The information technology (IT) market translates into 600,000 jobs in Canada and accounts for 5.9% of gross domestic product (GDP). The Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) announced that the sector is still looking up, with promising numbers: sales in Canada of software, hardware and services will be $8 billion, $16.9 billion and $19.7 billion respectively by 2010. The Greater Montreal region alone accounts for 80% of foreign investment in IT. The main consumers are banks, insurance firms and government organizations. The more they use IT, the more profitable and innovative they are, which contributes to job creation.

Among the many information technology-related professions, we will discuss three of them:

- Computer engineers design network architectures, optimize the capacity and performance of communication networks, and lead and coordinate teams of engineering technicians.

- Computer systems managers plan, organize and assess computer systems and the processing of corporate information, implement policies and procedures and may lead a team to operate computer and telecommunications software and information systems.

- Management consultants conduct studies and perform assessments to determine the proper functioning of a system, check quality and plan a partial or total reorganization of an information system.

Fields of work

Required degrees and skills

A few numbers

The proportion of workers younger than 24 years of age is very low for these three types of jobs, which means that few entry-level jobs are available. The two main reasons are the number of years of study required and the requirement for at least one prior work experience.