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

How the Canadian Tech Scene Encourages Finite Gameplay

alexdanco.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 165 posts

Re: How the Canadian Tech Scene Encourages Finite Gameplay

#131

Post by neom »

bregma wrote: post #94
neom wrote: post #12

One thing this article seems to miss is that the tech scene in Canada isn't the same as the tech scene in America because Canadian capitalism and ideals are vastly different than Americas. I'm a 6th generation Canadian who left and went to NYC to build tech companies, much to the dismay of my parents who continually asked "why are you so interested in getting above everyone else?". While I agree with a lot of what th…

> Canadians haven't really embraced ruthless capitalism fully. You write that like it's a bad thing.

I tried it write it without any opinion about it being good or bad, just as a fact. If you want my opinion, I think it's great.

Re: How the Canadian Tech Scene Encourages Finite Gameplay

#132

Post by antoniuschan99 »

Jack000 wrote: post #91

The Canadian startup bureaucracy is real. I find it kind of funny that the main requirement for IRAP funding is that you don't actually need the money. It's extremely frustrating when you see a punt like Element AI get 20 million from the government, despite not having any product direction or seemingly any idea what to do with that money. It feels like people are rewarded for navigating the bureaucracy rather than a…

Companies like Myant which look so innovative but haven’t produced anything consumer related that I can purchase.

Also startups here (such as ElementAI) tend to screw over their employees with their stock options. I feel like here you get all the bells and whistles working at startups without the potential exit rewards - except for Shopify of course, their employees must all be super happy :)

Re: How the Canadian Tech Scene Encourages Finite Gameplay

#133

Post by MartianSquirrel »

HDMI_Cable wrote: post #117
MartianSquirrel wrote: post #35

Disclaimer: Clearly biased, I am from Montreal. > That’s part of why I think that if any city in Canada has the potential to actually develop a Bay Area grade startup scene (smaller, sure, but actually the real thing), it’s clearly Montreal I would have to agree with the conclusion of this article, Montreal has: (i) 5 universities very close to each other(i.e. 10 to 20 minutes walk from each other) + Great public tra…

I love Montreal too, but being legally required to speak French drives away a lot of people who would normally come live here. Anecdotally, I know quite a few people who chose Vancouver and Edmonton over Montreal, partly because they were afraid of the language / culture surrounding the language.

You are right, the legislation on that part is counterproductive, but there are many ways around, especially for tech workers.

And tbh we alway used english at work considering some of our team mates didn't speak french.

Re: How the Canadian Tech Scene Encourages Finite Gameplay

#134

Post by glitchc »

Bah, this reads like a screed. The author wants Canada to be like the US, but they are fundamentally different countries with fundamentally different ethos.

The motto of the US govt. is “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Contrast that to the Canadian motto of “Peace, order and good government.” The rest flows from this difference in perspectives.

As for Montreal being a tech hub? Blech. The city is covertly racist to anyone who is not French Canadian. Death by a thousand cuts.

Re: How the Canadian Tech Scene Encourages Finite Gameplay

#135

Post by MartianSquirrel »

ramraj07 wrote: post #72
MartianSquirrel wrote: post #35

Disclaimer: Clearly biased, I am from Montreal. > That’s part of why I think that if any city in Canada has the potential to actually develop a Bay Area grade startup scene (smaller, sure, but actually the real thing), it’s clearly Montreal I would have to agree with the conclusion of this article, Montreal has: (i) 5 universities very close to each other(i.e. 10 to 20 minutes walk from each other) + Great public tra…

Is there any bias against non french speaking people though? Spent a year doing my masters and that's what I came away from there with. If experiences of non-francophile immigrants in spinning startups and getting funding is good then that'll be good to know.

Not anymore, not in tech at least. Every single company is looking to hire, they don't have the luxury of cherry picking over languages.

The provincial government can be a pain in the ass sometimes, but they tend not to mess with startups or the tech sector.

My partner is running an interior design business, she is an immigrant, does not have her citizenship/PR yet, with a mediocre french and never really had problems with discrimination or legislation. All she had to do was to make sure every written signs had a french translation somewhere on them, which is common here

Re: How the Canadian Tech Scene Encourages Finite Gameplay

#136

Post by MartianSquirrel »

freeone3000 wrote: post #77
ramraj07 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any bias against non french speaking people though? Spent a year doing my masters and that's what I came away from there with. If experiences of non-francophile immigrants in spinning startups and getting funding is good then that'll be good to know.

If you're not able to speak French, personal bias is a secondary concern. Speaking French in the workplace is legally required. Non-French-speaking immigrants will likely be able to get by in their personal lives with English in Montreal, depending on what you want to do, but if you're selling a product, the product must be available in French. Not complying with these regulations will incur fines from the OQLF.

