I've often wondered why Canada doesn't have way more entrepreneurs. With a strong social safety net, you can work on your startup and not have to worry about losing your health insurance.
Canada facing ‘brain drain’ as tech talent leaves for Silicon Valley
31–40 of 715 posts
Re: Canada facing ‘brain drain’ as tech talent leaves for Silicon Valley
#32Canadian living in London for about 4 years now - of course people are leaving. The pay is incredibly low in major Canadian cities like Vancouver & Toronto; I was looking at 50-60k/yr there, ~150k in the US, or about 60-70k GPB in London.
Now, London isn't exactly cheap, and my overall buying power here is probably only mildly superior to what it would be in Canada, but I get to live in a great city with all the amenities of a major European hub.
Canada is great and I love many things about it, and I do consider it my proper home, but there's not much to attract me back at this point in my life & career. It's just truly a bad place to be if you're in tech.
I've been encouraging my friends back home to go explore other options like the US or Europe, and so far 3 more people I know have left - and it doesn't take much convincing once they see what's abroad.
Re: Canada facing ‘brain drain’ as tech talent leaves for Silicon Valley
#33Canadian working in SV for almost a decade here. Yeah sure, it was about the technology, job, but a lot of it has to do with lifestyle (which the article fails to mention, and can't really be measured). Since I've been here, I've learned how to drive stick shift, sky dived, and been on way more adventure than what I could have if I stayed at home. It's about adventure and taking a risk. Not necessarily about the mone…
I follow what you're getting at, but don't you think a large part of that is due to your own attitudes/perception? It's not like there aren't people in Canada who are doing exciting things like sky diving, let alone driving stick.
First of all, it's the weather. Half the year is rendered unusable for unplanned adventure.
More than once here, on a rainy winter day, I've gotten in my car and driven east until I hit the hills, found a park, and enjoyed a sunny afternoon.
Re: Canada facing ‘brain drain’ as tech talent leaves for Silicon Valley
#34One main caveat "graduates from three of the country’s top universities – University of Waterloo, University of British Columbia and U of T – were working outside Canada." There are many other schools in Canada offering STEM programs.
At UVic, many of my upper-year friends went down to FB or Tesla.
Re: Canada facing ‘brain drain’ as tech talent leaves for Silicon Valley
#35If Canadian companies were willing to offer a competitive salary, maybe Canadian grads would stay. It doesn't even have to be 1:1 with the US, even 75% would be nice. As it is, there is little incentive to stay here. I know a new grad who was faced with the choice of staying in Canada to earn $40-50k CAD per year starting, or heading to the US where he had a job offer with one of the big five for $120k USD plus signi…
Lower salary could be acceptable if the cost of living was lower, unfortunately it's often the same as in the US. Vancouver might even be more expensive. Maybe if provincial/federal governments tackled that first more people would stay, as it would be a better environment to raise a family.
Re: Canada facing ‘brain drain’ as tech talent leaves for Silicon Valley
#36>There is a cost to such a heavy brain drain: governments spend billions subsidizing the cost of university education, while students who go on to work for foreign companies help fuel the economic growth of those countries there's a pretty simple fix for that: have the government bill/charge you the subsidy when you're in university. it's not a student loan, and it doesn't appear on your credit report. you pay it bac…
The real fix is to provide appropriate incentives to build a technology industry. Unfortunately, programs to date have been rife for abuse and mainly only benefit those who know how to game the system (see the scandals around IRAP/SRED consultants).
The new government has introduced a Canadian equivalent to SBIR, called Innovative Solutions Canada [1], which seems very promising. It's basically a carbon copy of the American SBIR program, which had had a remarkable impact in the US for bootstrapping small high tech firms that are too risky for VCs to the point where they can seek investment.
The other piece of the puzzle is the VC environment. Canada simply does not have a cadre of experienced venture capitalists with access to funds and willingness to take risks. Until that changes, Canadian tech companies will continue to hop the border after reaching a certain size, because it's in their best interest to leave for the US where funding is better.
Re: Canada facing ‘brain drain’ as tech talent leaves for Silicon Valley
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which city in Canada are you studying in? Have you spent some time in SV?
Edmonton. I worked in MTV for 4 months, 4 months in Seattle, and I'm leaving on Monday to SV again for the summer.
Most of the things you hate about Canada would not be true if you moved DT Toronto or Montreal.
Re: Canada facing ‘brain drain’ as tech talent leaves for Silicon Valley
#3865.93% of Software Engineering graduates end up working in the US after graduation. Not a great statistic for Canada's tech industry.
I'm in this situation, that is I'm graduating next year and I already have a job lined up in SV. Personally, there just isn't anything for me here. I hate winter (depression for 7 months, anyone?). Everything is far. Entertainment is sparse unless it involves 1) hockey or 2) drinking, or both. Pay is shit. Prices are shit. Selection is shit (have you tried using Amazon CA?). Food, at least where I am, is good but no…
Well.. grabbing the light rail in the Bay Area and changing at Santa Clara around 9pm was an eye opening experience. Let’s just say an old man snapping at my geeky reading would’ve been the least of my concerns.
I had one guy pushing a cart trying to sell me drugs, a bunch of school kids leering at everyone and making a nuisance of themselves and just a general feeling that everyone with any sort of reasonable level of income was not using public transit.
I’m from London, where you’ll be on the tube train with everyone from cleaners to financiers. It’s pretty democratic. Not so in San Jose at all. Very depressing in fact.
Re: Canada facing ‘brain drain’ as tech talent leaves for Silicon Valley
#39>There is a cost to such a heavy brain drain: governments spend billions subsidizing the cost of university education, while students who go on to work for foreign companies help fuel the economic growth of those countries there's a pretty simple fix for that: have the government bill/charge you the subsidy when you're in university. it's not a student loan, and it doesn't appear on your credit report. you pay it bac…
Well, there are a few issues with this.
Firstly, many Waterloo STEM students already do this based on the school's curriculum of interweaving work and study terms. Fortunately and unfortunately, these are exactly the students being lured away into the US.
Secondly the Ontario Government (i.e. Wynne Government and potentially NDPs), has lowered tuition costs for families making under 160k by 30% with the intention of further lowering the costs to (eventually) free in the future. In other words, they fully intend to increase government debt to fund tuition costs for all Ontario students (except if you're middle class and higher). But guess what? Will this really have an impact on Waterloo STEM grads? Unlikely. Increasing payback doesn't affect the students who CAN afford it.
Re: Canada facing ‘brain drain’ as tech talent leaves for Silicon Valley
#4065.93% of Software Engineering graduates end up working in the US after graduation. Not a great statistic for Canada's tech industry.
I think something even stronger would be true if you asked about non-CA US states. Why would Canada, at 1/10th the US population, have more of an independent tech locus than does Texas (which has a population comparable to Canada)? Is this just a difference of nations re-distributing wealth internally but not between nations?
Canada's diversifying its job investment portfolio around jobs in high-tech and pulling that funding out of natural resources. You're starting to see that across the country. Calgary's starting to become a mini tech center for example.