Engineering & technical · Creating & Designing
Turning an engineer's or designer's idea into precise drawings and models that other people can build from.
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Drafting technologist salary in Ontario: the median pay is $31.25 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024). Its three-year outlook in Ontario is limited. The job usually needs a college diploma, or an apprenticeship of two or more years.
Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 22212. Pay varies by region and experience.
The work
A Tuesday
Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.
Honestly
The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.
The route in
Finish high school with maths, physics and any drafting or tech design course
Take a college programme in drafting or design technology
Check what Job Bank says about trade and professional certification
Look at OACETT
Where this comes from: Job Bank — Requirements for drafting technologists and technicians in Ontario · ontariocolleges.ca — Drafting / Design programs · OACETT — Canadian-educated professionals: certification requirements
The money
Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.
Ontario, NOC 22212. Reference period 2023-2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth.
Where it is heading
Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.
Limited2 out of 5 stars
What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.
Source: Job Bank — Drafting technologists and technicians job prospects in Ontario (NOC 22212). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.
Before you leave school
Test it
Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.
Draw a real object to measured size
About 90 minutesWhat it tells you. If you could lose an hour in the lines and liked finding the missing dimension, drafting and design technology are worth a closer look. If you cared more about what the object was than how to draw it, think about design or engineering. If it felt like tedious copying, drafting is mostly that, done well.
Better than any article
Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.
Could you own one of these?
Yes, as a freelance drafter or a small drafting and design shop, often for builders, architects or manufacturers. Job Bank's figures show some of this group is self-employed. You need a client list, reliable software and a clear idea of who is responsible if a drawing is wrong, which is a conversation to have with an adult in the trade first.
Quick answers
The median pay for a drafting technologist in Ontario is $31.25 an hour, according to Job Bank (reference period 2023-2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $20.00 to $48.08 an hour. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.
Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this work in Ontario as limited for 2025-2027 (updated 10 December 2025). Employment is expected to remain relatively stable. Not many positions will become available due to retirements. There are a moderate number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation. A lower rating means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hiring.
Job Bank says this work usually needs a college diploma, or an apprenticeship of two or more years. The usual route in Ontario, in order: Finish high school with maths, physics and any drafting or tech design course; Take a college programme in drafting or design technology; Check what Job Bank says about trade and professional certification.
Job Bank counts about 11,200 people working in this job in Ontario. 28% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.
Where people come from
In the 2021 Census, this job is one of the 12 most common for graduates of these programs. Each page shows what else they do, and which of those jobs have openings.
Tech and engineering jobs: who is hiring What can you do with your degree?
Not sure this is the right list to be reading
Start from yourself, not from the job.
Future Finder is free, takes about ten minutes, needs no account and stores nothing. It will tell you which kinds of work you lean toward, and which of these pages are worth your time.
Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.
If this appeals, look at these too
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Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
