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Ask HN: How Does a Canadian SWE/Data Scientist Make a Move to the US?

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Re: Ask HN: How Does a Canadian SWE/Data Scientist Make a Move to the US?

#31

Post by theflyinghorse »

rafiki6 wrote: post #15
oangemangut wrote: post #11

if getting to 2-3x pay by converting the USD->CAD then you have to convert the COL into CAD and it's much lower in Canada than the US. If you don't convert either then it's maybe just slightly cheaper in US, though in the markets where 2x non-converted comp exists, the COL is still probably higher.

You get 2-3x the pay without converting. The median salary for a senior in Toronto and Van right now is around 150-170 TC, and that is generally the type of salary you're getting from the FAANGS here. Some might push above 200k, but you need to be exceptional and do very well in the interview. There is a reason Canada's top grads leave to the US right away. The CoL is lower in America. It might be comparable if you t…

> The median salary for a senior in Toronto and Van right now is around 150-170 TC

Recently interviewed with a couple of startups from Toronto. 95-110k seems to be the offer range (6 yoe dev Java, node, react). I wasn't aware that anyone could make above 120k in Canada as a tech IC.

Re: Ask HN: How Does a Canadian SWE/Data Scientist Make a Move to the US?

#32

Post by oangemangut »

rafiki6 wrote: post #24
oangemangut wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I guess we're getting a bit off track, but go into a US grocery store in one of your target markets and the prices will not look different unless you convert, and then you'll see they are more expensive. Daycare in the big tech centers, in areas with good schools, costs MORE than Vancouver/Toronto/Montreal before converting. Since we've be here for a family our experiences with healthcare haven't been that diff…

Yes I've researched all this. My partner is TN eligible as well. And yes, dollar figure costs are same, that's exactly my point. CoL from a magnitude is the same when exchange is excluded, but salaries are higher and more opportunities. I exclude exchange because I would earn USD in America. And yes, this is why I'm targeting Tier 2 companies. If CoL is the same when thinking dollar figure, if I got to bay area and e…

In bay we paid roughly 60K USD for an infant and a toddler, and had them in different daycares for a while due to waitlists.

In Vancouver it would have been in the 40s, CAD.

Re: Ask HN: How Does a Canadian SWE/Data Scientist Make a Move to the US?

#33

Post by growmn »

Fwiw, I have been in the industry since 2008. I started in Canada. Have been living in the Bay Area for the last 5 yrs working for a FAANG company.

Am moving back to Canada this summer. The math for us (family of five) does not work in terms of ability to buy a house without spending an insane amount of time commuting

Re: Ask HN: How Does a Canadian SWE/Data Scientist Make a Move to the US?

#34

Post by growmn »

rafiki6 wrote: post #24
oangemangut wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I guess we're getting a bit off track, but go into a US grocery store in one of your target markets and the prices will not look different unless you convert, and then you'll see they are more expensive. Daycare in the big tech centers, in areas with good schools, costs MORE than Vancouver/Toronto/Montreal before converting. Since we've be here for a family our experiences with healthcare haven't been that diff…

Yes I've researched all this. My partner is TN eligible as well. And yes, dollar figure costs are same, that's exactly my point. CoL from a magnitude is the same when exchange is excluded, but salaries are higher and more opportunities. I exclude exchange because I would earn USD in America. And yes, this is why I'm targeting Tier 2 companies. If CoL is the same when thinking dollar figure, if I got to bay area and e…

Careful about the notion that you make 170-200k

Check levels.FYI

Re: Ask HN: How Does a Canadian SWE/Data Scientist Make a Move to the US?

#36

Post by digianarchist »

cl42 wrote: post #10
devlopr wrote: post #7

It sounds like a VISA problem for the tier II or smaller companies. If you focus on the bigger tier I companies, you are getting interviews so your resume works. You are failing the interview/coding test. Do you have insight into which? Are you getting second interviews? Does the process stop after the coding test?

Quick note on visas -- if you are eligible for a TN or O1 visa, then I've seen employees/candidates in Canada foot the bill and run the process themselves rather than ask the employer to do it. This is 100% doable and often helps HR departments (who have no idea what this process is, especially in smaller companies) deal with many objections.

I offered to foot the bill for a transfer to the Us from Canada (US employer) and they still said no.

Re: Ask HN: How Does a Canadian SWE/Data Scientist Make a Move to the US?

#37

Post by anontn »

I'm a Canadian SWE who moved to the US in 2017. I was in my mid 30's at the time. I can't tell you how you can do it, but I can say how I did it.

