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Microsoft Opens New HQ in Toronto

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131–140 of 147 posts

Re: Microsoft Opens New HQ in Toronto

#131
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a big problem for a 9-5 culture company in the USA.

By that logic they can't even work from east to west coast then.

I am not sure how your clock works but 9-5 work hours will have 5 hours common between the East and the West coast.

Re: Microsoft Opens New HQ in Toronto

#132
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's so great about Waterloo? It is nowhere near Standard/Caltech/MIT in competition. The quality of students is also just above mediocre given the smaller talent pool of that exists in Canada.

>What's so great about Waterloo? It is nowhere near Standard/Caltech/MIT in competition. Indeed. Canada and California have about the same population. One might plausibly, if generously, posit Toronto and McGill as rough equivalents to Berkeley and UCLA. But Canada does not have a Stanford, Caltech, CalArts, UCSF, USC, UCSD, etc., etc. Waterloo? SJSU, maybe, and California has a dozen other colleges at about that lev…

I wonder which one of these you went to?

Re: Microsoft Opens New HQ in Toronto

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or less than a junior L3 in the bay area at google.

And what does that salary get you in the bay area? Living in a tiny apartment with a homeless guy outside. No thanks.

It lets you afford a million+ dollar house after a few years?

Re: Microsoft Opens New HQ in Toronto

#134

Are they going to pay enough for their developers to actually live near this Bay St office? Canadian developer salaries are abysmally low.

Yea I’m surprised how little Microsoft pays in Vancouver according to levels.fyi. If an American company paid 80% of American salary to Canadians they would have their pick of Canada’s top talent. This slowly appears to be happening with Meta jobs in Canada. Canada has the same time zones, a similar culture, is geographically close, the same language, and excellent computer science/engineering programs. What Canada d…

> If an American company paid 80% of American salary to Canadians they would have their pick of Canada’s top talent.

I thought top talent Canadians who want high salaries just moved to the US :)

(Of course, this could be because such high salaries aren't offered in Canada.)

Re: Microsoft Opens New HQ in Toronto

#135
post #132
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>What's so great about Waterloo? It is nowhere near Standard/Caltech/MIT in competition. Indeed. Canada and California have about the same population. One might plausibly, if generously, posit Toronto and McGill as rough equivalents to Berkeley and UCLA. But Canada does not have a Stanford, Caltech, CalArts, UCSF, USC, UCSD, etc., etc. Waterloo? SJSU, maybe, and California has a dozen other colleges at about that lev…

I wonder which one of these you went to?

As an Ivy Leaguer, I consider all of the above to be parvenu. But, certainly, Stanford/Berkeley/Caltech are worthwhile in a way that chuckle Canadian schools are not.

Re: Microsoft Opens New HQ in Toronto

#136
post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Canada and Australia go further with easier immigration process for first degree relatives, which is important in Asian culture. In Germany, for example, you need to be a minor in order to bring your parents or prove "exceptional hardship" [0] [0] - https://se-legal.de/immigration-lawyer-germany/family-reunif...

Canada only allows like 10-20k parental PRs each year, and 100s of thousands of people apply for it each year (and increasing). Not really any good. Compare that to the US where your parents get a GC no questions asked if you're a citizen.

> if you're a citizen

Almost any country in the world allows you to bring your parents if you are a citizen. The path to citizenship in US is very very long. Canada allows this while you are on a PR. And not every immigrant is happy to change citizenship, it's a much riskier bet than being a PR.

Re: Microsoft Opens New HQ in Toronto

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of career are you currently in?

Guessing medicine

Guessing finance.

People in finance make a lot money and fantasize about having another job. People in medicine make a lot of money and play golf.

Re: Microsoft Opens New HQ in Toronto

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what does that salary get you in the bay area? Living in a tiny apartment with a homeless guy outside. No thanks.

It lets you afford a million+ dollar house after a few years?

Yeah sure. And then you will get mugged on your own driveway* because crime rates do not care about how expensive your home is.

*: https://www.google.com/amp/s/abc7news.com/amp/asian-man-robb...

Re: Microsoft Opens New HQ in Toronto

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Europe and Canada have far more talent at far cheaper price right now. Depends, it's not just about the employees salaries. Some EU countries have pretty high taxes and high worker's rights so big tech actively avoids them. So in the grand scheme, Indian offices might yeld better return on their investment.

High (income) taxes isn't an issue for "big tech", even with the taxes the compensations they offer in the US are a multiple of what the average software engineer earns. Worker's rights is people telling on themselves, I don't think 40 hours / week and ~25 days off a year is unreasonable. No vacation or long hours just means people will do less at work. Anyway I know of plenty of people who landed remote jobs at US c…

>High (income) taxes isn't an issue for "big tech"

Except high taxes its an issue though but for the company's taxes, not the employees' taxes. You even said it yourself later ["I mean most US companies operate through Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg anyway because of tax evasion"] it just so happens that the countries with low corporate taxes also have low income taxes and countries with high corporate taxes usually also have high income taxes.

There's a reason why all big tech in EU is parked in those countries with low taxes and simple laws like Luxembourg, Ireland, Netherlands and not in countries with high taxes and complex laws like France, Belgium, Austria, etc.

And no, most big tech don't really hire EU-wide remotely outside of their HQ country and a few select other countries since we have no standardized EU wide corporate and workers' laws so a lot of EU countries get left out due to their stricter laws.

Re: Microsoft Opens New HQ in Toronto

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's so great about Waterloo? It is nowhere near Standard/Caltech/MIT in competition. The quality of students is also just above mediocre given the smaller talent pool of that exists in Canada.

> It is nowhere near Standard/Caltech/MIT Based on my experience at multiple FAANGs and medium sized name brand tech companies... they'd much rather have a Waterloo grad than the above. Can't beat the education combined with the co-op experience.

> Based on my experience at multiple FAANGs and medium sized name brand tech companies... they'd much rather have a Waterloo grad than the above.

It certainly wasn't what I observed. I guess for smaller firms that can't compete on salaries it make sense since they have no hope of being first pick at Stanford/Caltech/MIT.

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