I work in an electrical/controls engineering role at a manufacturing company in Canada. My job description on paper includes control system design, writing functional specifications, and PLC programming which maps to NOC 21321 (Electrical and Electronics Engineer, TEER 1). My job title is Designer, Product Development however in my first year my actual day-to-day duties have been more focused on troubleshooting, bug fixing, R&D and assisting senior engineers which arguably maps better to NOC 22310 (Electrical and Electronics Engineering Technologist, TEER 2).
Here's the twist my wage is slightly above the median for 22310(Technologist) but way below the median for 21321, meaning claiming the technologist NOC would actually qualify me for the proposed high-wage occupation CRS bonus points while the engineer NOC would not.
My question is given that my actual duties in year 1 lean more toward the technologist classification, which NOC is more defensible with IRCC? And is it worth claiming the higher TEER NOC if it means losing out on high-wage bonus points and potentially being less accurate about my duties?