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Canada is North America’s up-and-coming startup center

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Re: Canada is North America’s up-and-coming startup center

#101

Post by FreedomToCreate »

aka0 wrote: post #80
endorphone wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean it was "TN visas are instant and infinitely renewable", because that is absolutely false. a) Engineering is covered by TN visas, but you have to have an actual engineering degree. Claim you're a software engineer and they have every right to deny the CS grad. b) Programming is not covered . This is simple fact of NAFTA. It's a process where applicants are told to be super careful with the wording (sort of li…

>a) Engineering is covered by TN visas, but you have to have an actual engineering degree. Claim you're a software engineer and they have every right to deny the CS grad. Not true at all. BSc in Computer Science is perfectly fine for Software Engineering jobs. Look up NAFTA Appendix 1603.D.1 > b) Programming is not covered. This is simple fact of NAFTA. It's a process where applicants are told to be super careful wit…

Well you will have an I94 form and a slip/stamp indicating TN status in your Passport. Would be kind of ridiculous to be carrying your Degree, transcript of grades and documents from your employer every time you cross the border.

Re: Canada is North America’s up-and-coming startup center

#102

Post by FreedomToCreate »

r-s wrote: post #96
tensor wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shopify https://www.glassdoor.ca/Salary/Shopify-Ottawa-Salaries-EI_I... Software Developer $80,947 Software Engineer $96,600 500px https://www.glassdoor.ca/Salary/500px-Salaries-E600778.htm Software Engineer $93,333 The averages are pulled down by lots of mediocre companies. Startups and big places like Google and IBM have salaries that are nowhere close to your numbers. Couple this with taxes here being much much lo…

For reference: $96,600 CAD == $71,718 USD

Note that is at the current exchange rate

Re: Canada is North America’s up-and-coming startup center

#103

Post by 52-6F-62 »

tensor wrote: post #92
hughes wrote: post #27

This article doesn't mention one of the major reasons for talent leaving Canada: if you work there, you need to stomach a 50% pay cut in average salaries vs the US. This is true pretty much across the board regardless of tech niche on the 2017 Stack Overflow Developer Survey[1]: Machine learning specialist: US 108k, Canada 53k (49%) Embedded applications/devices developer: US 100k, Canada 53k (53%) Systems administra…

Shopify https://www.glassdoor.ca/Salary/Shopify-Ottawa-Salaries-EI_I... Software Developer $80,947 Software Engineer $96,600 500px https://www.glassdoor.ca/Salary/500px-Salaries-E600778.htm Software Engineer $93,333 The averages are pulled down by lots of mediocre companies. Startups and big places like Google and IBM have salaries that are nowhere close to your numbers. Couple this with taxes here being much much lo…

You're listing two companies that are veritable unicorns in Toronto. There are a handful of successful mid-level companies like those in the city, and tens of thousands of hungry developers earning far less at non-technologically focused companies.

The average Torontonian (in any field) earns ~$50-70k and costs here are quite high still, even if they trail San Francisco by ~30%.

To wit: on that average salary you certainly won't starve, but pick one: save money, buy a car, have a child (and that might be a stretch).

Re: Canada is North America’s up-and-coming startup center

#104

Post by acchow »

sheepmullet wrote: post #88
acchow wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cities that are commonly touted as the "next silicon valley": - Berlin - Toronto-Waterloo - London - Vancouver - Shenzhen - Chicago

Lots of cities that are expensive compared to tech wages and others that are financially conservative. Why do people think they will be the next SV? Maybe Chicago could be a contender?

I think the closest contender isn't on this list because there's no need to fluff it up on a regular basis - New York. They don't need to keep telling themselves they'll be the next silicon valley.

Re: Canada is North America’s up-and-coming startup center

#105

Post by thesmallestcat »

eloff wrote: post #64
hughes wrote: post #27

This article doesn't mention one of the major reasons for talent leaving Canada: if you work there, you need to stomach a 50% pay cut in average salaries vs the US. This is true pretty much across the board regardless of tech niche on the 2017 Stack Overflow Developer Survey[1]: Machine learning specialist: US 108k, Canada 53k (49%) Embedded applications/devices developer: US 100k, Canada 53k (53%) Systems administra…

Yes, that more or less sums it up. Plus you have fewer job opportunities and career mobility as well as higher taxes and rapidly rising real-estate prices in both Vancouver and Toronto. I think Canadian software engineers are crazy to stay in Canada. I'm a Canadian software engineer living in Canada, but I'd never consider working for a Canadian or US company here and earning Canadian dollars - it just makes no sense…

I thought in Panama (and anywhere else outside the US) you have to pay income tax on earnings over $100k. I think you have to pay into Social Security too?

