Currently, Im working as an MLE at Amazon and have been interviewing for other companies. I have interviews coming up for Google and OpenAI and recently saw a post for WealthSimple where they made a job post for Canadians abroad to come back home and work in Canadian tech. It genuinely made me happy and I applied and just got rejected LOOOOOOOOOOOOL. Not sure but it made me sad that I can interview at Google and get interview from OpenAI but i can't get an interview from a mid-tier Canadian tech company and it just shows how bad the job market is in Canada.

I have 6 YOE as SWE/MLE in Amazon and Meta, Masters from Georgia Tech in Computer science specialized in ML and Bachelor from UBC.

This is just a Rant from a Canadian who would take a 50% pay cut just to be in his own country but apparently I can't.

Many students at UWaterloo get internships at Shopify and they typically go on to work at US big tech or other high tier tech ompanies like Uber, Ramp, Snowflake, and Airbnb.

In your honest opinion, how prestigious is a Shopify internship. I know ppl working there who are getting paid $46/hr for their internship (base plus stipend). For those who choose to convert to a full time position from their internship is pay much higher? Heard they dont pay as much as other tech companies but culture and wlb is so much better than any other company.

For those who did Shopify internships in 2025 or 2026, do you want to go back or do you plan on moving on? Just curious.

Hey guys so I graduated last year in June 2025 with a CE Degree from UofT and I’ve been unemployed since. A handful of interviews I couldn’t convert. You can check my post history for more info but I’m starting to feel like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Everything I spend my time learning is just replaced by AI. I don’t find any value in learning anything anymore and feel like everything is over. I don’t retain any of the knowledge I garnered while grinding, the Leetcode all of it feels level zero. I tried to get my self esteem up but I still go to sleep crying every other night. I hate what I’ve done and it almost feels comical writing this because it really just feels like one big joke but it’s my reality. I thought I could pick myself up but my time has run out. I’m an international so I’m also on the clock on my PGWP. I don’t feel like talking to any of my friends because of how well all and by all I mean ALL of them have been doing career wise. I can’t fathom doing all this work for a 50k role which I might get laid off any day. I’ve been spending my days doing nothing now because it all feels pointless. I guess the question here is what should I do now that everything has come crashing down?

⚠️Disclaimer⚠️: I've been living under a rock with this whole AI thing and yes, I'll be talking about things that are very outdated.

I'm returning to my studies in SWE, and I'm outdated on all this AI thing.

Before my break, I used VS Code to do MERN stack, IntelliJ/Eclipse IDE for Java, PyCharm for Python, etc...

Now I asked the AI about what tools people are using nowadays and it listed Cursor, Windsurf, Claude code, Replit, and VS Code + Copilot.

Just out of curiosity, I went to watch a video about Cursor, and then my jaw dropped: the guy was simply talking to it and it literally made a whole Mario-style game in seconds, all editing was done by using the 🤢mouse🤮 and didn't touch a single line of code. Just voiced the prompts. Some / commands for the prompts and that's it.

Later on, he downloaded the project to the desktop version of Cursor IDE and kept going there with a local agent. I couldn't believe they gave permission for an agent to access it's files! I mean, privacy concerns is zero nowadays, as even though there's probably policies in a .config file saying the agent can't access this and that, I believe these things go rogue and will access the whole machine at anytime. It's not a matter of if, but a matter of when. And I believe it will also creep and access whatever is connected to the LAN. Not even sandboxing it might be enough to stop it...

Anyway, the guy went ahead and was reviewing the code (finally I could see SOME code, at the end of the video) and again, he was just selecting the lines and giving the agent a prompt to make the changes he wanted.

So, is that how professoinal coding is nowadays? Are people actually giving full AI (and who knows who else) access to their machines at home and at work?

That's just very dystopian for me, I'm still in disbelief.

I hope that with an isolated machine we're at least safe privacy-wise...

You know frustrates me the most? I was looking for a US remote job while living in canada. A recruiter got me an interview with a US company that pays 120k to 150k USD for senior role. Great.

