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Google's expansion plans show why Canada's tech boom is here to stay

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Re: Google's expansion plans show why Canada's tech boom is here to stay

#11

Post by ajayyy »

jessriedel wrote: post #9
chrisseaton wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cheap? These Canadian cities? The cost of living is insane and tech hiring competition is already intense. It’s not going to be cheap to hire anyone there.

Software engineer salaries are significantly lower than in the US. > The median Canadian “Software Engineer” salary is CA$72,000. The median US salary is US$91,000.... The cost of living in Vancouver is about 4.8% higher than Austin. While the median Software Engineer salary in Austin is 40% higher than Vancouver when accounting for the exchange rate. https://medium.com/@sprice/more-canadian-software-engineers-...

Depends on the city. But yes, that's why so many people leave

Re: Google's expansion plans show why Canada's tech boom is here to stay

#12

Post by paxys »

chrisseaton wrote: post #7
mgh2 wrote: post #3

It is always cheap labor. Same with Taiwan. Doesn’t say much about the country itself.

Cheap? These Canadian cities? The cost of living is insane and tech hiring competition is already intense. It’s not going to be cheap to hire anyone there.

Yes cost of living is insane but market rate salaries for top tier software developers in cities like Vancouver or Toronto is 40-50% cheaper than Silicon Valley.

Re: Google's expansion plans show why Canada's tech boom is here to stay

#14

Post by ajayyy »

adventured wrote: post #8

I often see people framing the US & Canada primarily as a competition in tech. The exact opposite is largely the case. The US benefits enormously from having a wealthy, vibrant Canada, including in its tech sector. We're permanent allies, liberal democracies and share a very large border as well as $600 billion in goods trade. The ability for technology, labor, products, services and capital to freely flow back and f…

Most people in this field are leaving to the US. It's surprising how many. See https://s3.amazonaws.com/chartprod/Lb7EHT9ksyZyjHqo5/thumbna....

I am in a Canadian software engineering program right now, and it is a goal of many people here.

Source: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/technology/article-...

Re: Google's expansion plans show why Canada's tech boom is here to stay

#15

Post by smnrchrds »

jessriedel wrote: post #9
chrisseaton wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cheap? These Canadian cities? The cost of living is insane and tech hiring competition is already intense. It’s not going to be cheap to hire anyone there.

Software engineer salaries are significantly lower than in the US. > The median Canadian “Software Engineer” salary is CA$72,000. The median US salary is US$91,000.... The cost of living in Vancouver is about 4.8% higher than Austin. While the median Software Engineer salary in Austin is 40% higher than Vancouver when accounting for the exchange rate. https://medium.com/@sprice/more-canadian-software-engineers-...

As an aside, I passionately hate that graph. It implies that Canadian tech salaries are abnormally low. I wish it was either showing just the US, or included more countries than just US and Canada. Had they included London, Sydney, Berlin, Amsterdam, etc. in the graph, it would have showed that Canadian salaries are in line with and towards the higher end of world salaries except US, and that US salaries are a huge outlier in the world stage.

Re: Google's expansion plans show why Canada's tech boom is here to stay

#16

Post by ma2rten »

blazespin wrote: post #13

The best thing that could ever happen to Canada would get rid of that god awful TN-Visa. TN - Talent Nuke. Completely sucks us dry of people moving to the US.

I don't think keeping people in your country by making it harder to leave is a good strategy.

Re: Google's expansion plans show why Canada's tech boom is here to stay

#18

Post by kaaie »

blazespin wrote: post #13

The best thing that could ever happen to Canada would get rid of that god awful TN-Visa. TN - Talent Nuke. Completely sucks us dry of people moving to the US.

Alternatively, if wages were competitive in Canada (even considering cost of living and health care) there would be no reason to move. Personally, I'd much rather be in Canada to be near my family but I'd be making 1/2 the wage and have less talent to learn and grow from.

Re: Google's expansion plans show why Canada's tech boom is here to stay

#19

Post by FpUser »

blazespin wrote: post #13

The best thing that could ever happen to Canada would get rid of that god awful TN-Visa. TN - Talent Nuke. Completely sucks us dry of people moving to the US.

Are you proposing tech version of Iron Curtain? I think the best solution for Canada is to try something that attracts the people rather then have them seeking greener pastures. Otherwise they'd leave TN-1 or not.

Re: Google's expansion plans show why Canada's tech boom is here to stay

#20

Post by wenc »

lucidone wrote: post #2

The cheap labour pool as a consequence of the weak Canadian dollar certainly helps, alongside having identical time zones and nearly identical culture to the United States. Lots of Canadian consultancies butter their bread with USD.

The pool of technical talent is also pretty great.

If you're in a non-primary market in the U.S. (non NYC/SF/Boston), my experience has been that you can hire comparable or better talent in Canadian cities for less the local U.S. median salary, especially in talent-starved markets within the U.S. It's an open secret that many Americans are somehow unaware of.

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