How Canada can build tech careers worth staying for

When Damjan Pelemis interviews engineers for positions at Capital One Canada, there’s a question he likes to ask once the conversation turns to what the company can offer them. “Do they like to learn?” Pelemis said. “Because this is a place where they’re going to truly test that.” “Canada has tremendous potential as a country to lead innovation globally. Stimulating and creating space for that is critical.” Damjan Pelemis,Capital One As Chief Technology Officer for Canada, Pelemis leads Capital One’s tech strategy and engineering teams located in the GTA. In this role, he leads the development of financial products while managing local engineering operations. His experience recruiting engineers offers a window into a wider issue facing Canada’s technology sector: how to turn a strong pipeline of skilled talent into a workforce that stays, grows, and contributes to innovation at home. He believes Canada has a strong foundation to build on. Six Canadian cities ranked among the top 15 North American tech talent markets this year, and Pelemis pointed to Canada’s post-secondary institutions and quality of life as advantages in attracting skilled workers. At the same time, today’s engineers have access to an increasingly global employment market, and some of Canada’s most highly trained graduates appear particularly mobile. Even with these strong foundations, Pelemis notes that employers must stay proactive to retain top talent as career opportunities expand worldwide. He believes developing talented engineers is only one part of building a strong domestic technology sector. Canadian employers also need to offer careers that give those engineers reasons to stay here. Work that opens doors Engineers evaluating a new job are also thinking about what comes after it. Pelemis said candidates are wary of spending years working with systems so specialized that their experience becomes difficult to apply elsewhere.  Pelemis said prospective technologists want to know, “Am I just stepping into a niche? Am I stepping into something that’s going to take me sideways, and I’ll have to requalify when I decide I want to take on something new?” Not long ago, engineers at large companies could spend years mastering technology that existed almost nowhere else. An employee could become an expert in one organization’s technology and still face a steep learning curve at their next job. Cloud computing has made technical expertise far more transferable. Engineers working with widely adopted platforms can carry their expertise between employers and build on their experience without having to learn entirely new systems. “An engineer going from one to the other is actually much better prepared and positioned to continue growing their career, as opposed to restarting it from scratch,” Pelemis added. Capital One, for its part, operates entirely in the cloud, which Pelemis said appeals to candidates looking to develop skills they can use throughout their careers.  Today’s engineers also want a meaningful role in what they build. At Capital One, Canadian engineers developed products and features like Quick Check, which allows consumers to see which credit card offers they qualify for before applying. Capital One guarantees the offers presented, which required its engineers to work through software, data, and reliability challenges before launching the product. “Software is just one component of it, but end-to-end ownership across the entire product lifecycle—from data architecture to system reliability—is a big part of the value that an engineer joining would realize,” he added.  Quick Check serves Canadian customers, and the technology components developed in the process are available to Capital One engineers worldwide. Pelemis believes that is just one example of Canadian teams developing products for the local market while contributing to Capital One’s global technology operations. Investing in skills that last A software engineer entering the workforce in 2026 faces a different set of expectations than one who graduated just a few years ago. AI is taking on more routine coding work, which means employers are prioritizing judgment, technical design, collaboration, and the ability to define problems.  “We do it because it makes business sense, makes sense for people’s growth, and supports the wider tech ecosystem.” Pelemis believes employers need to adapt how they develop engineers as the skills required for the job continue to evolve. At Capital One Canada, employees have access to mentorship, online learning, and professional certifications in areas including cloud computing, cybersecurity, and architecture. The company also encourages employees to pursue training outside of their immediate specialties.  “Whether it’s our Tech College, or Tech Leadership Development Program for a software engineer, or a cyber course for a business analyst, we do it because it makes business sense, makes sense for people’s growth, and supports the wider tech ecosystem,” he said. Capital One’s international footprint also gives engineers room to pursue different kinds of work as their careers evolve. “What junior engineers get is immersion in a large, broadly scaled ecosystem,” Pelemis added. “What mid-career folks get is experimentation and continuation. What senior people get is actually pushing the envelope.” He sees continued education as a responsibility shared across Canada’s technology ecosystem. Universities provide the foundation, but Pelemis argued employers have an equally important role in helping technologists develop the skills they will need throughout their working lives.  Turning talent into economic strength Canada has invested heavily in developing technical talent, but some of its most sought-after graduates appear likely to pursue opportunities in other countries.  A 2025 Statistics Canada study found that 23 percent of Canadian computer and information science graduates from highly ranked universities were no longer filing Canadian tax returns three years after graduation, compared with just 10 percent of graduates from other institutions. The findings suggest that Canada might be losing some of its most highly trained technology alumni. When skilled graduates leave Canada, their expertise goes with them, whereas keeping that talent in Canada allows knowledge to circulate between Canadian companies as engineers move through their careers.  Pelemis has seen that knowledge transfer himself. He stays in touch with former Capital One employees who have applied their experience throughout the Canadian tech ecosystem. He believes their career paths show why continued investment in professional education and ambitious engineering work can have an impact far beyond a single employer. “Canada has tremendous potential as a country to lead innovation globally,” he said. “Stimulating and creating space for that is critical.” PRESENTED BY To learn more about how Capital One Canada is harnessing Canada’s technology talent to shape the future of banking, visit our technology careers page. Feature image courtesy Capital One The post How Canada can build tech careers worth staying for first appeared on BetaKit.