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Canada's Pitch to Tech Entrepreneur: We'll Pay 80% of Your Salaries

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Re: Canada's Pitch to Tech Entrepreneur: We'll Pay 80% of Your Salaries

#121

One of the worst things about tech in Canada is that the salaries are ridiculously low compared to the US. I made 2-3x as much by moving to California and then another integer coefficient greater than one when I moved to New York. But really, I want to say this: as a Canadian, I find that image of poutine extremely offensive. What is that yellow stuff on top, Curry? Are those even proper cheese curds? They're not mel…

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Re: Canada's Pitch to Tech Entrepreneur: We'll Pay 80% of Your Salaries

#122

One of the worst things about tech in Canada is that the salaries are ridiculously low compared to the US. I made 2-3x as much by moving to California and then another integer coefficient greater than one when I moved to New York. But really, I want to say this: as a Canadian, I find that image of poutine extremely offensive. What is that yellow stuff on top, Curry? Are those even proper cheese curds? They're not mel…

How did you find a job in the US?

Re: Canada's Pitch to Tech Entrepreneur: We'll Pay 80% of Your Salaries

#123
post #82

One of the worst things about tech in Canada is that the salaries are ridiculously low compared to the US. I made 2-3x as much by moving to California and then another integer coefficient greater than one when I moved to New York. But really, I want to say this: as a Canadian, I find that image of poutine extremely offensive. What is that yellow stuff on top, Curry? Are those even proper cheese curds? They're not mel…

I made 2-3x as much by moving to California and then another integer coefficient greater than one when I moved to New York. I don't understand this. If the "average" engineer in SV makes 120Kish, then the same engineer is making 40K in Canada? And they can make 240K in NY (with no additional experience)? Are those number correct? If they are: I'd note that salaries in Australia are more closely aligned with SV salari…

Except that you live better in Montreal than in SF with 1.5X less salary. I don't mind moving there but living in a shared room because rent are 2k5 a month for a small place...

Re: Canada's Pitch to Tech Entrepreneur: We'll Pay 80% of Your Salaries

#125
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had to go through the whole SRED song and dance at my previous $work. The company writing up the proposal was really eager to get the numbers high, but the when the government agent came down to the office to go over the expenses the whole experience was so painful that the owners of company decide to pass on even applying for SRED in subsequent years.

Similarly at a small startup I worked at were surprised at how rough the auditors were with us. We certainly thought we were 100% in the clear and doing genuinely innovative work but they really pressed us on it. Getting SRED is not easy as some say.

This shouldn't dissuade anybody from trying. That's the whole point of business. Going out on a limb. Read the rules, follow them, and if it doesn't work out... at least you tried.

Re: Canada's Pitch to Tech Entrepreneur: We'll Pay 80% of Your Salaries

#126
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I made 2-3x as much by moving to California and then another integer coefficient greater than one when I moved to New York. I don't understand this. If the "average" engineer in SV makes 120Kish, then the same engineer is making 40K in Canada? And they can make 240K in NY (with no additional experience)? Are those number correct? If they are: I'd note that salaries in Australia are more closely aligned with SV salari…

It's a bit higher a than 40K, but not that much. For example, I would have said around 60K and after some research, it seem I'm not wrong : http://www.payscale.com/research/CA/State=Qu%C3%A9bec/Salary AVG: Software developer : 58K Also in Quebec, you cannot call yourself an engineer unless you want to an engineer school and are part of their order.

"[...] In Quebec, you cannot call yourself an engineer unless you went to an engineering school [...]"

That is actually true in most (all?) provinces.

Re: Canada's Pitch to Tech Entrepreneur: We'll Pay 80% of Your Salaries

#127

I'm moving to Vancouver, BC soon to found a startup, so it's good to hear this. But from comments here, i'm hearing a lot of comments pertaining to Toronto and Waterloo region, but not much about Vancouver or BC in general. Why is that? Is Vancouver/BC not a good place for startups? Am I heading in the wrong direction? I'm still in a position to switch back to Toronto if necessary, so if someone can enlighten me that…

I didn't have a startup in Vancouver, but a prominent angel investor in Vancouver put some money into my NYC-based startup, and I flew out there for a couple of 'portfolio summits', with companies largely-based in Vancouver. I liked the group I saw and people I met, but a) that was years ago, and b) I don't know if they were representative.

