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

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

online.wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 177 posts

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

#161

Post by biggc »

CoolGuySteve wrote: post #7

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…

> Are those even proper cheese curds? They're not melted

You must be from outside Quebec. Fresh cheese curds, (they'll squeak as you chew them), won't melt in the gravy, only soften a bit. Melted cheese curds means that they've been sitting in a fridge for a few days or more.

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

#162

Post by astrodust »

porterhaney wrote: post #73
CoolGuySteve wrote: post #7

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…

That is the most offensive representation of poutine I've ever seen.

It looks like a Philly Cheesesteak exploded on some french fries.

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

#163

Post by wetfossils »

pugsawakening wrote: post #15

I'm currently a beneficiary of SRED in a startup context in Canada. The first thing to note is that it doesn't solve many major problems. The lack of development talent is the biggest one; trying to get someone to move from California to Canada isn't something that's solved as simply as offering more money. And in my experience (as a recent graduate), the talent that would have studied computer science or has an inte…

Can you please elaborate on your comment concerning the lack of talent in Canada? What's wrong with the large pool of CEGEP and university graduates or more experienced developers who are well able to pick up new technology?

What does U.S. talent have that's missing in Canada? Are the good ones really all moving away to where the money is? Or could it be that, despite all the available funding, Canadian entrepreneurs are less prone to risk training new recruits?

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

#164

Post by mock »

untog wrote: post #70
erichate wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

interesting site, plugged in Victoria Canada (city my company is in) and numbers seemed a little off for rent currently listed in craigslist. +170% on website more like +300% from quick look in craigslist. also doesn't factor in time commuting, quality of life, avg hrs worked per day, etc... would love to see a pay breakdown $$ / hr worked (at office).

OT, but how is Victoria as a city to run a tech company in? I lived there nearly a decade ago and enjoyed my time - I still think about returning some day.

Please do. Everyone I know is hiring. We're hiring.

http://www.viatec.ca/job-board/11521

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

#165

Post by mock »

tonglil wrote: post #89
untog wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OT, but how is Victoria as a city to run a tech company in? I lived there nearly a decade ago and enjoyed my time - I still think about returning some day.

IBM research and that's about it. Maybe some small start ups but otherwise I recall its website shops.

This has changed quite a bit. There are a strangely large number of companies (both startups and a-bit-older-than-startups) doing various large data analytics type things. Also plenty of adtech related startups.

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

#166

Post by cube13 »

refurb wrote: post #142
DennisP wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taxes in Canada are not particularly higher than in the U.S. http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html http://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0411/do-canadians...

You need to include sales tax, which ranges from 5% in Alberta to 15% in Quebec. Also, taxes on alcohol and gasoline are much higher than the US. That being said, with the recent tax increases in the US and the lower of provincial income taxes in many Canadian provinces (I'm looking at you BC), the difference isn't as great as one would think.

You're paying sales taxes in pretty much all of the US, though, though not as much(ranges from ~3% to 10%).

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

#167

Post by beagle3 »

TheCoelacanth wrote: post #143
beagle3 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

.... maybe the ACA is changing that, but it used to be true only as long as you did not need non-trivial healthcare services.

You're probably right at the lower-end of the income spectrum, but any non-joke, non-freelance software development job in the US will include health insurance on top of the quoted salary at little or no cost to the employee. I have a chronic health condition that needs some fairly expensive drugs and relatively frequent doctor visits and procedures. My total out of pocket healthcare expenses are less than $500 per y…

Except, before the ACA they could refuse to take you on because of "pre-existing conditions". I know several people who did not switch away from jobs they hated because they risked losing health care. And freelancers, even if they commanded high salaries, also had problems getting reasonable insurance.

I'm up-to-date as of 2011, I'm sure things have (and still are) radically changing - but the health insurance situation in the US was a horrible mess until recently - Everything worked fine until the day it didn't, and then you were possibly shut out of healthcare.

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

#168

Post by nl »

MisterBastahrd wrote: post #147
DavidPP wrote: post #113

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.

This is a very good thing that I wish the US would adopt. We have people with three months total programming experience jumping from sales jobs to programming and calling themselves engineers. It's an insult to those who actually perform engineering professionally.

No, it's not. In practice it is a way to give professional associations a monopoly and force people to pay fees to them (because it is membership of those associations which give you the ability to call yourself whatever, not what you completed at university)

Fortunately there are multiple job titles in computing that mean the same thing, so this should never be a real problem in computing.

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

#169

Post by CountSessine »

ripb wrote: post #104
naterator wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's a very valid criticism if your best people (not talking about "most" people, who don't start companies and create new stuff) can easily move to another country (or other state inside the US) and earn WAY more for the same job or skill set. It's not a valid criticism if the gov. footing 80% allows these companies to now offer SV/NY competitive salaries. Which I suspect will happen if they do it right (bot…

>I think it's a very valid criticism if your best people (not talking about "most" people, who don't start companies and create new stuff) can easily move to another country (or other state inside the US) and earn WAY more for the same job or skill set. I think, what a lot Americans overlook, is that most people in the rest of developed world want more from life than a high salary. Moving from somewhere with the high…

Fellow Canadian here - sorry, but did you just compare NYC - the greatest city in the world - to 'Cleveland of The North'?

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

#170

Post by disbelief »

maaku wrote: post #146
Thaxll wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

if you live frugally in Silicon Valley your savings can be larger than your annual salary in Montreal.

How does one live frugally when rent is sometimes 60-70% of your income? Plus taxes in California are comparable to those in Quebec, but health care isn't covered.
Post reply on HN