Winnipeg-based nonprofit tech skills school ComIT has found that nearly 64 percent of Canadian IT workers would go to the United States (US) for a similar job if an opportunity arose.
The finding comes from ComIT’s 2025 General IT survey, which asked 600 Canadian IT professionals their thoughts on the country’s IT landscape. Surveyed positions include system administrators, software developers and engineers, network engineers and administrators, IT support, and cybersecurity specialists.
More than half of respondents were located in Ontario.
Respondents cited the most frustrating part of their jobs as understaffing and high turnover, according to a combined 28 percent of respondents. Other frustrating factors include a lack of concern for employee well-being, outdated tech infrastructure, and issues with underqualified or poor management.
In an email statement, ComIT executive director Pablo Listingart told BetaKit that the survey’s goal was to show the pains tech workers are going through, and the repercussions of those pains.
“When we talk about people willing to move to the US for work, it is also showing us that the outcome of the past couple of years of uncertainty is generating, or will generate, a flow of tech workers to the south, contrary to what we’ve been trying to do in Canada before the current layoffs and uncertainty started,” Listingart said.
RELATED: Saskatchewan tech sector employment doubled over four-year period: report
According to a recent report from The Logic, salaries for US-based tech workers greatly exceed compensation for comparable roles in Canadian cities, and the difference more than makes up for the US’s cost of living. For example, the salary of a Toronto engineer averaged $106,000 in 2023, while a San Francisco engineer averaged $260,000, which more than offsets San Francisco’s doubled rent costs.
According to 33 percent of ComIT’s survey respondents, the Canadian IT landscape is missing more tech hubs outside of major cities, while 42 percent believe Canada needs more talent development, such as training. That training does not include upskilling opportunities, however, as nearly 85 percent said there is enough of that in the tech field.
ComIT is a registered charitable organization that provides free technology and professional skills training across North America. Listingart said that ComIT primarily trains software developers, but also provides training in DevOps, testing, and UX design, which ComIT tried to reflect in its poll.
More than half of respondents were located in Ontario, around 14 percent in Québec, 10 percent in British Colombia, and less than that in all the other provinces. No one was surveyed in Prince Edward Island or the territories.
Feature image courtesy Ilya Pavlov via Unsplash.