Draw, test and fix the moving parts of machines and buildings. Two or three years of college, then a job on the plant floor and at a desk.
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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.
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 $73,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $48,000 at the lower end to about $107,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
2 to 4 years after high school, on the usual route.
$7,500 to $27,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
No. There is no licence to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
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
$73,000
Lower end
$48,000
Upper end
$107,000
Job Bank's national median is $35 an hour, about $73,000 a year at 40 hours a week. The lower end ($23.08) and upper end ($51.28) are the bottom and top of the wage range for everyone in the group.
$30.69 an hour
Average starting wage in the 2023 Alberta Wage and Salary Survey, about $64,000 a year at 40 hours a week
The same Alberta survey puts the average for all mechanical engineering technologists and technicians at $89,221 a year.
$41.50 an hour
The median in Saskatchewan, about $86,000 a year
Alberta is next at $39 and Ontario's median is $38. Overtime during plant shutdowns and new-build commissioning adds to pay. It costs you evenings and weekends.
Roughly, all in
$7,500 to $27,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a two year college diploma at the cheaper provincial rate, the certification application and the practice exam at the student rate. The high end is a three year advanced diploma at the top of the range, plus a laptop strong enough to run three dimensional modelling software and the full member exam fee. Student software licences cost nothing, so the computer is the only real equipment cost. Dues of about 360 a year continue once you are certified.
Cheap by engineering standards. Many graduates finish with under $15,000 of debt and a job waiting.
Paid overtime
Most technologist roles are hourly, so shutdown overtime is paid.
Health and dental
Standard at manufacturers and engineering firms.
Pension
Utilities, hospitals and municipal jobs.
Safety gear and boots
Paid for, because you need them every day.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A two-year diploma, a job, then optional certification.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Grade 12 math and English, and physics helps. Most Ontario colleges admit anyone who has the required courses.
College diploma
2 to 3 years
Mechanical engineering technology: 2 years in Alberta and BC (British Columbia), 3 years for an Ontario advanced diploma. Look for accreditation by Technology Accreditation Canada. SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology) runs streams in design and analysis, design and automation, and design and development.
Capstone and co-op
Final term
Most programs end in a team project with a real industry partner. It is the strongest thing on a first resume.
First job
Right after graduation
Designer, drafter, test technologist or project coordinator at a manufacturer, consulting firm or plant.
Certification
2 years after graduation
After about two years of relevant work, apply for the C.E.T. (certified engineering technologist) title through your provincial association.
Math
Required. Trigonometry and algebra are the daily tools.
Physics
Required. Forces, heat and fluids are the whole subject.
Technological design or shop
If your school has a machine shop, use it. Knowing how parts get made changes how you draw them.
English
Specifications and test reports are writing.
No licence is needed to do the work. The title is what is protected. Provincial associations such as OACETT (Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technicians and Technologists) and ASET (Association of Science and Engineering Technology Professionals of Alberta) grant the C.E.T. (certified engineering technologist) designation after about two years of experience and an exam. Alberta also has a professional technologist designation that allows stamping work inside a defined scope. You can never call yourself an engineer.
Most polytechnics and large colleges run one.
Alberta
SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology), NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology), Red Deer Polytechnic.
Ontario
Conestoga, Mohawk, Humber, Fanshawe, Algonquin, Durham.
BC (British Columbia)
BCIT (British Columbia Institute of Technology), Camosun.
Prairies and Atlantic
Red River College Polytechnic, Saskatchewan Polytechnic, Nova Scotia Community College.
In Quebec the technologist diploma is a 3 year DEC (Diploma of College Studies) at a CEGEP (public college), started straight after Secondary V, and it can lead directly into an engineering degree.
Finish Secondary V
Age 16 or 17
With Secondary IV math in the Technical and Scientific or Science sequence and Secondary V physics, which Dawson asks for.
Mechanical Engineering Technology DEC (241.A0)
3 years
Offered at 18 colleges, mostly in French. Dawson is the English option, with a Mechanical Design or an Automated Manufacturing option. Some colleges offer work-study terms.
First job
Right after the DEC
Mechanical technician or technologist work in CAD (computer-aided design), CNC (computer numerical control) programming, prototyping, quality control and maintenance.
Optional: the T.P. (professional technologist) title
Any time after the DEC
Join the OTPQ (Ordre des technologues professionnels du Québec, the Quebec order of professional technologists) with an eligible DEC.
Optional: engineering at ÉTS
About 4 more years
ÉTS (École de technologie supérieure) admits 241.A0 graduates directly into mechanical engineering (program 7684), with three paid 4 month internships.
You do not need the OTPQ (Ordre des technologues professionnels du Québec, the Quebec order of professional technologists) to be hired, but only its members may use the T.P. (professional technologist) title. Since February 2024, members may do some work once reserved for engineers, such as certain calculations, detailed design from complete documents signed by an engineer, and inspection or testing plans. They cannot design for very high-risk industrial sites.
Things you don't need, but that help.
3D modelling and GD&T (geometric dimensioning and tolerancing)
Drawing a part is easy. Specifying it so it can actually be made and checked is what gets you hired.
HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) design
Every building needs it, and building services firms hire technologists constantly.
Automation and robotics
Cells, conveyors and pick-and-place systems on a factory floor.
Piping and pressure equipment
Oil, gas, chemical and power plants.
Quality and reliability
Inspection, failure analysis and maintenance planning are steady, indoor work.
Time in a shop
A summer running a lathe or welding teaches you more about design than a term of class.
Driver's licence
Plants and sites are out of town.
Student software at no cost
SolidWorks, Inventor and Fusion all have no-cost student versions. Learn one before college starts.
Safety tickets
Confined space and fall protection are one-day courses that employers like to see.
Several Canadian universities take mechanical technology diploma graduates into an engineering degree with advanced standing, typically cutting a year or more. Some employers will pay for it part time. If you are not sure at 18 whether you want four years of university, the diploma is a low-risk first move: you get a job either way, and the door to the degree stays open.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Morning at a screen: model a bracket, update a drawing set, check that a pump still fits after the piping moved. Late morning: walk the shop floor to measure what was actually built, because it never matches the drawing. Afternoon: a test on a prototype, a supplier call about lead times, and a cost estimate for a change the customer wants. Deadlines land on you before they land on the engineer.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Since February 2024, members of Quebec's order of professional technologists may do some work once reserved for engineers, such as detailed design from complete documents an engineer has signed.
Job Bank counted about 21,900 mechanical engineering technologists and technicians in Canada in 2023, and rates the outlook moderate in most provinces.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Technologists 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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