The government of Alberta is moving to legalize the use of the title “software engineer” for technology companies, ending a lengthy battle between regulators and tech companies in the province.
The move was welcomed by the tech industry, which has been lobbying to be able to use the term.
Bill 7, a proposal to amend the Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act, which was tabled on Monday, would allow tech companies to use the “software engineer” title to attract and retain talent.
“We’re glad the issue is being treated as a priority,” said Sam Pillar, chief executive officer of Edmonton-based technology company Jobber.
The “software engineer” title, used widely across the global tech industry, has been highly contested in the province since the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta filed a claim in 2021 against a leading software companies, Octopusapp Inc., known as Jobber, to stop using the term “engineer” in job titles and postings unless it gets a permit. The case, which is still pending, caused an uproar in Alberta’s tech sector at the time.
Job titles including “engineer” – and the profession in general – have been independently regulated by APEGA, but the new legislation would make an exception for “software engineer” and similar tech-industry titles.
“This is the first significant update in over 30 years,” Alberta’s Minister of Advanced Education, Rajan Sawhney, told reporters on Monday.
The exception would let tech-industry employers use the term to recruit and retain employees, and let employees use the term as their official job title, including on business cards, LinkedIn titles and on social media, according to Alberta’s Minister of Technology and Innovation, Nate Glubish, who says that the change would strengthen the province’s position as a competitor in the global tech market.
Under the proposed legislation, APEGA, which sets and enforces the standards for individuals to hold the “professional engineer” designation, would still regulate that title and its “P.Eng.” abbreviation, but Alberta’s Advanced Education Minister would be allowed to make regulatory changes around titles related to “software engineer” going forward.
“The global market for tech talent has reached a consensus on using the title ‘software engineer’ in all of its major markets, including Silicon Valley,” Mr. Glubish said.
The number of tech companies in Alberta has tripled to 3,083 from 1,238 since 2019, according to a provincial press release, and Calgary and Edmonton host more than 52,000 and 31,000 technology workers respectively. The tech sector also represents an estimated $5-billion annual contribution to the provincial GDP and 20,000 new jobs by 2030, according to the Alberta Technology and Innovation Strategy.
“Removing the onerous restriction around the job title, and also giving the minister the power to be able to update as they see fit, matches the speed of the 21st-century economy,” says Benjamin Bergen, president of the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI), a non-partisan business organization.
He says the bill represents significant “red-tape reduction” that would let the province’s tech entrepreneurs shore up talent.
For technology workers, Mr. Glubish says that allowing the “software engineer” title can help attract Canadian or foreign tech talent, who may have been deterred from pursuing jobs in Canada, instead seeking out similar positions in places using the title such as the U.S.
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CCI penned an open letter signed by more than 100 CEOs at Canadian companies asking Premier Danielle Smith to stop “regulator overreach” in October last year.
Gerard McDonald, CEO of Engineers Canada, which represents the regulators, says his position hasn’t changed since his organization released a statement last July calling for individuals who are not licensed as engineers to be prohibited from using the title.
“Regulators have a way of ensuring that people are qualified and meet an educational and professional standard,” Mr. McDonald said, expressing safety concerns around the unregulated title of “software engineer” in the tech industry.
Ms. Sawhney says that regulators such as APEGA were present at the round-table discussions that led to Monday’s tabling of the amendment and that any software engineer who applies engineering principles in their work will continue to be regulated by APEGA.
“The government of Alberta is to ensure public safety so we are going to be taking a very close look at how things unfold and work closely with the regulators.”
APEGA, which has been vocal in its opposition to changes in how “software engineer” is used, said that during the discussions, it offered “potential solutions” – such as adding “non-registered” after the title for non-engineers.
“The government decided to go in another direction,” APEGA CEO Jay Nagendran said.