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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

#241

Post by ChuckNorris89 »

criddell wrote: post #200
stiray wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just love to hear this. /sarcasm on With 26 years in software development, low level linux (kernel "stuff") and low level windows (kernel "stuff" again), with work including from analyzing malware to writting DRM that was left unbroken for 3 years, to high level software, system administration on various unixes and unix like beasts, including low level networking, fluent in c, c++, asm x86/64, go and some "stuff" I…

Your advice at the end is good but I would add that you shouldn't let others take advantage of you. People aren't being paid $200k-$2M / year for reasons of charity. They get paid that much because their contribution to the company is higher than that.

>Your advice at the end is good but I would add that you shouldn't let others take advantage of you.

Everybody is being taken advantage of if you think about it, especially if you're a salaried employee.

Hell, if you ask Googlers earning $600k they'll think they're being taken advantage of. If you ask CEOs of F500 companies they'll also think they're being take advantage of. If you ask Multi-Billionaires with offshore accounts in tax havens to pay their fair share of taxes, they'll also think they're bein taken advantage of.

If you let this way of thinking drive your life, you'll end up very miserable.

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

#242

Post by mav3rick »

amscanne wrote: post #202
mav3rick wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No Google has proper engineering in Toronto / Waterloo.

Not really Toronto (sales and business primarily) but there’s engineering in Montreal also.

Chrome has really important teams in Waterloo. Sales is a small part of that office.

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

#243

Post by mav3rick »

blululu wrote: post #158
mav3rick wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of these people don't create jobs when they move back. So yes, it is bad for Canada.

Create a business != create jobs. A large infusion of outside capital will boost a local economy. They will own homes and buy things from local merchants which will create jobs.

That is still lesser than the impact of entrepreneurs abroad. Ask the Canadian govt what they would prefer and it won't be suburban families. Canada will always be 2nd in technology.

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

#244

Post by wolco »

52-6F-62 wrote: post #232
wolco wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's $2000+ more at 100,000 to 110,000. If we pick a different state even more. 5700 left out of 10000. I know a lot of worthy causes that could benefit from the $2000 where it would make a meanful impact.

I don’t understand what you’re trying to say. In my example the $2000 CAD paid in Canada to taxes at the same income in Ontario versus California goes to fund one of the worlds highest ranked public education and healthcare systems. I’d call that a meaningful impact.

Healthcare is paid by the province. Take 42% of the province taxes only. Maybe $190. Most of the tax paid is federal. That means more of the $2000 goes to the military.

Still think it's a good idea? A lot of health related causes could use the remaining 2000.

And my 2000 figure is the difference you pay when making an extra 10,000 at the 100,000 level.

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

#245

Post by teddyh »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #240
teddyh wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> writting DRM that was left unbroken for 3 years > and some "stuff" I am not proud off (c#, java, python, js, php) I would venture that maybe you should be less proud of the first one and less ashamed of the second one.

Why? Not all DRM is the boogie-man. He's proud he invented a lock nobody could pick. Whether that lock create inconveniences to some people is another thing but that's not his fault.

Inventing the atomic bomb was a huge technical achievement.

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

#246

Post by jariel »

parasubvert wrote: post #184
jariel wrote: post #107

As a Candian, it seems to me so very pathetically and predictably Canadian to literally herald the surrender of your own industries to foreign takeover. Canada is (often) to tech what Mexico is to cars. Mexican 'assembly' of cars is fine and good, but they don't exactly move up the value chain from there. Canada produces a lot of decent tech people, who will work for 2/3 the wages, unfortunately, this doesn't map to…

Canada is already nearly as big as Mexico for cars: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_car_exp... I’m not sure why you’re upset with the CBC over this, we’ve been a branch plant economy since the 1960s. A lot of this has to do with Canadian temperament and mindset, which isn’t particularly entrepreneurial due a dearth of leadership from its investor class. There have been many tech darlings out of C…

"we’ve been a branch plant economy since the 1960s."

Wherever you want to draw the line - R&D investment, industrial complexity, and product sophistication have been going down for the last 30 years and the major turning point was NAFTA, large scale migration, and the more globally oriented policies. Most it seemed pretty rational at the time (much of it still does) but now that we see the results, it's time to take a more nuanced approach.

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

#247

Post by blaser-waffle »

Sytten wrote: post #191
jjohansson wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In 2019, PDFTron, a Vancouver-based tech company, received a USD $71 million investment from Silversmith Capital Partners (a Tier 1 growth equity firm). Vancouver’s tech scene is exploding, with a number of top tier tech companies being based here (like Clio) and majors setting up dev offices (Shopify, Amazon, Microsoft).

