Machines, engines, heating systems and factories. The biggest engineering discipline, with the widest choice of employers.
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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.
The median pay is about $95,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $62,000 at the lower end to about $151,000 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
$95,000
Lower end
$62,000
Upper end
$151,000
Job Bank's figures for mechanical engineers across Canada (2023 to 2024) are $30.00 an hour at the low end, $45.67 median and $72.49 at the high end, about $62,000, $95,000 and $151,000 a year at 40 hours a week. The low and high are the bottom and top of the range for everyone in the group, not set rates. New graduates work as an EIT (engineer-in-training), and co-op work terms are paid.
$52.88 an hour
The median in Alberta, about $110,000 a year
Saskatchewan is next at $50.00, and Manitoba has the lowest median, $42.82. Senior roles include engineering manager and plant manager, usually held by licensed P.Eng (professional engineer) holders.
Roughly, all in
$37,000 to $70,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
Engineering tuition is higher than most degrees, and both ends are simply four years of it, 9,000 a year at the low end and 17,000 at the high end. The practice exam and the licence application add a few hundred dollars each, and the annual licence of 300 to 550 only starts after about four years of supervised work (24 months in Quebec). Many graduates leave with 20,000 to 40,000 of debt, noticeably less if they do paid co-op work terms. Nothing here covers living costs during the four years, which for most students are larger than the tuition.
Engineering tuition is higher than most degrees. Many students graduate with $20,000 to $40,000 of debt, less if they do co-op.
Pension
A defined-benefit pension, one that pays a set amount for life, at utilities, government and universities. Matched savings plans at private companies.
Health and dental
Bonuses and profit sharing
Common in manufacturing and energy.
Licence fees paid
Most employers cover your annual P.Eng (professional engineer) dues.
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. Marks in the high 80s or above at most schools.
Accredited mechanical engineering degree
4 to 5 years with co-op
A four-year Bachelor of Engineering or Applied Science at a school accredited by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board. Almost every engineering school in Canada offers mechanical.
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 EIT (engineer-in-training) years
A law and ethics exam, taken during your training years.
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, and the subject you will use most.
Chemistry
Required at most schools.
Technological design or shop class
Not required, but you will understand how things are actually made.
English
Reports, specifications and emails, every day.
Only licensed professional engineers can use the title engineer or sign off on designs. Each province has a regulator: PEO (Professional Engineers Ontario), APEGA (the Alberta association) and EGBC (Engineers and Geoscientists BC) are the big three. Licences transfer between provinces easily. Many mechanical engineers in manufacturing never seal a drawing, but the licence still opens management roles.
Nearly every engineering school offers mechanical. A few with strong co-op or industry ties:
Ontario
Waterloo, Toronto, McMaster, Queen's, Western, Ottawa, Carleton, Windsor.
Quebec
McGill, Concordia, Polytechnique Montréal, Laval, Sherbrooke.
West
UBC (University of British Columbia), Alberta, Calgary, Saskatchewan, Manitoba.
Atlantic
Dalhousie, Memorial, New Brunswick.
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 mechanical engineering
About 4 years
About 4 years for CEGEP graduates. In French at Polytechnique Montréal, ÉTS (École de technologie supérieure) or Université Laval. In English at McGill or 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, at no cost, of the Office québécois de la langue française (the Quebec French language office). Then the order issues your permit.
McGill University, in English
Mechanical Engineering, with focus areas such as aeronautics, controls and robotics, and energy systems. CEGEP (public college) graduates usually get credit for the first year courses.
Concordia University, in English
Mechanical Engineering, 120 credits, with an optional co-op of paid 12 to 16 week work terms.
ÉTS (École de technologie supérieure), in French
Génie mécanique (program 7684), with three paid 4 month internships. Science DEC (Diploma of College Studies) graduates first complete a technology bridging program.
Université Laval, in French
Génie mécanique, 120 credits, one required paid internship. Optional concentrations in robotics or sustainable building engineering.
Starting from a technical DEC
ÉTS admits Mechanical Engineering Technology (241.A0) and many other technical DEC graduates directly into mechanical engineering.
Things you don't need, but that help.
HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) design
Every building needs it and consulting firms are always hiring for it.
Automation and robotics
Factories cannot find enough people who understand both machines and controls.
Project Management Professional (PMP)
The usual route into managing projects and budgets.
A master's degree in a specialty
Thermal systems, materials or fluids. Needed for research and aerospace roles.
Co-op or internships
Most programs include them. Employers hire from their co-op pool first.
SolidWorks and AutoCAD
Design software fluency gets you hired faster.
Student design teams
Formula Student race cars, rocketry, solar cars. Interviewers love them.
A summer in a shop or plant
Welding, machining or a production line. You learn what drawings leave out.
Companies that sell pumps, compressors, industrial robots or building equipment need engineers who can talk to other engineers. Technical sales pays a base salary plus commission. It suits people who like talking more than modelling.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Design engineers spend the day in SolidWorks or similar software, running calculations, checking drawings and talking to machinists. Plant engineers walk the production floor, fix whatever stopped the line, and plan equipment upgrades. Building services engineers size heating and cooling systems and review contractor submissions. Meetings and emails fill the gaps in all three.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Joseph-Armand Bombardier created the first Ski-Doo snowmobile in Valcourt, Quebec, in 1959. The company that grew from it, BRP (Bombardier Recreational Products), is still based there.
Job Bank counted about 44,900 mechanical engineers working in Canada in 2023, which is why it is a safe bet if you like engineering but do not know which kind yet.
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.
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