Then when they asked me what are my salary expectations, I told them 150k is the minimal I would accept. They then said "in CAD right?", "No, in USD, the offer in your job description" - me.
Right after I said this, the recruiter flipped saying shit like "No that's not realistic, there is no way we can pay you that much since you live in Canada. That job description pay range is only for US. We just paid a Canadian principal engineer for only 130k CAD, please give me a realistic number."

I was pissed and fired back with "I do the exact same job as anyone that work in the US. Why would I be paid less for the same work just because I live in Canada. That's not relevant with the value I provide. The only reason companies do this is because they think they can get away with this."

Needless to say, we both rejected each other.

What is their ultimate goal behind this? Do they know they are making their workers miserable?

Canada added 40k full-time jobs last month. With a net gain of 90k jobs, unemployment still at 6.1%.

If other industries are starting to heat up and CS isn't, this is a HUGE problem. As it means, CS is going to be left behind - which is REALLY bad.

Is the new grad CS job market improving in Canada? Or, is it in the same place as it has been for the past year.

Im a 27yo intermediate/senior SWE working in toronto, and Im currently looking to jump ship. I have 8 years of experience. I currently make $120k/yr.

80% of senior roles I look to apply to pay the same salary im currently earning or even less. most of the roles I see is from $105k - $130k. I might sound greedy but im looking to be in the $150k+ range by the end of the year. but I cant find any jobs that aren't FAANG paying this much.

Ive even started to pivot into AI/ML engineering so I can take advantage of this AI bubble but still I see most of the senior roles are paying $115k - $135k. Maybe im not searching well but this is the market im experiencing.

My question is except working at FAANG what can I do to increase my income to $150k plus?. I just became a single dad and my salary is starting to become smaller and smaller by the month.

where do I go from here?

Just graduated UBC in May 2023 with 4 internships under my belt. Unable to land a software dev/machine learning job. Is the market really that bad or am I doing something wrong? Is anyone in the same boat as me?

So I asked this same question on r/AskEngineers, got the feeling it was a stupid question, but I am going to try just one more time here:

Studied CS in US. While looking for jobs here in Canada, I read that software engineers weren't legally allowed to call themselves engineers.

So I did some digging, and I got this from Engineers Canada:

https://engineerscanada.ca/guidelines-and-papers/engineers-canada-paper-on-professional-practice-in-software-engineering

“[u]se of ‘software engineer’, ‘computer engineer’ and related titles that prefix ‘engineer’ with IT‐ related disciplines and practices, is prohibited in all provinces and territories in Canada, unless the individual is licensed as an engineer by the applicable Provincial or Territorial engineering regulator.

Unlicensed individuals cannot use the title software engineer in their job titles, resumes, reports, letterhead, written and electronic correspondence, websites, social media, or anywhere else that may come to the attention of the public.

I can't call myself a software engineer on social media? That's what my company calls me. What are we IT-related workers supposed to call ourselves in Canada? Only software developers? Programmers? Why do companies still advertise positions as software engineers then?

And why does the federal government's Nationa Occupation Classification say otherwise?(P.Eng mentioned, but not requried)https://noc.esdc.gc.ca/Structure/NocProfile?objectid=s%2B18U2GgCu7IIJq7TKb3Gqj2aj9x0aDA%2BjrG2CWXnXQ%3D

EDIT: I got my answer. So basically, it's not heavily enforced, there have been attempts by some parties to clear up the issue, and some provinces like Alberta have made clear exceptions for the designation while still requiring the professional version (P.Eng) for specific jobs that require it.

The detailed explanations in the comments are awsome. Thanks everyone!

EDIT2: Also, don't make the stupid choice I made by comparing software engineers to other more general engineers in a sub like r/AskEngineers. I had no idea software engineers were such a controversial title. Haha.

EDIT3: So I am seeing some comments on not having an engineering degree. Which is interesting, because I felt graduates from Computer Engineering or Software Engineering departments at different universities ended up doing the same thing as SWE as a CS grad. Also, by this definition, can I call myself a scientist because I have a CS degree?

