Many of Canada's largest software companies and hundreds of smaller firms have their headquarters in the Ottawa Region. Products and services offered by these companies include graphics software, network and service management applications, entertainment, educational and tutorial software, games, marketing support programs, corporate communications tools and computer consulting. Employment in computer services grew significantly during the 1990's and demand for computer programmers is expected to remain strong for some time. Programmers are also employed in other industries such as government, insurance companies, architectural, engineering, and other scientific companies, and universities. Numerous job openings for programmers result from the need to replace programmers who move to other occupations or leave the labor force.
Programmers frequently transfer to other occupations, such as systems analyst or manager.
Advertised demand in local newspapers softened in 1999 compared to 1998, but this drop does not indicate a decrease in demand for computer professionals. There is a shift in recruiting techniques from newspaper advertisements to other methods. Internet electronic labour exchanges are popular. There are numerous job fairs for computer professionals. Many high-tech companies maintain Web sites with Human Resources pages advertising their vacancies.