Regardless of the engineering discipline you wish to work in, you must obtain a license from your province or territory’s engineering regulator. This applies to people who have been educated in Canada and those who come from international backgrounds. You can however work in engineering in Canada before you receive your licence or register with your province or territory’s professional body, as long as you are supervised by a certified professional engineer (P.Eng) and you do not call yourself a professional engineer.
*These descriptions are taken from Engineers Canada Website *
Aerospace engineers
- Aerospace engineers design, build and test a variety of aircraft and spacecrafts. They can be involved in projects working on commercial and government airplanes and helicopters, to military missiles and rockets, and launch vehicles and satellites.
Chemical engineers
- Chemical engineers research, design and develop chemical processes and equipment. Some may specialize in the products and processes of a particular industry, such as pulp and paper manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, petroleum refining, energy processing, plastics or metal extraction.
Civil engineers
- Civil engineers build our physical world—from roads to buildings, to bridges and tunnels, to airports and subway systems, to water and sewage systems. They participate in large construction projects, and may specialize in foundation analysis, building and structural inspection, surveying, geomatics and municipal planning.
Computer engineers
- Computer engineers research, design, develop, evaluate and integrate computer and telecommunications hardware and equipment, and information and communication system networks including wireless communication networks, fibre-optic networks, intranets, the Internet and other systems.
Electrical and electronics engineers
- Electrical and electronics engineers create much of the technology upon which our modern world relies. From satellite communications to televisions, computers, wireless networks, radio, GPS, and energy distribution, electrical and electronics engineers are involved.
Geological engineers
- The work of geological engineers often supports and directs the work of other engineering disciplines and of the earth sciences sector. For example, geological engineers will conduct geological and geotechnical studies to assess the suitability of locations for civil engineering, mining operations and oil and gas projects. The recommendations of geological engineers will often impact the construction and operation of these projects.
Industrial and manufacturing engineers
- Industrial and manufacturing engineers focus on efficiency and productivity. They balance any number of factors—time, number of workers, available technology, achieving an end product with minimal errors, worker safety, environmental concerns and cost—and improve the way they interact with one another to streamline processes and eliminate wastefulness.
Mechanical engineers
- Mechanical engineers focus on how things work and see the world as parts in motion—they research, design and develop a variety of products ranging from engines, turbines, and generators; to refrigeration and air-conditioning systems; to medical devices; to elevators and escalators.
Metallurgical and materials engineers
- Metallurgical and materials engineers study the materials that things are made of, how they are made and how they can be made better. They work with metals, ceramics, plastics, composites and other substances.
Mining engineers
- The work of mining engineers spans the process of mineral extraction, from the preliminary surveying of deposits and the assessment of their economic and environmental feasibility for mining; to the determination of the most safe and efficient means of mining; to the planning and design of the mine itself and of the mining equipment and machinery; to the supervision and management of the mine business operations and staff.
Petroleum engineers
- The work of petroleum engineers spans the production process of oil and gas, from exploring and developing new oil and gas fields; to surveying, evaluating and testing wells; to directing and monitoring the plans, programs, equipment and machinery used in oil and gas drilling operations; to researching and developing new, more cost-efficient methods for extraction.
Software engineers and designers
- Software engineers design the software behind some of today’s most important systems, including smartphones, computer networks, medical devices, and financial systems, amongst others.