collaborative post | If you are currently looking for several effective ways to enter the technology sector in Ontario, Canada, you’ve come to the right place. Ontario has one of North America’s biggest clusters of IT companies. It is where several market-leading tech companies, including Google, IBM, LG, Amazon, and Shopify, invest heavily in important research & development (R&D) operations.
Let’s dive straight in to look at three useful tips that can help you break into Ontario’s tech sector.
Three tips for easing your way into the tech sector in Ontario
Many people are either considering or have already switched from their current industry career to the thriving tech sector because they can earn a higher salary and there is a better opportunity for career growth.
However, Ontario’s tech sector is highly competitive and finding a job in this saturated market is often difficult, especially for people who are just starting out – especially in a landscape that’s constantly evolving. If you are looking to break into a career in the tech industry in Ontario, here are three useful tips to remember:
1. Understand your niche within the tech industry so you can be more specific in what type of career you can get into, but also what jobs you can apply for and what ones you should avoid applying for
2. Identify your UVP (Unique Value Proposition) and understand how your skill set and knowledge can be useful. Before someone hires you, they will want to know what makes you so different from all the other potential candidates
3. Approach the smaller, independent, up-and-coming/start-up tech companies when looking for work before trying the bigger, well-established, market-leading tech companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta, and Apple, where you will be competing against hundreds or thousands of other candidates all vying for the same position. The bigger companies also usually require candidates to have more qualifications and more areas of expertise
What are the biggest tech companies in Ontario?
Many major tech companies call Ontario home, including video game development studios, smartphone manufacturers, AI (Artificial Intelligence) leaders, internet search engine giants, computer development companies, and many other IT companies.
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Other major tech companies in Ontario are:
- AMD
- Apple
- BlackBerry
- Cisco
- Ericsson
- Fujitsu
- IBM
- Intel
- LG
- Microsoft
- Nokia
The province is also home to Nvidia, OpenText, Oracle, Qualcomm, Samsung, SAP, Shopify, VueReal, and Xerox, to name a few big players.
Ontario’s Information Technology (IT) industry in numbers
Let’s now take a closer look at Ontario’s IT industry in numbers. For example, almost half of Canada’s IT workforce (48%) is based in Ontario. Here are some other interesting numbers:
- $9.2 million in Research and Development business expenditures
- $8.3 billion in IT-related exports
- $48.3 billion annual GDP in the IT sector
- 65,000+ annual STEM graduates
- 25,000 individual tech businesses
- 71% of Ontario’s working-age adults have completed post-secondary education
- 408,000+ IT workers
IT companies in Ontario are well-known for providing highly advanced and high-value services and technologies at reasonable prices, which is why a growing number of overseas buyers choose Ontario-based tech companies.
According to recent statistics, Ontario’s capital city, Toronto, boasts having the fastest-growing tech sector in North America, and the SECOND most frequently hired graduates by companies in Silicon Valley are from Ontario’s University of Waterloo.
IT companies in Ontario have been behind many of today’s most exciting new technological developments, solutions, and innovations in one capacity or another, and some of the leading IT research centres and institutes in the province are the following:
1. Telecommunications (Communications Research Centre)
2. Learning (Centre for Learning Technologies)
3. Cryptography (Centre for Applied Cryptographic Research)
4. Virtual Laboratory (High-Performance Computing Virtual Laboratory)
5. Quantum Computing (Institute of Quantum Computing)
6. Wireless Technologies (Centre for Intelligent Antenna and Radio Systems)
7. Semiconductors (Centre for Emerging Device Technologies)
8. Mobile Experience Innovation Centre (Waterloo AI)
9. Mobile Experience Innovation Centre (Vector Institute)
10. Microelectronics (Centre for Microelectronics Assembly and Packaging)
11. Imaging (Institute for Diagnostic Imaging Research)
12. Imaging (Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging Research)
13. Geoinformatics (Centre for Geoinformatics)
14. Communications Research Centre Canada (Government of Canada)
15. Geographic Information Systems (Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre)
16. Communications (Emerging Communications Technology Institute)
Final note
If you are still looking for more ways to enter the tech sector in Ontario or for your IT company to get a foothold, there are several other reliable sources you can turn to with industry-specific information.
Examples worth trying that may help some of you are Technation, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), BIOTECanada, and the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA).
Don’t forget that the tech industry is an exciting but fiercely competitive space, and it’s not for everyone. Do your research before quitting your current job or setting up a new business to give yourself the best chance at succeeding, and try to remember the three important tips mentioned above.
