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Canada facing ‘brain drain’ as tech talent leaves for Silicon Valley

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Re: Canada facing ‘brain drain’ as tech talent leaves for Silicon Valley

#101

Post by huangc10 »

2RTZZSro wrote: post #82
huangc10 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, it's a bit of everything. Kind of like "the world is your oyster" feeling. I'm not speaking for everyone, but when I was in my early 20s, I think as long as cash was a net positive (ie. have savings), it was enough so didn't think too much about cost of living and high tax rates. Ofc, we're talking about late 2000s, so living was a bit cheaper.

What areas have that "the world is your oyster" vibe? Is it just Palo Alto - Mountain View or elsewhere?

I don't think there is one area specifically. I've actually lived all over the Bay Area. It's more of a sense that you'll be given a lot of opportunities and it's up to you to make the most of it.

Re: Canada facing ‘brain drain’ as tech talent leaves for Silicon Valley

#102

Post by local_yokel »

chrisseaton wrote: post #60
giarc wrote: post #3

One 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.

Oh great so they're only losing the best then?

As with most people from ivy league schools, they're certainly the best at believing they're the best based exclusively on where they come from.

Re: Canada facing ‘brain drain’ as tech talent leaves for Silicon Valley

#104

Post by monkeynotes »

flash_fort wrote: post #81
monkeynotes wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Salaries between Vancouver BC, and Seattle look to be comparable: https://www.glassdoor.ca/Salary/Amazon-Vancouver-Salaries-EI... https://www.glassdoor.ca/Salary/Amazon-Seattle-Salaries-EI_I...

Not really, USD vs CAD.

https://www.economist.com/content/big-mac-index

Man, you are right, at home 1CAD buys 13% less than 1USD does at home, if I am reading that correctly.

Re: Canada facing ‘brain drain’ as tech talent leaves for Silicon Valley

#105

Post by turingcompeteme »

Maven911 wrote: post #58

And better weather and the cachet of being in a world city. The brain drain has been going on for decades now... But lately, the general Canadian media has claimed there is a reversal. One case in point is Montreal being proclaimed an "AI Hub". It's considered an "AI hub" mainly because of one of the fathers of AI is from there (and one his students coming up with the concept of Adversial networks) and a few companie…

Better weather, definitely. But is anyone claiming San Franciso or Seattle are more 'world city' than Toronto or Montreal? By almost any definition of world city, they would be very wrong.

Re: Canada facing ‘brain drain’ as tech talent leaves for Silicon Valley

#106

Post by arcticbull »

huangc10 wrote: post #28
2RTZZSro wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was it the opportunities that are available in SV that make it possible to go on these adventures or something else like increased cash flow combined with more free time? Despite the higher salaries how are you coping with the high cost of living and high tax rates?

Right, it's a bit of everything. Kind of like "the world is your oyster" feeling. I'm not speaking for everyone, but when I was in my early 20s, I think as long as cash was a net positive (ie. have savings), it was enough so didn't think too much about cost of living and high tax rates. Ofc, we're talking about late 2000s, so living was a bit cheaper.

I mean sure, I had a studio at Post and Leavenworth to myself, newly renovated for $1200 in 2010. That same place went for $1900 in 2012. Now it's $2649 -- I just looked. I think it's fair to say the cost living has changed from the late 2000s.

Re: Canada facing ‘brain drain’ as tech talent leaves for Silicon Valley

#107

Post by downrightmike »

arcticbull wrote: post #96
whack wrote: post #66

Canada is in a really tough spot here. I've always admired Canadian culture/values, and in the abstract, would love to live in Canada one day. However, as a Software developer, the compensation and opportunities that one can find in SF/Seattle/NYC dwarf anything in Canada. Until this changes, Canada is always going to lose its brightest engineers, which will in turn worsen the problem even further. Some solutions I c…

- Canada is already pursuing non-American engineers, even advertising along the 101 [1], and it's working [2]. - Canada does offer some tax breaks [3] and grants to startups, but more is also welcome. - Agreed that there should be a bigger focus on startups. I wonder if having provinces create VC funds (like Investissment Quebec [4]) tailored specifically to startups would help here. [1] http://mgalligan.com/post/523…

Don't want to pay any taxes, and maybe hire 1 person within 5 years? Try NewYork: https://esd.ny.gov/startup-ny-program

Re: Canada facing ‘brain drain’ as tech talent leaves for Silicon Valley

#108

Post by monkeynotes »

Thaxll wrote: post #67
mywittyname wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The big tech hubs in CA (Toronto, Vancouver) are expensive and traffic is absolutely awful. A quick glance online shows average apartment prices are nearly $2000/mo. So it's almost like you're living in Seattle anyway. I don't think CA has many technical equivalents to Ohama or Columbus that combine high salaries from numerous F500 companies with Midwestern COL.

Isn't Montreal bigger than Vancouver? Also Montreal is cheap to live in.

Quebec has some of the highest income taxes in Canada.

Re: Canada facing ‘brain drain’ as tech talent leaves for Silicon Valley

#109

Post by merinowool »

m-p-3 wrote: post #17
Kelbit wrote: post #13

If 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…

I'm wondering how that salary difference really is when comparing the cost of living of many Canadian cities vs Silicon Valley, the taxation rate and the social services provided (universal healthcare, etc).

Is Canadian healthcare any good? Where I live, you pay for this privilege quite a lot of tax at still you have to go privately, because the quality is just not worth your health. I really wish "universal healthcare" was scrapped, so I could afford better services privately.

Re: Canada facing ‘brain drain’ as tech talent leaves for Silicon Valley

#110

Post by remir »

jessriedel wrote: post #26
paulashbourne wrote: post #2

65.93% 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 is very risk averse. There's money, but it's not flowing properly.
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