy

A candidate builds a competitive Express Entry profile from outside Canada through:

• foreign skilled work experience;
• education;
• English;
• French where possible;
• provincial nomination opportunities.

They search for employment in parallel but do not make the entire immigration plan dependent on securing a Canadian employer.

Employer-first strategy

The candidate secures an employer willing and able to support a Canadian work-permit route and later builds Canadian experience.

Neither strategy is universally better.

A senior developer with strong international experience but no Canadian status faces a different hiring market from someone already holding an open work permit.

Job Bank itself warns foreign candidates that many employers cannot hire applicants who do not already have authorization to work in Canada.

That obstacle needs to be acknowledged rather than hidden behind generic claims about “high demand.”

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What Should a Developer Improve Before Targeting Canada?

Looking at current employer postings reveals several recurring themes.

Employers are rarely hiring simply for knowledge of one programming language.

A stronger profile usually demonstrates some combination of:

Production software experience

Employers want evidence that you shipped and maintained software used by real customers.

Cloud experience

AWS, Azure or Google Cloud experience frequently overlaps with senior backend and platform roles.

Distributed systems

This becomes increasingly important as candidates move toward senior and principal engineering positions.

Testing and maintainability

Current 1Password postings, for example, repeatedly mention testing, debugging, maintainability, documentation and code quality rather than focusing only on language syntax.

Infrastructure awareness

Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD and deployment knowledge increasingly sit close to application development.

AI-enabled development

Some employers now explicitly discuss AI-assisted engineering workflows or experience integrating AI systems into products. Current postings at both 1Password and Amazon provide examples.

This does not mean every developer should suddenly become an ML engineer.

It does mean that modern software-development workflows are changing, and Canadian employers are reflecting that change in recruiting.

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Choosing NOC 21231 vs 21232: A Practical Example

Consider two people who both have “Senior Software Engineer” written on their employment letters.

Candidate A

Their work is mainly:

• implementing backend features;
• writing application code;
• debugging;
• unit testing;
• maintaining APIs;
• improving existing applications.

Their duties may align more closely with NOC 21232.

Candidate B

Their work involves:

• designing software architecture;
• developing system specifications;
• evaluating technical environments;
• designing distributed components;
• integrating complex systems;
• determining architectural requirements.

Their experience may align more closely with NOC 21231.

The title printed by the employer does not settle the matter.

IRCC specifically instructs Federal Skilled Worker applicants to choose the NOC that most closely reflects their work and to demonstrate that they performed the lead statement and most of the main duties.

Changing the wording of an employment letter simply to imitate a NOC description can create a different problem: the evidence still needs to accurately describe the work that was actually performed.

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What About a Developer With No Computer Science Degree?

A non-CS degree does not automatically make Express Entry impossible.

For immigration, the first issue is whether the applicant meets the requirements of the relevant immigration program and whether the work experience matches the declared NOC.

For employment, employers make their own hiring decisions.

Job Bank indicates that these occupations typically require university education, but individual technology employers may accept equivalent professional experience depending on the position.

A developer with six years of strong production experience and a degree in another field therefore has two separate questions:

Immigration: How will the education credential and work experience affect eligibility and CRS?

Employment: Will Canadian employers accept the person's professional record for the specific role?

Those questions should be evaluated independently.

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A More Realistic Way to Assess Your Chances

For software professionals, “Can developers immigrate to Canada?” is too broad a question to produce a useful answer.

A real assessment should look at:

Immigration profile

• age;
• degree;
• ECA;
• IELTS/CELPIP/PTE Core or French results;
• years of foreign experience;
• Canadian experience;
• spouse's profile;
• provincial connections.

Professional profile

• actual NOC duties;
• backend/front-end/platform specialization;
• languages and framework depth;
• cloud exposure;
• seniority;
• company scale;
• architecture experience;
• people leadership;
• portfolio or GitHub where relevant.

Labour-market profile

• target city;
• expected compensation;
• right to work;
• remote vs local hiring;
• industries employing the stack;
• number and seniority of current openings.

These layers interact, but they are not interchangeable.

A strong engineer can have a weak CRS score.

A high-CRS candidate can still have difficulty securing a senior Canadian role.

Understanding both sides before making the move is more useful than treating immigration approval and employment as the same project.

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How Sugimoto Visa Fits Into This Process

For developers, the most useful immigration work often happens before an Express Entry profile is submitted.

Two issues deserve particular attention:

NOC selection

Software professionals frequently work across responsibilities that could resemble NOC 21231, 21232, 21230 or even other technology occupations.

Reviewing the actual duties before committing to a primary NOC can prevent inconsistencies later in the application.

Express Entry vs Provincial Strategy

Candidates with similar technical backgrounds can have very different immigration options because of age, language scores, Canadian experience, French ability or provincial employment.

• Express Entry Canada
• Canada CRS Score Guide
• Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program
• British Columbia PNP
• Alberta Immigration Programs
• Express Entry for Tech Workers

Sugimoto Visa's role in this part of the process is not to decide which Canadian company someone should work for. It is to determine how the professional history, NOC evidence and immigration profile fit within the available Canadian immigration programs.

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The Bottom Line for Software Developers and Engineers

Canada still has a substantial software labour market, and both NOC 21232 and NOC 21231 remain skilled TEER 1 occupations.

What has changed is the immigration shortcut many developers may remember from older articles.

Software developers and software engineers are not currently included in the 2026 STEM occupation list for category-based Express Entry.

That makes the rest of the profile more important.

For an overseas developer, the strongest route may involve a competitive Federal Skilled Worker profile, French, a provincial nomination or an employer-supported move.

For someone already working legally in Canada, Canadian experience can create a different path through the Canadian Experience Class and provincial programs.

And for both groups, the NOC should be selected from the work they actually perform—not from whether LinkedIn says “Developer” or “Engineer.”

Canada remains a realistic destination for software professionals.

But in 2026, the useful question is no longer simply whether Canada needs developers.

It is whether your immigration profile, NOC and professional experience line up with the route you intend to use.

Official Resources

IRCC — Express Entry
Express Entry official page

IRCC — Federal Skilled Worker Program
Federal Skilled Worker Program

Immigration programs, occupation lists and provincial selection priorities change. The immigration information in this article was reviewed against official sources in September 2026.