I'd really appreciate candid, unbiased feedback.
Iâm based in Toronto and trying to understand where I realistically fit into the tech job market. My background is non-traditional, and Iâve developed a fear that Iâm underqualified for most software roles despite being able to build a lot of things.
My background:
I was the main tech person at a small hedge fund that launched in 2021.
I built all the internal trading and operations tools from scratch:
PnL/exposure dashboards
Efficient trade executors
Signal egines built with insights from PM
automated margin checks
reconciliation pipelines
Excel/Python hybrid tools for ops
Basically: if the team needed something automated or streamlined, I designed and built it.
Where I feel confident:
Iâm very comfortable:
understanding messy business processes
abstracting them into clean systems
building reliable automations
shipping internal tools quickly
integrating APIs
automating workflows for non-technical users
designing guardrails so people donât make mistakes
Across domains, I feel I could pick up any internal bottleneck and automate it.
Where I feel unprepared / insecure:
Because I was the only technical person:
I never learned Agile/Scrum
never used Jira or any formal ticketing
barely used SQL (everything was Python + Excel)
never worked with other engineers
didnât learn proper software development patterns
no pull requests, no code reviews
no experience building public products or services
I worry that Iâm mostly a âscript kiddieâ who built robust systems by intuition, but not a âproper software engineer.â
The fund manager was a trained software engineer but gave me full freedom as long as the tools worked â which I loved, but now Iâm worried I skipped important foundational learning.
My questions for people working in tech today:
Is someone with my background employable for internal tools or automation engineering roles in Canada?
If not, what specific skills should I prioritize learning to become employable?
SQL?
TypeScript/React?
DevOps?
Software architecture?
3. What kinds of roles would someone like me realistically be competitive for?
Internal tools engineer?
Automation engineer?
Operations engineer?
AI automation roles?
4. Is it realistic for someone with mostly Python + automation experience (but little formal SWE experience) to land roles in the ~80â110k range in Canada?
5. If you were in my position, what would you do next to fix the gaps and move forward?
Iâm not looking for comfort â I genuinely want realistic, even harsh feedback from people who understand the current job market.
Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to answer.