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Toronto adds more tech jobs than Silicon Valley in past 5 years

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Re: Toronto adds more tech jobs than Silicon Valley in past 5 years

#11
post #6
post #3

How? Why? I mean, it's easy to see the return on investment that SV has yielded from employing more people, and to see the competitive advantage SV has to maintain its growth. But Toronto is everything bad about SV, and nothing good. Its housing is just as unaffordable, yet it doesn't have a large network of talent from decades of innovative companies to draw from.

>Its housing is just as unaffordable What? It's not even remotely close.

Not in absolute terms, but it's closer when you compare housing cost vs compensation, I think.

The cost of rental housing has jumped up quite a bit recently, too. When I was looking for a place to live in 2015, I saw quite a few condos for rent right downtown for $1700-1800 a month. Now I see units in those same buildings renting for $2300 a month and up.

Still cheaper than SV, I suppose? And if you don't mind a bit of a commute, you can find more affordable accommodation.

Re: Toronto adds more tech jobs than Silicon Valley in past 5 years

#13
post #8

I think the "senior" web developers with less than 5 years work history seem to be earning $90K/year, which seems low. Any thoughts?

I don't know any Canadian developer with less than 5 years of experience earning $90k/year. Most developers I know with more than 5 years of experience earn less than $90k/year.

Really? Going to through job postings and you can hit $90k/year with 3 years of experience.

Of course you start at $90-$100k as a new grad in Amazon and Google.

Re: Toronto adds more tech jobs than Silicon Valley in past 5 years

#14
post #8

I think the "senior" web developers with less than 5 years work history seem to be earning $90K/year, which seems low. Any thoughts?

I don't know any Canadian developer with less than 5 years of experience earning $90k/year. Most developers I know with more than 5 years of experience earn less than $90k/year.

It might be a good time for those devs you know to make a move, if they're at all unhappy with their job situation.

A few devs I know with >5 years experience have moved to new roles lately, and the companies didn't even hesitate when they asked for salaries well over 100k. I know it's just anecdotal, of course. Other probably have good counter-examples. but maybe it's a useful data point regardless.

Re: Toronto adds more tech jobs than Silicon Valley in past 5 years

#15
post #8

I think the "senior" web developers with less than 5 years work history seem to be earning $90K/year, which seems low. Any thoughts?

I don't know any Canadian developer with less than 5 years of experience earning $90k/year. Most developers I know with more than 5 years of experience earn less than $90k/year.

I know some developers with less than 5 years experience earning more than CAD90k/year in Toronto, but they're not the majority of developers I know.

Those jobs do exist, but they're hard to get and hard to find.

Re: Toronto adds more tech jobs than Silicon Valley in past 5 years

#16
post #11
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Its housing is just as unaffordable What? It's not even remotely close.

Not in absolute terms, but it's closer when you compare housing cost vs compensation, I think. The cost of rental housing has jumped up quite a bit recently, too. When I was looking for a place to live in 2015, I saw quite a few condos for rent right downtown for $1700-1800 a month. Now I see units in those same buildings renting for $2300 a month and up. Still cheaper than SV, I suppose? And if you don't mind a bit…

Yup, all the new building (buildings built after 1992) weren't under rent-control. Since last year, they now are under rent-control which means landlord can only increase rent by 1.7% every year, which is why you saw that jump in rent. Not leaving my condo until i manage to buy my own place, which is going to be very difficult as well.

Re: Toronto adds more tech jobs than Silicon Valley in past 5 years

#17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know any Canadian developer with less than 5 years of experience earning $90k/year. Most developers I know with more than 5 years of experience earn less than $90k/year.

Really? Going to through job postings and you can hit $90k/year with 3 years of experience. Of course you start at $90-$100k as a new grad in Amazon and Google.

There are very few senior developer jobs over 150k Cad, even with a lot of experience.

I expect that to change as the hiring crunch continues but right now the ceiling has been slow to budge - much slower than the lower end of the spectrum, which is pressured more with average rent in Toronto going up over 15% year over year

Re: Toronto adds more tech jobs than Silicon Valley in past 5 years

#18
I'm a Toronto native and have been working as a dev for the past two years. COL is extremely high compared to salaries. This is likely the biggest problem for anyone looking to move here. For example, a small 1 bedroom condo downtown will run you at least CA$2k a month. For a larger 1 bedroom or 1+den your easily looking at $2-3k in today's demanding market. Public transit is usually a hit or miss during rush hour. I'd suggest looking into Kitchener/Waterloo, Markham or Ottawa area if you're considering moving here. COL in these areas compared to Toronto is drastic and many of the bigN companies (Shopify, Google, IBM, etc..) are located here.

Re: Toronto adds more tech jobs than Silicon Valley in past 5 years

#19
post #8

I think the "senior" web developers with less than 5 years work history seem to be earning $90K/year, which seems low. Any thoughts?

I don't know any Canadian developer with less than 5 years of experience earning $90k/year. Most developers I know with more than 5 years of experience earn less than $90k/year.

I'm at $90k with ~3 years experience (located in Toronto). Many of my colleagues are either at 90 or very close (~85) with similar experience. I've lived in Vancouver as well and have seen similar compensation.
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