Hey, if you want to talk to someone in Vancouver about the local start-up scene, why not shoot me an email? (It's in my profile.) I can ask my old investor if he's willing to hop on the phone and answer a few questions.

Re: Canada's Pitch to Tech Entrepreneur: We'll Pay 80% of Your Salaries

#128
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I made 2-3x as much by moving to California and then another integer coefficient greater than one when I moved to New York. I don't understand this. If the "average" engineer in SV makes 120Kish, then the same engineer is making 40K in Canada? And they can make 240K in NY (with no additional experience)? Are those number correct? If they are: I'd note that salaries in Australia are more closely aligned with SV salari…

I think they talking about after tax numbers

If this were WA it'd be a substantial difference (somewhat). CA and NY though (particularly NYC) have a total tax rate in the same ballpark as Canada.

And the Canadians get health care for that money.

That said I've done the cost of living numbers between here (NYC) vs. Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal, and even with the insane rent here I'm still coming out ahead - way ahead. The salary difference is truly mind-boggling.

More than the salary difference, the kind of work you're doing as a $200K engineer in SV/SF/NYC is very different than the kind of work you're doing as a $70K engineer in Toronto. There is a conspicuous lack of this level of work in Canada overall.

Re: Canada's Pitch to Tech Entrepreneur: We'll Pay 80% of Your Salaries

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a bit higher a than 40K, but not that much. For example, I would have said around 60K and after some research, it seem I'm not wrong : http://www.payscale.com/research/CA/State=Qu%C3%A9bec/Salary AVG: Software developer : 58K Also in Quebec, you cannot call yourself an engineer unless you want to an engineer school and are part of their order.

"[...] In Quebec, you cannot call yourself an engineer unless you went to an engineering school [...]" That is actually true in most (all?) provinces.

Yes it is true in most provinces, especially in Ontario.

Re: Canada's Pitch to Tech Entrepreneur: We'll Pay 80% of Your Salaries

#130

One of the worst things about tech in Canada is that the salaries are ridiculously low compared to the US. I made 2-3x as much by moving to California and then another integer coefficient greater than one when I moved to New York. But really, I want to say this: as a Canadian, I find that image of poutine extremely offensive. What is that yellow stuff on top, Curry? Are those even proper cheese curds? They're not mel…

I made 2-3x as much by moving to California and then another integer coefficient greater than one when I moved to New York. Another 2x? 3x? 4x? Why make us guess? It's valuable info that helps inform people's decisions for the future. Thank you for the datapoints.

I went Canada -> Seattle -> SF -> NYC. Here's a datapoint:

- Seattle salaries were ~70% higher than what I would've gotten in Canada at the time (mostly looking at Toronto area market, though it's all fairly similar)

- SF salaries were ~30% higher than Seattle. I didn't know it at the time but that meant I took an effective pay cut. My total comp was about 1.8x what I would receive in Canada at the time.

- NYC salaries were another ~30% higher than SF (64% higher than Seattle). Cost of living here is lower than SF (weirdly enough), so I effectively got a large raise moving. I've been here for a while, and looking at the Canadian market now I'd reckon I'm about 2.2x higher than a similar position in Canada.

All of the above were done while staying in the same "field" - i.e., did not go into finance. And all of the above assumes I'd be fetching top-10th-percentile salaries for my position in Canada (itself far from a guarantee). If I do "just average" for compensation in Canada my NYC salary would be about 2.6x.

The one overarching trend is that the gap widens as you gain experience and seniority. Canadian salaries never catches up, and in fact continues to fall further and further behind as you go up the ladder.

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