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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

#31

Post by erichate »

dataminer wrote: post #27
beltex wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2-3x factoring in cost of living in places like SF and NY? Isn't that the evening out factor, at least for new grads, for a job in say Toronto or Waterloo vs the valley?

You will still come out ahead in SF vs Toronto http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?coun...

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).

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

#32

Post by elchief »

null_ptr wrote: post #25
jgh wrote: post #6

The kill or be killed attitude they mention in this article is interesting because I almost immediately noticed the difference when moving from Canada to California. It's a different animal, that's for sure.

Is the work atmosphere more relaxed in Canada? For that matter, do the East Coast/West Coast culture stereotypes hold true for Canada?

It's more relaxed in Vancouver and Halifax. Less so in Toronto.

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

#33

Post by rubiquity »

beltex wrote: post #20
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…

2-3x factoring in cost of living in places like SF and NY? Isn't that the evening out factor, at least for new grads, for a job in say Toronto or Waterloo vs the valley?

Don't underestimate how expensive Canada is. I recently moved from San Diego to Calgary and everything here is more expensive (groceries being the most extreme at 40-60% more) and unlike San Diego, Calgary doesn't have an ocean.

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

#34

Post by 9oliYQjP »

hluska wrote: post #26

This article is light on facts (which is surprising to see in the wsj). This program is called Scientific Research and Experimental Development Tax Incentive Program. And, qualifying for a full SR&ED isn't as easy as they make it sound. To learn more, visit: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/txcrdt/sred-rsde/menu-eng.html

The trick to SRED is to hire an outside expert who will work on contingency to get a percentage of the SRED rebate they generate. There are many companies providing this service. These folks are experts on writing the necessary reports/forms given your engineers have written detailed logs of their work. Don't try to do SRED yourself. It's just one of those things, like hiring a lawyer, where it's complete lunacy to do it yourself.

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

#35

Post by erichate »

beltex wrote: post #20
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…

2-3x factoring in cost of living in places like SF and NY? Isn't that the evening out factor, at least for new grads, for a job in say Toronto or Waterloo vs the valley?

@rubiquity calgary is oil country that is why you are seeing higher prices

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

#36

Post by jgh »

mcpherrinm wrote: post #30
jgh wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can vouch for the 2x from Canada->California, I'm making more than 2x what I did in Canada (Toronto) now. I don't know about the 3x or 4x, maybe sillysaurus was making like $30k in Canada before, or maybe he's just some kind of superstar that gets paid $250k/year.

60k/yr to 180k/yr are not unbelievable salaries for a junior Canadian moving to a now more senior position at a big silicon valley tech company.

Yeah I guess my starting point coming down from Canada was a bit higher and I'm not in Silicon Valley so my data points are less exciting.

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

#37

Post by sk5t »

CoolGuySteve wrote: post #12
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #9

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. 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.

2x of silicon valley and then bonus on top, but that required moving into finance. It also helped that my previous employer was Apple, it opened many doors when it came time to interview. The fact of the matter is that other industries are starved for talent. If you can keep up in silicon valley, where all anyone talks about is technology, you will be godly in a different marketplace with more capital flow. Finance i…

Do you mean they're self-satisfied enough to write themselves a framework, but too myopic to see that writing it is a massively misguided waste of time?

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

#38

Post by pugsawakening »

oldspiceman wrote: post #24
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…

Did you have any problems filing the papers with the provincial/federal govs? I'm guessing it's a lot of work.

It is work, and about as arcane as you would expect a government form to be. You need to track your eligible hours for SRED on a weekly basis or throughout the week (as an employee). As an owner you need to deal with capital expenditures as well.

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

#39

Post by personZ »

9oliYQjP wrote: post #34
hluska wrote: post #26

This article is light on facts (which is surprising to see in the wsj). This program is called Scientific Research and Experimental Development Tax Incentive Program. And, qualifying for a full SR&ED isn't as easy as they make it sound. To learn more, visit: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/txcrdt/sred-rsde/menu-eng.html

The trick to SRED is to hire an outside expert who will work on contingency to get a percentage of the SRED rebate they generate. There are many companies providing this service. These folks are experts on writing the necessary reports/forms given your engineers have written detailed logs of their work. Don't try to do SRED yourself. It's just one of those things, like hiring a lawyer, where it's complete lunacy to d…

The trick to SRED is to hire an outside expert who will work on contingency to get a percentage of the SRED rebate they generate.

This is the scam of SRED. It is unfortunate that we are at this place.

There is absolutely nothing difficult about SRED (it is absolutely no more difficult than any other completely banal corporate submission), beyond understanding the magic terminology and phrasing that will get your submission accepted as is. That a whole business of vampire consultants exist around exploiting that, with agreement from Revenue Canada, is the real lunacy. It undermines the efficacy of the program.

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

#40

Post by jgh »

null_ptr wrote: post #25
jgh wrote: post #6

The kill or be killed attitude they mention in this article is interesting because I almost immediately noticed the difference when moving from Canada to California. It's a different animal, that's for sure.

Is the work atmosphere more relaxed in Canada? For that matter, do the East Coast/West Coast culture stereotypes hold true for Canada?

I would say Toronto is only slightly more relaxed than California in terms of deadlines and workload and number of hours expected to work. Definitely less relaxed in terms of dress code. However business does seem less ruthless up there.
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