Roads, bridges, water and buildings. A four-year degree, then a licence that lets you sign the drawings.
Click through it
Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $101,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $67,000 at the lower end to about $150,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
4 to 8 years after high school, on the usual route.
$37,000 to $70,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
Yes. It is a regulated job, so you need a licence or registration before you can work.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$101,000
Lower end
$67,000
Upper end
$150,000
Job Bank's national median is $48.56 an hour, about $101,000 a year at 40 hours a week. The lower and upper ends are Job Bank's low and high wages for everyone in the group, $32 and $72.12 an hour. Government and utility jobs usually come with pensions.
$61.75 an hour
The median in the Northwest Territories, the highest in Canada
Among the provinces, Alberta is highest at $51.69, Ontario sits at $48.08 and Prince Edward Island is lowest at $36.30. You start as an EIT (engineer-in-training) straight out of school.
Roughly, all in
$37,000 to $70,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a four year engineering degree at the cheapest provincial tuition plus the professional practice exam and the first annual licence fee. The high end is four years at the most expensive schools plus several years of registration dues as an engineer in training before the professional licence is granted. Four years is the minimum and engineering tuition is higher than most degrees, so there is no short route here. Co operative work terms during the degree pay real wages and offset a large share of the tuition.
Engineering tuition is higher than most degrees, and 4 years is the minimum. Co-op earnings offset a lot of it.
Pension
Defined-benefit in government and municipalities.
Health and dental
Vehicle allowance
Common for site-based roles.
Bonuses
Consulting firms often pay annual bonuses.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Degree, supervised experience, exam, licence.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Advanced Functions, Calculus, Physics and Chemistry are required for admission. Entry ranges from the high 60s at Concordia to the low 90s at McGill.
Accredited engineering degree
4 to 5 years with co-op
A four-year Bachelor of Engineering or Applied Science in civil engineering at a school accredited by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board. Waterloo, Toronto, UBC (University of British Columbia), McGill, Alberta, Calgary, Queen's, McMaster and many others.
Engineer-in-training
About 4 years (2 in Quebec)
Register with your provincial regulator and work under a licensed engineer. Log your experience.
Professional practice exam
During your engineer-in-training years
A law and ethics exam. Some provinces also require a technical exam for graduates of non-accredited programs.
P.Eng (professional engineer) licence
After 4 years (2 in Quebec)
Apply with your experience record and references. Now you can seal drawings and take legal responsibility for designs.
Calculus and Advanced Functions
Required.
Physics
Required.
Chemistry
Required at most schools.
English
Engineers write reports constantly.
Only licensed professional engineers can practise engineering or use the title in Canada. Each province has a regulator, such as Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO), APEGA (Alberta's regulator) in Alberta and Engineers and Geoscientists BC (EGBC). Licences transfer between provinces easily. Engineers are legally responsible for public safety in their designs, which is why the licence exists.
Quebec students reach university after a 2 year CEGEP (public college) diploma, so the degree takes about 4 years, and the licence comes from the OIQ (Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec, the Quebec order of engineers) through its own program and exam.
Finish Secondary V
Age 16 or 17
Take Secondary V math in the Technical and Scientific or the Science sequence, plus Secondary V chemistry and physics. All three are required for the Science DEC (Diploma of College Studies).
Science DEC at a CEGEP
2 years
The 2 year Science program (200.B1). In English at Dawson and the other English colleges. Engineering schools look for its calculus, physics and chemistry courses and your R score (the Quebec college ranking mark).
Bachelor's in civil engineering
About 4 years
About 4 years for CEGEP graduates. In French at Polytechnique Montréal, or construction engineering at ÉTS (École de technologie supérieure). In English at McGill, or civil or building engineering at Concordia.
Become a CPI (candidate to the engineering profession)
Before or right after graduating
Apply to the order once you have 60 university credits or your degree, $180. Joining the program costs $520 plus tax, half price within 6 months of graduating.
24 months of supervised work, then the exam
At least 2 years, at most 5
Work under an engineer you declare to the order. Paid internships done after 60 credits can count. Add 25 to 30 hours of online training ($345) and a multiple choice exam ($285, 60% to pass).
Show French, get the permit
End of the program
A Quebec high school diploma counts, even from an English school. Otherwise you pass the 3 hour exam of the Office québécois de la langue française (the Quebec French language office), which costs nothing. Then the order issues your permit.
Concordia University, in English
Two choices: Civil Engineering, or Building Engineering, which covers the structure, energy and systems of buildings. Both at least 120 credits.
McGill University, in English
Civil Engineering, with courses such as construction materials and solid mechanics.
Polytechnique Montréal, in French
Génie civil (civil engineering), 120 credits, accredited.
ÉTS (École de technologie supérieure), in French
Génie de la construction (construction engineering), with three paid 4 month internships.
Starting from a technical DEC (Diploma of College Studies)
ÉTS admits graduates of Civil Engineering Technology (221.B0), Architectural Technology (221.A0) and other building DECs directly. Dawson teaches Civil Engineering Technology in English.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Project Management Professional (PMP)
Moves you into managing projects and budgets.
Structural specialty and master's degree
Structural engineers who design buildings and bridges are in demand.
LEED (green building) or sustainability credentials
Green building is a growing niche.
Transportation or water resources expertise
Municipal infrastructure spending keeps these busy.
Co-op or internships
Most engineering programs include them. Take them seriously.
AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Revit
Software fluency gets you hired faster.
Field experience
A summer on a construction site teaches things school does not.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Depends on the role. Design engineers spend the day in software modelling structures, drainage or roads, and writing reports. Site engineers are outdoors inspecting construction, solving problems and coordinating contractors. Municipal engineers review plans and manage capital projects. Most careers blend all three over time.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Canadian engineering graduates receive an iron ring in a private ceremony and wear it on the little finger of their working hand. The tradition dates to 1925 and was written by Rudyard Kipling.
The 12.9 km bridge linking Prince Edward Island to New Brunswick is the longest bridge over ice-covered water in the world. It was designed to last 100 years.
Provincial regulators have taken software companies to court over the title software engineer. In late 2023 Alberta changed its law to allow that one title without a licence. Everywhere else in Canada the word engineer is still protected.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Engineers first, then the rest of the field. See every career in engineering.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
Tell us about this page. A person reads every message.
No email app on this device? Use Gmail instead: report a mistake in Gmail or say what you like in Gmail.