The most in-demand engineering jobs in Canada and U.S. 2019: salary trends, and the positions, certifications and skills needed

Engineering will always be in demand in the “job market” — with the U.S. market projecting an increase of 139,300 engineering jobs, especially over the next ten years, jumping to 1.82 million jobs from the current 1.68 million. Canada and the U.S. closely mirror proportionately. In Canada, the top 8 positions for 2019 will be:

1. Electrical engineer
2. Mechanical engineer
3. Project engineer
4. Civil engineering technician
5. Manufacturing engineer
6. Process engineer
7. Engineering manager
8. Quality assurance technician [2]

In Canada, the top 10% of Engineer earners bring in over $105,00 annually, while the median is a healthy $75,000. Specialists and mature career engineers earn more.

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Projecting forward, based on demand and trends, some key fields are trending towards very hot for the next ten years (according to the U.S. Department of Labor)[1]:

• Software engineering: specifically data science and machine learning
• Automation and robotics engineer
• Petroleum engineer will sustain demand to the next ten years — with a 15 percent gain in jobs projected
• Civil engineering, set to grow by 10% by 2026 — starting salaries around $60,000, rising to $96,000 with the maturity of career
• Electrical engineering: among the highest wages for specialists, but even average electrical engineer salary is around $71,000
• Alternative energy engineering, set to grow by 6.5% in demand over the next ten years
• Mining engineer, especially with lithium, copper and nickel mining projected to grow, and a range of salaries between $68,000 and $109,000

Skills that are in demand 2019

The skills employers are looking for, depending on specialty are:

• Autocad experience is the number one skill employers demand
• Instrumentation and measurement skills, especially in the manufacturing sector
• QA (quality assurance) sills across all engineering fields.
• Autodesk Revit: for architects, structural engineers, designers
• Solidworks design software — used at 165,000 companies
• Languages: French particularly, for Canada

Certifications in-demand

In Canada, the top certifications for 2019 are:

• Structural Engineer (SE)
• Professional Engineer (P.Eng / PE)
• Engineer in Training (EIT)
• Certified Engineering Technologist (C.Tech / CET)
• Computer Aided Design and Drafting (CADD)
• Electronic Systems Technician (EST)

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NOTES
[1] U.S. Department of Labour 2019
[2] Randstad “best engineering jobs in 2019.”