That's really good news and we need more of it for sure. But looking at objective total $ invested (and growth), it does not paint the same picture. Those examples are still exceptions rather than the new norm, we just don't have that many (would-be) unicorns/fast-growing companies. Even if we did, I am still unsure the salaries would go up and most companies don't give equity... I am rather pessimistic about this te…

The QC is notably bad for salaries, but part of that is also the highest taxes in Canada and corresponding social services. Low housing prices, too.

> What I see is some large firms taking advantage of a low CAD while most tech companies are still at low/zero growth and offer very mediocre salaries.

Absolutely. You could throw around $120-150k yearly rates in CAD and you'd have applications from all over the country. Currently CAD-USD is around .77 so they're looking at a 25% discount.

Vancouver, however, has seen a crazy high influx of foreign capital -- way more $$$ coming from China than from a $71 million dole via Investment Firm -- and the price of housing in Vancouver is absurd.

For the HN crowd, imagine San Fran housing prices with East Oregon salaries. A deeper dive: https://bc.ctvnews.ca/vancouver-yet-again-most-expensive-pla...

I've been to Vancouver a lot, it's a great place to be, but in terms of climate, culture, and activities you can get mostly the same in Seattle. If Seattle is too expensive work remote or commute from Mt. Vernon or Bellingham.

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

#248

Post by blaser-waffle »

tmpz22 wrote: post #194
stiray wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just love to hear this. /sarcasm on With 26 years in software development, low level linux (kernel "stuff") and low level windows (kernel "stuff" again), with work including from analyzing malware to writting DRM that was left unbroken for 3 years, to high level software, system administration on various unixes and unix like beasts, including low level networking, fluent in c, c++, asm x86/64, go and some "stuff" I…

SV is so gluttonous that we forget how good we have it relative to almost every other market in the world. We do half-page rants just because we accidentally stepped in dog doo before work.

If you're in San Fran, it's entirely possible it's human poo -- and worthy of a rant, for that reason.

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

#249

Post by ryanwaggoner »

andrewzah wrote: post #166
ryanwaggoner wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quality of life is subjective, and there are no cities that offer as much financial and career opportunity to the average senior software developer as SV does right now. Yes, cost of living is high, but you’ll still come out far ahead the average senior software dev living in some midwestern city. There are exceptions / edge cases, but they’re just that.

> you’ll still come out far ahead the average senior software dev living in some midwestern city Come out far ahead how? I'm already pulling close to 6 figures, and I expect to reach $120-130k in a relatively short time period. Do I -need- to move to SV and live in much shittier conditions and have an insane cost of living just to earn some more money? ... I feel that remote work makes this an outdated concept (my co…

It really depends on what you want. I’m not trying to shit on your life choices, you may be optimizing for exactly the right things for you.

My point on “coming out far ahead” is limited to finances. Yes, you can buy a house in SC and be making $100k once you hit 2-3 years of experience. That’s a great outcome, full stop. Nothing wrong with it.

But someone with your equivalent experience working at a big tech company in SV is already making 2-3x as much as you. Cost of living increase eats up some of that, but not even close to all of it. Especially if they live with a roommate or two and avoid buying a new Tesla, they can save $50-100k per year fairly easily.

And the difference becomes even more stark in another 5-7 years. You’ll be making $150k in SC but the dev in SV will be making $400k - 600k. They’ll also have 100x as many job options should they desire a change or get laid off, and they’ll have a much easier time raising funds and making key hires if they want to start their own company. Or becoming a key hire at a friend’s company. Or investing in a friend’s company. Etc, etc.

Again, there are genuine downsides to living in SV, and you may have made the right choice for you, but I find a lot of devs outside of SV have a really inaccurate view of just what they’re giving up, and that skews their analysis.

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

#250

Post by blaser-waffle »

raydev wrote: post #220

As an American who's committed to staying in Canada until my kids leave the house, and who's experienced the Canadian hiring market for the last 10 years, I'm both excited and concerned. Excited, because now that I've joined one of these SV companies recently expanding their presence Canada, my yearly TC is now an integer multiple of what I was making at a local small company. But I'm also concerned, because the majo…

Also a USA-ian in Canada, under similar circumstances.

Currently remote for a US firm, doing well by local standards. I desperately wish there were more competitive local options, esp. in places that are NOT Toronto or Vancouver. In the US you can go to Austin, Denver, Seattle, the Washington DC area, NYC, SF, even Raleigh-Durham for tech jobs... but in Canada it's just YYZ and YVN.

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