I ended up getting a job offer via Triplebyte. The good thing with them is that they don't consider Canadians as needing a visa. They provided the lawyer assistance for arranging the TN visa documents. This may have changed. Triplebyte is much different than they were a few years ago.

Also, that year I had attended Pycon and got a lot of introductions to companies at their hiring event. When I was looking to make the move, I must have had 8 onsite interviews. I failed every one of them except the place that hired me.

This is because the interview process is much different compared to what I had in Canada. In Canada, it was basically a crapshoot. I never had any idea what to expect. Usually I just talked about some of my past projects and maybe had some easy programming question. US companies are more structured. You're usually gonna have around 2 coding rounds, 1 system design and 1 behavioural. You may think "I have 10 years of experience so I don't need to really prepare." I'm sorry but that would be wrong. You need to prepare more because a lot of the types of coding questions you get asked are things you rarely encounter on the job so your experience isn't going to help you for interviews much (except the behavioural and maybe partly the system design). You can complain about it but it won't help you achieve your goal.

I wanted to switch jobs again this year and I didn't want to have the same experience last time of failing so many onsites so this time I signed up for an interview prep program. There's a few available but I went with Interview Kickstart. It was 6 months of preparation but it was the first time in my life where I felt fully confident going into interviews. I knew what to expect so I didn't feel nervous and I had practiced mock interviews to get feedback and make adjustments. I've had 4 onsites with results so far and received interest from all of them for offers.

Completely agree with you about the career growth opportunities in the US. It's a major career regret of mine that I didn't move sooner. For specifics, when I left Canada I was making $90k CAD. I felt I was pretty close to the ceiling (not living in Toronto or Vancouver). The first US job doubled that but in USD and now these new offers have doubled that again. Plus the work is way more interesting and challenging.

Re: Ask HN: How Does a Canadian SWE/Data Scientist Make a Move to the US?

#38

Post by core-questions »

rafiki6 wrote: post #30
core-questions wrote: post #14

> Despite what the media wants you to think, Canada is not a good place to grow in IT and Software and ML. There's more to life than money, friend. Cost of living is not the only metric for quality of life. Safety, unity, sanity, these are all things Canadian cities have over the majority of American cities. I hope the increase in pay is worth it to you. For some of us, this is more than just a place to live and "gro…

Thanks for your thoughts but this isn't a helpful post. You're welcome to stay in Canada if you feel there are non monetary benefits you would prefer over a higher salary or more career growth. I think that paying 50% of household income to cover basic shelter is absolutely absurd and a bad deal. It's financially impossible to start a family in a major metro here, and I'm a higher income earner. IMO that negatively i…

> It's financially impossible to start a family in a major metro here

This is a pernicious lie. What is impossible is maintaining a full hedonistic lifestyle with zero compromise while trying to have a family. You will have to sacrifice for them - but any good parent does anyway.

> Here I have witnessed the worst forms of racial nepotism I've ever seen. Entire teams of the same ethnicities all speaking the same language.

This is indeed a problem, but it is a problem you may not point at. QA teams seem to be particularly laden with this issue. Is this really not a thing in the states?

Re: Ask HN: How Does a Canadian SWE/Data Scientist Make a Move to the US?

#39

Post by weathawi »

cl42 wrote: post #8

I've worked with a lot of folks who have made the move from Canada to the US in the middle part of their careers. Knowing nothing else about your situation, there are two things they did that might be relevant to you: 1. Really specific area of expertise that was needed by whoever was hiring them. "IT, software, ML" is very broad, but if you have a keen interest in data engineering for computer vision (random example…

I also left for US mid career. I agree with what everyone is suggesting here.

1) A data scientist with data engineering skills is much more valuable to most companies. If you don't already have any, build a couple of data engineering & data science projects on your own, and note any engineering trade-offs for DE projects.

2) Learn about how interviewing works in US, especially at FAANG companies. Give yourself ample time on this task. Join US based online study groups, and this will also help you expand your network.

3) Network aggressively with tech people in US, and see if anyone you know can help you submit your resume to recruiters there.

Optional 4) Finally, the most straight-forward path that I'd recommend is to study at a US based DE, DS, ML, AI bootcamps, or fellowship program. But I can understand that you may feel like it's not a productive use of time since you're already a DS. Also, may not be a great option when you can't go to class in person in US.

In any case, steps 1-3 are definitely the most important for what you're trying to accomplish.

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