EDIT4: I know this is bit off topic, but from the comments I am a bit shocked to see people trying to compare "Computer Science" and "Computer Engineering" and "Software Engineering" disciplines and consider the CS one to be less rigorous with less math, less standardized approaches, and less ethics. Isn't this "CS"careerquestions? Do people not understand that Computer Science isn't just coding school, that it is a "science" discipline where the mathematics, scientific method and ethics is a very big deal? Just going through coding bootcamp or ML bootcamp doesn't make you a "CS" guy. Sure, engineers working on LLMs can get by without knowing the intricacies of the underlying mathematics of the predictive models - but CS PhD researchers like the ones at Google DeepMind or OpenAI who come up with the theories and approaches have extensive background in mathematics, theory and ethics.

Will there be a suppression of wages or boost the tech job market? Or both?

I start a new job on August 17, and about C$6,000 in RSUs vest at my current company on August 12.

I’d prefer to give two weeks’ notice and leave on August 13, but I’m worried they could end my employment early and I’d lose the RSUs. My relationship with my manager is excellent, and employees generally work through their notice periods.

The safest option is to resign on August 13 after the shares vest, but that would mean giving no notice and potentially burning bridges.

What would you do?

From what I've heard, well-known tech companies can offer up to $250k - $300k for senior SWE, while non-tech and smaller startups offer below $200k.

Is this still true in places like Toronto/Vancouver? If you're a senior SWE in this market, how much would you ask for?

I've just been scrolling Linkedin for fun and found dozens of opened AWS SWE positions in Canada, many of which have under 50 applicants despite being up for several days or weeks. Though as a disclaimer, these are mostly intermediate roles (requiring 2 - 3 years of experience), not junior roles.

But this was still kind of odd to me, cause every other SWE role I've seen posted by a U.S. big tech or unicorn company will almost always have hundreds of applicants applying within the first few days.

Why is this not the case with Amazon (or mostly AWS)? Is the work culture and environment that bad that people are actively avoiding working there despite the current market?

I graduated 8 months ago from a university in Canada, with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering.

My GPA is low (2.1). I have no internships under my belt, and I have no personal projects. The only projects I have are my school projects (the ones I had to do for my classes).

I basically fooled around these last 8 months, playing League of Legends all day... Yeah I know, I'm dumb. But I decided that I want to change. What should I do to find a job as a software dev? Am I just screwed now?

Edit: Thanks for the responses everyone. I'm feeling a lot more confident now and will take all of your advice.

I recently joined a new company here in Canada and its fully remote. It’s been 4 months, not even 1 PR of mine is merged or contribute a single line of code to their repository.

The reason why is I don’t get that much work to do. The first 3 months were in my training I was enhancing my skills and learning new technologies. Now I am in a project and haven’t got any task so far (1 month since its started).

I am getting paid fully and I am full timer here but I just feel guilt for not doing or contributing.

What do you think I should do in this situation?

I’ve been applying to jobs to all these banks for quite sometime now. Sadly never got a callback ever.
It’s shocking that I have a fairly large network across canada who applies for the same jobs but never gets anything but a rejection.

I’m wondering why are they posting ghost jobs ?

If a person with 8 years experience doesn’t even get an interview something seems fishy.

About 4 years ago, as a last step I was interviewed by a program/hiring manager and received an offer. I didn’t end up taking it and still regret it.

I’m now considering connecting with him on LinkedIn and ask whether there are any current or upcoming openings on their team and to give me a second chance. I’d genuinely be grateful to be considered again.

Would this come across as weird or too forward after 4 years? Or is this actually a reasonable way to reconnect and explore opportunities?

I noticed that a lot from a few companies on LinkedIn

Reposted 39 minutes ago · Over 100 people clicked apply

Sometime I want to apply, it says, that I've already applied. Can't they really find anybody to fill this position? If not, why don't I get the chance for the interview?

