In Quebec at least, these are official titles. Software Engineer, unlike in the US and most of the rest of the world, is a protected title. You can't go around

In Quebec at least, these are official titles. Software Engineer, unlike in the US and most of the rest of the world, is a protected title. You can't go around calling yourself a Software Engineer unless you have a degree in Software Engineering and went through the accreditation process with the OIQ (Ordre des Ingenieurs du Quebec). Programmer/Analyst on the other hand is the title you get from a CEGEP degree. In Quebec there's an extra step between high school and university. We finish high school 1 year earlier but do either 2 years of CEGEP in a general education program and move on to university or do a technical degree (typically 3 years). One of the technical degrees you can get is in computer science and your title when you graduate is usually going to be Programmer/Analyst. These are generally lower paying code monkey jobs whereas Software Engineers usually start higher up on the corporate totem pole. CEGEP degrees are somewhat equivalent to degrees from community colleges in the states I think. You can also get a university degree in computer science. If you go that route you won't be allowed to call yourself an engineer but you'll have basically exactly the same starting position and offers people coming out of software engineering will.