Those who have been in Canada for a while must have heard of the three common workplaces for immigrant workers: restaurants, hair salons, and construction sites. However, the modern phrase "men study IT and women study accounting" is now popular. From this, we can see the popularity of the computer and accounting industries for Chinese immigrants. We have written an article <"What are the employment prospects for Canadian accounting majors? How easy is it to find a job? > Here is a comprehensive analysis of the computer major and its employment prospects.
Analysis of Canadian computer majors 1: Program and curriculum
Introduction to the Current Status of the Canadian Computer Industry
Computer Science (CS) is a discipline that systematically studiesthe theoretical basis of information and data,and how they are implemented and applied in computer systems. Through foundational training in computer hardware and programming language, this major is intended to teach students about practical applications in the field of computer science and technology. After graduation, students can engaged in scientific research, education, software development and application work.
Computer related majors are one of the most popular majors for those studying abroad in Canada. There are several main reasons for its popularity: 1) high employment rate; 2) favourable treatment, high starting salary, and steady growth rate; 3) this major can allow Chinese students to apply their profound mathematical skills, careful logical thinking, hard work, and other unique strengths, while partially avoiding their weaknesses in language proficiency and adapting to cultural differences; 4) Many people with entrepreneurial dreams hope that one day they can start their own IT company as big as Facebook.
What courses do computer science students generally study?
Generally speaking, no matter the academic concern or application direction, the courses that computer science majors in universities generally have include:
- Calculus,
- Introduction of Economics
- Business Statistics and Social Sciences
- Introduction to Computers,
- A programming language (such as C, Pascal / COBOL), algorithm and data structure,
- Software Engineering,
- Operating System,
- Database Systems,
- Computer language theory,
- Computer Function & Mechanism
- Artificial Intelligence
- Business Programming,
- Database Programming,
- Internet Programming,
- Scientific Programming,
- Security and Disaster Recovery,
- System Programming
Employment Rrospects / Directions for Canadian Computer Majors
》》 Bright prospective futures for computer majors!
Long story short, the employment prospects for computer majors in Canada are excellent! According to a report published by the Information and Communications Technology Commission (ICTC), the Canadian economy will need 218,000 new IT talents by 2020. According to the ICTC report, Canada’s IT jobs are scattered throughout various industries. As of December 2015, there were 877,470 employees, of which more than 55% worked for employers outside the IT industry. The unemployment rate in this industry is only 2.6% (compared to the Canadian average unemployment rate 7.2%).
》》 After employment, there are generally two different IT career paths:
- Pure technology route: The information industry is a sunrise industry, which is characterized by quick technological updates and very mentally consuming work. This puts higher demands on professionals. They must constantly learn new knowledge, because many purely technical programmers get older and their value depreciates. Therefore, many people jokingly say that purely technical programmers eat youthful meals.
- Transition from technology to management: This transition is very common for programmers. Programming is a very mentally intensive job and requires constant updating of knowledge. With age, many professionals in this industry often feel powerless and they may learn new knowledge more slowly. Therefore, it may seem preferable to shift from purely technical to management. It is worth mentioning that before shift, you would generally need to obtain a graduate certificate to be a Project Management Professional (PMP).
Where can I work after graduating from a Computer Science program in Canada?
》》 Canadian technology companies that in demand for IT talents
Canada has a well-developed IT industry and numerous well-known technology companies. Every year, computer major students graduate and go into large technology companies, such as: AMD (located in Markham, Ontario); software company, Unbounce (located in Vancouver, BC); BlackBerry (located in Waterloo, Ontario); Corel (located in Ontario) Ottawa); CGI (located in Markham, Ontario); accounting software company, FreshBooks (located in Toronto), DataWind, Maplesoft (located in Windsor, Ontario); Shopify (located in Ottawa, Ontario); OpenText (located in Waterloo, Ontario); Novosbed, NCIX (located in Richmond, BC), Information Services Corporation, Elastic Path, etc.
In addition, with the rise of a number of excellent website construction platforms such as WordPress and Shopify, peripheral industries such asWordPress Theme Developmentand Shopify Theme Development are also growing rapidly. Therefore, there are a lot of job opportunities around webpage design alone.
》》 Small- to medium-sized companies also require IT talents
For those who do not work in a large company, small- or medium-sized companies can also be a good starting point for accumulating programming experience after graduation. In addition to the small businesses that only need one webmaster to maintain the daily operation of the website, there are a large number of digital agencies in Toronto and Vancouver (generally providing services such as website design, software development, and digital marketing). These companies all recruit IT talents all year round.
》》 Salary for master graduate computer / IT staff
(Data translated from: http://liuxue.xdf.cn/blog/fuyali/blog/1292017.shtml)
》》 Colleges with co-op Computer Science programs:
Since Canadian colleges offer programs that are mainly employment-oriented, most of the computer science majors in Ontario’s colleges have Co-op. The following are some examples:
Computer Engineering Admission Requirements (International Students)
》》》College
- High school diploma
- IELTS Band 6.0
- High school (or grade 12) math and English grades
》》》University
- High school diploma
- IELTS Band 6.5
- High school (or grade 12) math and English grades
- Other (Some universities have special requirements, such as Supplemental Application )
》》》Master
- Undergraduate degree diploma
- IELTS Band 6.5
- High school (or grade 12) math and English grades
- GRE (a score of 300+ is required for some universities)
Computer Science Majors & Recommended Schools
》》 Top 10 Computer Science Programs in Canada
According to the latest"Canada’s best university computer science programs"published by MacLean’s, the rankings are as follows:
- University of Toronto（Computer Science )
- UBC（UBCComputer Science）
- University of Waterloo（Computer Science ): The biggest advantage of the University of Waterloo’s computer science major is its co-op opportunities. The disadvantage of this major is that the elimination rate is extremely high, and there are countless students who transfer out to other programs every year. But those who graduate from this major are the "true soldiers," and many fresh graduates receive an annual salary of $50,000 to 60,000 in their first year of graduation.
- University of Alberta（Computer Science)
- Simon Fraser University（Computer Science )
- McGill University（Computer Science)
- Université de Montréal (Computer Science)
- University of Victoria （Computer Science)
- Queen’s University（Computer Science )
- University of Calgary（Computer Science)
Analysis of Canadian Computer Science Programs 2: Employment prospects – Are jobs easy to find?
Summary of Canadian computer science majors:
Before studying this major, UtoCanada recommends that you first determine whether you want towork on computer theory and academic research,orprogramming and applications after graduation.These are two completely different career paths.
- Computer Theory and Academic Research: Academic Type – If you have a good foundation of mathematics and want to further your studies as a graduate student or Ph.D., this is the direction for you.
- Programming and Applications: Employment Type – if you just want to find a good job after graduation, in fact,graduating from a Canadian college is no worse than a university. Whether you choose to go to a university or college, the most important thing is to choose a program with co-op. Co-op can provide students with paid internship opportunities, so that students can obtain a certain level of work experience before graduation, so that graduates have a stronger advantage when finding jobs. Canadian companies actually value qualifications and work experience more than academic credentials.
The bar is set high for admissions to computer science programs, and the elimination rate in the process can reach 50% in some schools. For the top Chinese students, these academic obstacles are not difficult to overcome. The challenge may still be in the cultural integration of the future workplaces and the cultural differences faced after entering a company. Chinese students must choose their universities and careers foster their strengths and circumvent weaknesses. Please carefully analyze and understand the characteristics and advantages of each listed school.
