I'm sure it is the same with any city in Germany compared to Zurich.
A new grad SDE makes 2x more in SF than Toronto after tax and COL
21–30 of 48 posts
Re: A new grad SDE makes 2x more in SF than Toronto after tax and COL
#22If you can work as an incorporated contractor, Canadian taxes can be quite low when you sprinkle the income across your family. * The government is starting to catch on and might put an end to paying out dividends to non-working family members.
sounds like a good way to get audited. abusing tax loopholes like this might be worth it if you're a corporation with an army of accountants/lawyers to defend you, but if you're an individual, you're easy pickings for the IRS.
Re: A new grad SDE makes 2x more in SF than Toronto after tax and COL
#23Its quite frustrating as a Canadian web-developer. There are plenty of remote jobs that I would qualify skill and experience wise in the US that are for 120K USD. But they won't hire remote Canadians because its a hassle for some reason. There are few Canadian companies that are remoting and generally they cap out at 70K. There are higher paying remoting jobs in Canada but to get them you have to do in-person network…
I'd keep looking, as I regularly see remote positions that will hire only in either the "US and Canada," or "North America."
Re: A new grad SDE makes 2x more in SF than Toronto after tax and COL
#24The author says in the middle of the post: " I believe this is the key in retaining young Canadian tech talent in Canada. If an intern has a great experience at a Canadian tech company, they are more likely to sacrifice the additional compensation in US to remain in Canada. Sell them on the culture, not the money." And then says: " Tech CEOs in Canada often complain about the brain drain issue, but only a few compani…
Why not both?
Sell them on culture, but the compensation still needs to be not insulting.
Re: A new grad SDE makes 2x more in SF than Toronto after tax and COL
#25If you can work as an incorporated contractor, Canadian taxes can be quite low when you sprinkle the income across your family. * The government is starting to catch on and might put an end to paying out dividends to non-working family members.
Not might - as of Jan 1, 2018, you can no longer pay dividends to any non-working family members.
As a physician, it's a 15-20% pay cut for me :(
Re: A new grad SDE makes 2x more in SF than Toronto after tax and COL
#26I find it an odd choice to single out SF for the title (currently "A new grad SDE makes 2x more in SF than Toronto after tax and COL"), given that the data show that Seattle pay after tax and COL is almost 2.4x Toronto.
That's not true, total compensation in the article is ~1.7 more in SF than Toronto, but that includes stock options which are not actually the same as cash. The 2x figure comes from an analysis that factors in living expenses and refers to the amount of money you get left over for savings and similar things. Also, that comparison oddly compares living in a frat-like house in SF to having your own one bedroom apartmen…
RSUs =/= stock options. At a reputable public company (FAMG, Twitter, Linkedin, Snap, etc.) you will be given restricted stock units. These are more like cash than options (they may have a vesting schedule, but once they vest, you can sell them immediately for cash value).
Also I'll note that you can bump up the SF numbers by 1K/mo for rent (which puts you well into the can easily afford a 1BR apartment range) and still be ahead on savings compared to the canadian salaries.
Re: A new grad SDE makes 2x more in SF than Toronto after tax and COL
#27The author says in the middle of the post: " I believe this is the key in retaining young Canadian tech talent in Canada. If an intern has a great experience at a Canadian tech company, they are more likely to sacrifice the additional compensation in US to remain in Canada. Sell them on the culture, not the money." And then says: " Tech CEOs in Canada often complain about the brain drain issue, but only a few compani…
Vancouver tech CEO here. We Canadian CEOs would love to pay our staff more, but our companies frankly suck compared to the powerhouse companies in the US. We just aren’t profitable enough.
I think if you dig around, you will find that US tech companies are far better funded and thus working on things that generate more upside - for everyone.
Another thing to consider is that there is a massive bull market going on. And tech is at the frothy end of it. Those RSUs are great when stock is valuable and companies are flush. When the market tanks, they won’t be so hot anymore.
Re: A new grad SDE makes 2x more in SF than Toronto after tax and COL
#28The author says in the middle of the post: " I believe this is the key in retaining young Canadian tech talent in Canada. If an intern has a great experience at a Canadian tech company, they are more likely to sacrifice the additional compensation in US to remain in Canada. Sell them on the culture, not the money." And then says: " Tech CEOs in Canada often complain about the brain drain issue, but only a few compani…
That CEO is delusional.
The work culture is actually miles ahead in the United States too. A lot of it has to do with the respect that comes with a good salary. You are far more likely to treat an employee worth 120k as less expandable than someone worth 60k.
Re: A new grad SDE makes 2x more in SF than Toronto after tax and COL
#29The author says in the middle of the post: " I believe this is the key in retaining young Canadian tech talent in Canada. If an intern has a great experience at a Canadian tech company, they are more likely to sacrifice the additional compensation in US to remain in Canada. Sell them on the culture, not the money." And then says: " Tech CEOs in Canada often complain about the brain drain issue, but only a few compani…
Vancouver tech CEO here. We Canadian CEOs would love to pay our staff more, but our companies frankly suck compared to the powerhouse companies in the US. We just aren’t profitable enough. I think if you dig around, you will find that US tech companies are far better funded and thus working on things that generate more upside - for everyone. Another thing to consider is that there is a massive bull market going on. A…
Second grade tech attracts second grade employees and second grade funding. That's the law of the market.
Vancouver is interesting because it's also where a lot of american firms set shops in order to house employees that can't qualify for a US visa.
Re: A new grad SDE makes 2x more in SF than Toronto after tax and COL
#30Its quite frustrating as a Canadian web-developer. There are plenty of remote jobs that I would qualify skill and experience wise in the US that are for 120K USD. But they won't hire remote Canadians because its a hassle for some reason. There are few Canadian companies that are remoting and generally they cap out at 70K. There are higher paying remoting jobs in Canada but to get them you have to do in-person network…
We had so many Canadians applying for remote jobs at the last company I worked at. Honestly they got treated just like the "Indian Undergraduate Internship" [1] mails my old lab used to get. Piped straight to dev/null.
The fact that couldn't even qualify for a US visa was a big red flag in terms of qualification.
[1] https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41687/what-is-b...