I’m a 2nd year CS student at UBC with a 4.0 GPA. Is it actually true that school name and GPA don’t matter, meaning I don’t really have an advantage over other applicants even though I attend a top 3 CS school?

I’ve spent most of my time focusing on academics, so I only have a few personal projects and I’ve done a lot of LeetCode, but I don’t have any internships yet. I’m in UBC’s co-op program where I alternate between school and work terms, so I’m planning to start applying for internships soon.

How much does attending a top school and having a high gpa help? Is having strong projects and internship experience really all that matters, or does school reputation and GPA still provide a meaningful advantage?

edit: also how much of an advantage is being in ubc coop vs applying on your own?

I started casually looking about 6 months ago, and started ramping it up and getting serious in Feb. It's just SO BAD OMG. I've sent out hundreds of applications and gotten ~5 interviews. Haven't gotten a single interview in over a month now, and at this point barely even getting rejection emails. Just wanted to get this off my chest because I got a rejection today for something I thought for sure would at least yield an interview. Nope. Feeling super bummed about that but I'll survive.

How are you all doing? Everyone hanging in there?

I just feel so defeated. 1 year of constantly applying to jobs, only making it to the interview stage for 4 of them, only making 2 second rounds, and not being able to make it any further for either. I don't want to learn new skills anymore, I don't have the energy to work on projects, I'm tired of doing leetcodes. I just want to work, make a living and start my career. I hate how difficult it is. I genuinely don't care what company its for or how little they pay or having to relocate, I'll gladly take 45-55k/year in a completely different province. I just want something.

My life has been an absolute shitshow for the past year and I'm tired of it. Graduated in May 2023 with high hopes. 1.5 internship YOE, had a very easy time getting internship offers (had 3 different offers for my summer internship alone). All of my friends luckily managed to get return offers and never had to worry about the job hunt (I had no such luck). I just feel like I'm the only person falling behind while everyone else already has their foot in the industry. Parents have been supporting me at home, but even they're beginning to reach their limits as well. I hate hearing "take some time off for your mental health" because it just feels like even more time being wasted and doing fuckall with my life.

I don't know what to do anymore. If anyone has any help or advice, that would be greatly appreciated.

Hey! I've been running thefreshdev for the past few months. It's exclusively for software engineer internships and new grad/entry level roles (in Canada & US).

You can also filter the jobs by season, remote, length, and more. Hope it makes your job search easier :)

Internships: thefreshdev.com/internships

Entry Level: thefreshdev.com/entrylevel

Im suspicious of Jerry and Affirm because they post the same jobs year round and it seems to always be spammed. Im less suspicious of Affirm since I know people who have gotten jobs there but they do seem to post the same job over and over again. Maybe Im just tripping though

I started my career in the Government of Canada as a student developer and then stayed on as a casual for about a year. It was honestly the best job I’ve had. I was coding every day, learning a lot, and felt like I was really growing as a developer.

Unfortunately the team didn’t have the budget to keep me permanently.

After that I was offered an indeterminate (permanent) government position. Because of the stability I accepted, and the interview was almost entirely coding based, so I assumed the role would be focused on software development.

But the reality is the job is about 90% IT technician/support work and maybe 10% coding.

I still occasionally get to help the lead developer on a C# project, but most of my time is troubleshooting systems or doing support work. Interestingly, a colleague of mine had the exact same experience — coding-focused interview but mostly support work once hired.

Because of that I’ve gotten a bit rusty. I know I could get back into it with courses and side projects at home, but I’ve developed a mental block where I keep thinking: what’s the point if coding isn’t really my main responsibility and I could get moved onto another non-dev project anytime?

I’ve been trying to find other developer roles in government, but right now things are pretty rough with budget cuts and layoffs, so I’m grateful to at least have a stable job. At the same time it feels hard to move into a role that’s actually focused on coding.

Has anyone else ended up in a job where you drifted from development into mostly IT/support work?

Did you stick it out and try to create your own dev opportunities, or eventually move somewhere that let you code full time?