Future Careers

Whether you have a career in mind or you're not sure what careers interest you, we can help you explore potential careers. With classroom learning, industry experience, and career support woven throughout your degree, you graduate impact ready.

What kinds of career options are there?

The career path you take will depend on the engineering program you choose to pursue. Some example career options include:

  • Software Engineer
  • Business Technology Analyst
  • Hardware Engineer
  • Firmware Engineer
  • Innovation Technical Lead
  • Biomedical Electronics Technologist
  • Aerospace Engineer
  • Business Technology Analyst
  • Systems Integration Engineer
  • Business analyst
  • Transportation planner
88.5% of engineering graduates were employed within six months of graduation Ontario University Graduate Survey, 2023

Alumni Career Stories

Camille Mitchell

Camille Mitchell

See what Camille Mitchell, a 2006 graduate of Architectural Studies has to say about her career path and receiving the Alumni Achievement Medal for Community Service.

Ahmed Hamodi

Ahmed Hamodi

See what Ahmed Hamodi, a 2022 graduate of Software Engineering has to say about his time at Waterloo and starting his own tech startup, DecisionHub.

Sylvia Ng

Sylvia Ng

See what Sylvia Ng, a 2004 graduate of Systems Design Engineering has to say about her journey as a woman in Engineering.

Jeff DiBattista

Jeff DiBattista

See what Jeff DiBattista, a 1993 graduate of Civil Engineering, has to say about his time at Waterloo and how it shaped his career path.

Mary Wells, Dean of Engineering's career story
Headshot of Mary Wells Dean of Engineering

Since beginning her engineering undergraduate degree in 1983, Mary has gained experiences working in industry and academia. She shares her story to highlight the importance of gender equity in Engineering. Women belong everywhere.

"The grit to persevere even though there are barriers ahead of you but doing it in graceful way. Having this combination really helps you to move ahead. Also, if you have the right motivations to achieve your goals and chase the right kind of opportunities, people that will give you amazing experiences - don’t worry about the titles."

More on the career journey Mary Wells took before becoming the Dean of Engineering here at the University of Waterloo.

Engineering graduate companies

Engineering alumni at the University of Waterloo have gone on to build many successful start-up companies as a result of their education.

Examples include:

  • Desire2Learn - Founded by John Baker, a graduate of systems design engineering at the University of Waterloo, Desire2Learn (or D2L) is an online learning platform with the goal of transforming the way the world learns through increased accessibility.
  • Friendlier - Founded by Kayli Dale and Jacqueline Hutchings, graduates from chemical engineering, the company was built as a means to eradicate single-use plastics in businesses dealing with foods.
  • Phonic - Founded by graduates of University of Waterloo's mechatronics engineering program (Mitchell Catoen, Devon Copeland, David Ferris, and Rares Topor-Gosman) which focuses on breaking down the barriers between quantitative and qualitative research. Team Phonic pitched their startup at the 2019 Hult Prize Challenge in New York, as finalists and the only Canadian startup competing.
  • Vidyard - Founded by graduates of University of Waterloo's systems design engineering program (Michael Litt and Devon Galloway), Vidyard is a video messaging and asynchronous communications platform with a team of over 300 individuals and 160,000 companies utilizing their service.