Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Making the case for a homegrown Canadian semiconductor industry

financialpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 101 posts

Re: Making the case for a homegrown Canadian semiconductor industry

#61

Post by eru »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #60
eru wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Dutch disagree. (Not just now, but also historically.)

Except that the Netherlands aren't rich because of their agriculture. They're rich and happend to be good at agriculture on the side as an added bonus.

Sounds like we are moving the goalposts now?

In any case, have a look at https://eh.net/encyclopedia/the-dutch-economy-in-the-golden-...

Agriculture has been important for the Dutch for a long, long time.

See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Agricultural_Revolutio... which arguably allowed Britain to become the wealthiest place on the planet for a while.

Re: Making the case for a homegrown Canadian semiconductor industry

#62

Post by KoftaBob »

MattGaiser wrote: post #34

Canada needs to focus on retaining the tech capacity that it has. https://financialpost.com/news/economy/virtual-brain-drain-p...

Yeah Canadian salaries are a joke compared to their American counterparts. Their tech companies need to offer much more competitive salaries if they want a remote chance of preventing further brain drain of their talent to the US.

Re: Making the case for a homegrown Canadian semiconductor industry

#63

Post by ChuckNorris89 »

eru wrote: post #61
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that the Netherlands aren't rich because of their agriculture. They're rich and happend to be good at agriculture on the side as an added bonus.

Sounds like we are moving the goalposts now? In any case, have a look at https://eh.net/encyclopedia/the-dutch-economy-in-the-golden-... Agriculture has been important for the Dutch for a long, long time. See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Agricultural_Revolutio... which arguably allowed Britain to become the wealthiest place on the planet for a while.

Ok, my mistake.

Re: Making the case for a homegrown Canadian semiconductor industry

#64

Post by lotsofpulp »

konschubert wrote: post #46
_xnmw wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but Canada cannot afford that much of debt because our dollar is not a global reserve currency with a massive standing army.

How does an army prop up a currency?

A currency’s value is the trust that you will be able to exchange it in the future for something you want.

An army can help that by signaling the stability of the country. An army alone does not do the job though, the real value lies in the trust and organization of the society itself. The more of that there is, the more others will believe the currency will be able to buy something they want, since organized societies with high trust are able to produce desirable things.

A secondary concern an army helps with is enforcing laws and preventing fraud, such as counterfeiting. If you know the US is not going to let some other tribe or country counterfeit their country, and has the capability to stop them, it helps you trust the currency more.

Obviously, the armed forces aren’t directly involved in the first few layers of conflict, but it’s always advantageous to have the ability to park an aircraft carrier fleet off someone’s coast during negotiations.

Re: Making the case for a homegrown Canadian semiconductor industry

#65

Post by Mumps »

goodcanadian wrote: post #53
MattGaiser wrote: post #34

Canada needs to focus on retaining the tech capacity that it has. https://financialpost.com/news/economy/virtual-brain-drain-p...

I hate to bang on about it, but as a Canadian who has worked in the U.S. and who is now in the U.K., I've tried hard to land a good position in Canada. Very few opportunities seem to exist, and the ones that do pay a pittance. In my experience, it is not 30% higher in the U.S. as the link indicates, but more like 100-200%. A couple of years ago, I was offered a highly technical position with a salary below what I had…

(might not add much) But this has been my experience as well. People like to point out that CAD has better social support than US - fine, a paycut may balance out there. But that's nowwhere near the differential I get here in the UK _plus_ the social support here has been far superior to CAD.

I interview with CAD companies from time to time and make a point of stating salary/equity requirements on par with the leading global market. Once they match, I'll be back.

Re: Making the case for a homegrown Canadian semiconductor industry

#66

Post by smnrchrds »

sattoshi wrote: post #29
smnrchrds wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Canada's brightest, healthiest, and wealthiest will just hop over to benefit from the more favorable conditions there after reaping the expensive taxpayer funded social benefits I see this repeated often on the web, but I hate this saying. I work in engineering. I'm surrounded by bright individuals, both fresh and experienced. Saying the brightest people leave Canada implies only the dumb and at most the mediocre r…

There are certainly bright people who remain in Canada, but they usually have clear reasons that convince them to stay rather than double their salaries.

Again, you are presenting (In Canada AND Bright) as a rarity, something very unusual to see in reality. This is offensive to the many many bright people in this country and it does not match the reality.

Re: Making the case for a homegrown Canadian semiconductor industry

#67

Post by andromeduck »

goodcanadian wrote: post #53
MattGaiser wrote: post #34

Canada needs to focus on retaining the tech capacity that it has. https://financialpost.com/news/economy/virtual-brain-drain-p...

I hate to bang on about it, but as a Canadian who has worked in the U.S. and who is now in the U.K., I've tried hard to land a good position in Canada. Very few opportunities seem to exist, and the ones that do pay a pittance. In my experience, it is not 30% higher in the U.S. as the link indicates, but more like 100-200%. A couple of years ago, I was offered a highly technical position with a salary below what I had…

Lower pay, higher taxes, exorbitant rents, less choice, less excellence - what's there not to like?

Re: Making the case for a homegrown Canadian semiconductor industry

#69

Post by preommr »

goodcanadian wrote: post #53
MattGaiser wrote: post #34

Canada needs to focus on retaining the tech capacity that it has. https://financialpost.com/news/economy/virtual-brain-drain-p...

I hate to bang on about it, but as a Canadian who has worked in the U.S. and who is now in the U.K., I've tried hard to land a good position in Canada. Very few opportunities seem to exist, and the ones that do pay a pittance. In my experience, it is not 30% higher in the U.S. as the link indicates, but more like 100-200%. A couple of years ago, I was offered a highly technical position with a salary below what I had…

Seconded. Unless someone has family or is stuck up here for some reason, it's not worth it.

Nobody is serious about being competitive, it's all about trying to keep trudging along with whatever people are stuck here. All the talk about investing in tech and so on is just hot air.

Re: Making the case for a homegrown Canadian semiconductor industry

#70

Post by api »

KoftaBob wrote: post #62
MattGaiser wrote: post #34

Canada needs to focus on retaining the tech capacity that it has. https://financialpost.com/news/economy/virtual-brain-drain-p...

Yeah Canadian salaries are a joke compared to their American counterparts. Their tech companies need to offer much more competitive salaries if they want a remote chance of preventing further brain drain of their talent to the US.

Why are salaries so low in Canada? The difference for most technical and engineering jobs is huge.

It would make sense if the cost of living were lower but it isn’t. Rents and home prices are very high. Tech jobs in lower cost of living places in the US like Kentucky or Michigan often pay much higher than Canadian tech jobs.

Post reply on HN