It is not legally required, strongly advised by the government. It would go against Section 2 of the Canadian constituion to discriminate on a language basis.

The OQLF asks for companies to use french terminology and tools where possible (the tech sector blatantly ignores it, I've always worked in english, even with french co-workers) and to offer a french translation on signs, menus and documentations in stores.

Re: How the Canadian Tech Scene Encourages Finite Gameplay

#137

Post by MartianSquirrel »

raverbashing wrote: post #102
MartianSquirrel wrote: post #35

Disclaimer: Clearly biased, I am from Montreal. > That’s part of why I think that if any city in Canada has the potential to actually develop a Bay Area grade startup scene (smaller, sure, but actually the real thing), it’s clearly Montreal I would have to agree with the conclusion of this article, Montreal has: (i) 5 universities very close to each other(i.e. 10 to 20 minutes walk from each other) + Great public tra…

Personal experience: the part you're missing is that Quebec looks down on anyone that's not from QC, maybe from the ROC, maybe from the US and maaaybe if they're from France (et oui, je suis francophone) For each job offer I had from QC I had 3 or 4 from Toronto (which had other problems as well to be fair) Also, Canadian startup environment is... weird? A lot of business models were castles in the air to be honest.…

Shush! Don't tell them about the little hill! It's only one of them on the other side anyways, we can ignore it... here we go, MTL only has 4 universities now /s

Quebec is weird, true, but I tend to think of the Montreal Metropolitan Area as some sort of semi independant micro state

Re: How the Canadian Tech Scene Encourages Finite Gameplay

#138

Post by MartianSquirrel »

jariel wrote: post #128
MattGaiser wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What did you not like about Element AI's model? I have no idea what it was really, I am just curious.

Element was a group of ex-consultants and a bunch of AI researchers with no market, no product plan. They were going to do some 'consulting' type work, and then ostensibly use the results of that to come up with product offers. The obvious fallibility in that is: 1) The companies they are working with will not give up their data and allow them to be used in Element Products. No way. In some cases, maybe for a fee, bu…

It was indeed a weird model, I think the tech scene here always looked at eAI like some type of outcast, leaving them alone.

But it drew attention to the AI scene, universities received massive funding in AI which is fantastic, startups grew around it, VCs started investing more in MTL(not only because of them, but it did play a role), FAANGS expanded their offices and openned AI labs downtown and in the mile-end.

I was not a fan, but the publicity they received has definetly been good for the scene.

Re: How the Canadian Tech Scene Encourages Finite Gameplay

#139

Post by MartianSquirrel »

blueblisters wrote: post #93
somerandomqaguy wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Now that Amazon, Microsoft and Google are setting up shop right here in Canada, the talent drain away from Canadian companies is only accelerating. Maybe. Canada is bringing 400,000+ new immigrants per year until 2023 for permanent residence status, most of which are skilled workers of some kind. Probably a safe bet between that those three are setting up shop here in part because they can bring in international tal…

> Canada is bringing 400,000+ new immigrants per year until 2023 for permanent residence status Canada is adding > 1% of its population in immigrants every year? I am curious if that is sustainable politically and economically. I suspect this will only drive down tech wages even further and put pressure on local housing markets, utilities, healthcare and social programs.

Canada has been at it for quite a while, otherwise the economy would be stagnating. And it has the advantage that it can chose its immigrants based on the market's needs. Compared to other countries, people coming to canada are also highly skilled:

> Over half of recent immigrants have a bachelor's degree or higher [0] > Recent immigrants were even more likely to have a master's or doctorate degree, with 16.7% of them holding these graduate degrees in 2016. [0]

[0]: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/daily-quotidien/171129/dq...

Re: How the Canadian Tech Scene Encourages Finite Gameplay

#140

Post by freeone3000 »

MartianSquirrel wrote: post #136
freeone3000 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're not able to speak French, personal bias is a secondary concern. Speaking French in the workplace is legally required. Non-French-speaking immigrants will likely be able to get by in their personal lives with English in Montreal, depending on what you want to do, but if you're selling a product, the product must be available in French. Not complying with these regulations will incur fines from the OQLF.

It is not legally required, strongly advised by the government. It would go against Section 2 of the Canadian constituion to discriminate on a language basis. The OQLF asks for companies to use french terminology and tools where possible (the tech sector blatantly ignores it, I've always worked in english, even with french co-workers) and to offer a french translation on signs, menus and documentations in stores.

Quebec has a history of using the notwithstanding clause to push through numerous things supposedly prohibited by clause 2. You will absolutely be fined for not having employment documents available in French, or signage with French co-equal. Tech companies usually put in place a do-nothing "francisation plan" and pay any levied fines, but it's a real cost of doing business.
Post reply on HN