Re: Canada is North America’s up-and-coming startup center

#106

Post by microcolonel »

josho wrote: post #93
microcolonel wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alberta used to be the best province regarding the behaviour of government, and this was one of the great things. The provincial taxes are fairly low, and until the most recent regime change none of the cities had municipal debt. I would take lower taxes over a grant most days.

How do taxes play a role for a startup that defers profit for growth? Taxes won't be a factor until you've succeeded. Or is it that your experience with grants are that negative that you value them so poorly?

Grants are dangerous for society, because they encourage private businesses to cooperate with current-term politics, and they take money out of the market. Last year, our federal government gave nearly $400mm to one company expecting the creation of just 1300 jobs. There are federal tax incentives for any company that does essentially anything novel (SRED) and that somewhat works, since acceptance is only conditional on meeting the criteria. Grants are preferential.

Re: Canada is North America’s up-and-coming startup center

#107

Post by thesmallestcat »

personjerry wrote: post #100
nickler wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. See this a lot more in Waterloo/Toronto for sure. Just had a convo with a NYC venture friend who was raised here in Vancity and his quote was revealing. He said the stink of the VSE resource pump and dump era is still prevalent. I've been approached by 3 different groups trying to list us pre launch here in town. When that's the culture of the investment scene, it's tough to make anything great.

What is "VSE resource pump and dump"?

VSE = Vancouver Stock Exchange. Pump and dump is a market timing strategy where you ride an inconsequential stock's rise over a relatively short time and then sell. I have no idea how that relates to parent's last sentence.

Re: Canada is North America’s up-and-coming startup center

#108

Post by hashbig »

bobosha wrote: post #69

I speak as a founder of an AI company in Vancouver Canada and ran it there for ~1 year - we relocated to US for fundraising and that's another story - but here is my sense for salaries: * AI/ML Scientists (UBC, SFU) , Typically MS/PhD: C$85K-125K * Web developers: ranges from 60K (mediocre) to 110K (very good), the exceptional are nearly impossible to find. * Database/Backend : C$80K-100K for the good to very good ta…

Montreal is way lower. But then again rent here is significantly less than Vancouver/Toronto.

Re: Canada is North America’s up-and-coming startup center

#109

Post by kingofpandora »

endorphone wrote: post #35
hughes wrote: post #27

This article doesn't mention one of the major reasons for talent leaving Canada: if you work there, you need to stomach a 50% pay cut in average salaries vs the US. This is true pretty much across the board regardless of tech niche on the 2017 Stack Overflow Developer Survey[1]: Machine learning specialist: US 108k, Canada 53k (49%) Embedded applications/devices developer: US 100k, Canada 53k (53%) Systems administra…

While I do have a grievance with a much lower pay ceiling across Canada, those numbers are ridiculously low even if in US dollars as I assume they are. I don't put much stock in the StackOverflow survey. And I'm not trying to be argumentative, but your take on TN visas is extremely simplified. For instance software developers aren't actually allowed to have a TN visa, and instead you have to say that you're a "system…

> And I'm not trying to be argumentative, but your take on TN visas is extremely simplified. For instance software developers aren't actually allowed to have a TN visa, and instead you have to say that you're a "system analyst".

Small correction. "Software engineer" has been a valid TN category since the early (?) 90s.

Re: Canada is North America’s up-and-coming startup center

#110

Post by tostitos1979 »

mikestew wrote: post #68
endorphone wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I do have a grievance with a much lower pay ceiling across Canada, those numbers are ridiculously low even if in US dollars as I assume they are. I don't put much stock in the StackOverflow survey. And I'm not trying to be argumentative, but your take on TN visas is extremely simplified. For instance software developers aren't actually allowed to have a TN visa, and instead you have to say that you're a "system…

those numbers are ridiculously low even if in US dollars as I assume they are. I don't put much stock in the StackOverflow survey. Then put stock in a the words of a guy who has actually looked for employment in Canada, and after the election of Trump is very incentivized to take a positive view on moving to Canada: as far as I can tell from the salaries posted, I'd take about a 50% pay cut, and I wouldn't be able to…

If salaries and housing prices in Canada were at all reasonable, I know many fellow Canadians would move back from the Bay area in an instant. Toronto is the other major tech center which is stupidly priced (hopefully the new govt measures slow things down). If you can speak french, consider Montreal.
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