Job prospects Software Development Programmer in Nova Scotia

Explore current and future job prospects for people working as a "software development programmer" in Nova Scotia or across Canada.

Job opportunities in Nova Scotia

The recent trends from the past 3 years were updated on July 25, 2025. The job outlooks over the next 3 years were updated on December 10, 2025.

Prospects over the next 3 years

The employment outlook will be Good for software developers and programmers (NOC 21232) in Nova Scotia for the 2025-2027 period.

The following factors contributed to this outlook:

• Employment growth will lead to several new positions.
• A moderate number of positions will become available due to retirements.
• There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

This is a large occupation group, in which much of the work is found in Halifax as it offers a wide variety of potential employers across industries, including video game development. Job opportunities occur regularly, and those with the high level of specific skills will have an easier time in finding employment. Some lower-level programming tasks are increasingly being handled by artificial intelligence (AI). This has both softened the demand for junior workers and increased the need for candidates to keep up with rapidly evolving skills related to building and modifying AI models.

Graduates of advanced co-op programs will have the most success in breaking into the workforce. Remote hiring is common in the information technology field, so jobseekers may benefit from including remote opportunities in their job search.

Here are some key facts about software developers and programmers in Nova Scotia:

• Approximately 3,750 people work in this occupation.
• Software developers and programmers mainly work in the following sectors:
  • Computer systems design services (NAICS 5415): 65%
  • Information and cultural industries (NAICS 51): 6%
• The distribution of full-time and part-time workers in this occupation is:
  • Full-time workers: 93% compared to 82% for all occupations
  • Part-time workers: 7% compared to 18% for all occupations
• 77% of software developers and programmers work all year, while 23% work only part of the year, compared to 62% and 38% respectively among all occupations. Those who worked only part of the year did so for an average of 46 weeks compared to 42 weeks for all occupations.
• 9% of software developers and programmers are self-employed compared to an average of 11% for all occupations.
• The gender distribution of people in this occupation is:
  • Men: 86% compared to 51% for all occupations
  • Women: 14% compared to 49% for all occupations
• The educational attainment of workers in this occupation is:
  • no high school diploma: less than 5% compared to 10% for all occupations
  • high school diploma or equivalent: 11% compared to 27% for all occupations
  • apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma: less than 5% compared to 12% for all occupations
  • college certificate or diploma or university certificate below bachelor's: 22% compared to 22% for all occupations
  • bachelor's degree: 46% compared to 20% for all occupations
  • university certificate, degree or diploma above bachelor level: 21% compared to 10% for all occupations

Breakdown by region

Explore job prospects in Nova Scotia by economic region.

Source Labour Market Information | Prospects Methodology

Labour market conditions over the next 10 years

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